[Jeff Carpenter]

Not sure what you mean by choppy, but there’s a preference to enable high quality scrubbing that’s new to FCP5
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Yeah, Once I turned that off, FCP5 felt a lot more like 4.5 did when scrubbing. I think this is exactly what you’re talking about, Michael, give it a try and see what you think.

It’s in SYSTEM SETTINGS>PLAYBACK CONTROL

[Jeff Carpenter]

Not clear as to why you’d really want to delete either of those things, though.
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I am also curious as to why you would ask this question. Did you someone tell you there would be a reason to do this? I’ve never heard of anything like that.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Yup. You’ll need to buy a new code for $30.

Don’t do it if you’re planning to buy Final Cut 5 any time soon, it comes with a code for 7 Pro. But if not, the $30 option is the way to go.

[Jeff Carpenter]

A digital camera crop or an anamorphic lens shot should end up being the exact same thing as far as the tape is concerned. With the digital crop you’ll be losing resolution, so the quality will be less, but either way the tape is a widescreen image squeezed down to 720×480.

So however you would dub a normal DV tape to Betacam you could dub an anamorphic image to Betacam. The trick is what you do with that tape later, but as long as you have a method of expanding it later then yeah, the dubbing itself shouldn’t be an issue.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Ok, well based on that I’d say that IF he really wants a DVD you should just make a DVD like you would normally do. Make it all one track with just one menu that has one link to the video.

If he actually wants a DVD then I’m assuming he has some method of ripping that video off of that and converting it to whatever he needs.

So yeah, however you normally make a DVD should be good. Just try to make it the highest quality bit-rate you can fit on a disc or two.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Why can’t he take the DV tapes from you? ‘Cause if I were you I’d be asking exactly why he wants you to go to all this extra work if he could just take the tapes.

If he wants the footage on DVD you’re going to have to ask him what, exactly, he wants. Any method I could think of would either create a file that I consider unsuitable for editing OR it would take about 10 to 15 DVDs to burn it all. Either solution seems pretty bad to me.

But hey, it’s not your job, if he really wants to work that way then that’s up to him. But since I don’t know exactly what he’s thinking I can’t give you advice on how to export your file. Find out what he needs, and if you still have questions, write back with that info and we can tell you how to get that type of file.

[Jeff Carpenter]

I thougth I read somewhere that the “letterbox matte” in the effects actually has an option to move the image up and down within it. I’ve never used it and I can’t check it right now, so I don’t know if that’s true, but it’s worth looking, at least.

[Jeff Carpenter]

After you click on it, have you typed ‘Apple-R’? That should re-load the widget. That’s my best guess.

[Jeff Carpenter]

My dad’s a photographer and he went with this program:

https://www.extensis.com/en/products/product_family.jsp?locale=en_US&id=prod60005

I’ve never used it…I don’t much about it…but there it is. He seems to like it.

[Jeff Carpenter]

I think Walter’s split-screen idea is probably a lot easier than messing around with Green Screens.

The problem with split-screens is that you can usually see the line. Doing it outside only adds to that problem because the sun will probably change slightly between takes. If you’re using manual iris you can sort of adjust, but it won’t be perfect.

The solution is to set up your shot in such a way that there are natural lines WITHIN the shot. Place things on the ground like hoses. Use a tree. Whatever it is, just put something between them that you can hide a line on. That’s the key to making it work.

Then, instead of doing a simple split-screen, export a frame to Photoshop and make a mask. In other words, make an image that is half black and half white, each representing half of the scene. If you do it this way you can draw a very compicated line that goes all over the screen. Save that b&w image.

Then, in Final Cut use the “Image Mask” filter and drop your B&W image in it. You’ll figure out how it works pretty quickly.

Take a look at this example, I’ve put the finished video here, and if you scroll below it you’ll see what the mask looked like:

https://www.redfeathervideo.com/kirk/

Notice how the mask goes down the edge of the wall and along the pattern in the carpet? That helps hide any problems with the mask or any lighting differences. I shot that back in high school and did it on my old Adobe Premiere 6 on a G3 iMac. So it’s not a very complicated trick that needs much horsepower, that’s for sure.

You might want to try something like that, but no matter what you chose, TRY IT on your own time before you actually shoot something that matters. You’ll learn a lot the first time you try something like this, so do it on something that doesn’t matter.