[Kylee Pena]

Also, if you are copying a whole sequence into another sequence and you want all the clips and not the nested sequence, you can drag the sequence from the browser and then hold down the cmd button as you hover over the timeline. This will change from moving the nested sequence to moving the clips that are in the sequence in…if the way I explained that makes sense at all.

[Kylee Pena]

There is a keyboard shortcut for selecting the nearest edit (v) that might make it quicker for you, though I’m not exactly sure how you’re working. If you’re laying things into the timeline by just dragging them and then trimming, you’ll find that finding footage and marking the ins and outs in the viewer and THEN placing them in the timeline is much quicker. But like I said, I’m not exactly sure what you’re doing 🙂

PS If you’re just working with one video track, you’re fine, but when you start using keyboard shortcuts like that V with multple tracks, things won’t work how you expect. Google auto select and source panel.

[Kylee Pena]

Another way to do this which I think would be closest (ish) to the way AE does it would be to position your playhead where you want the cut to be, select the edit point of the clip you want to be trimmed to that point, and hit the E key.

Illustrated: https://www.geniusdv.com/weblog/archives/extending_an_edit_in_final_cut_pro.php

[Kylee Pena]

Are you working with AVI files? I had some funky white viewer screens with AVI files I used a long time ago. Installing Perian fixed that.

Hopefully it’s just the alpha thing though.

[Kylee Pena]

The previous comment is what you needed to know – H264 is for delivery, not editing. FCP will always have to render it in order to use it, and it’ll be crap. You need to convert your original files to something else (look in the Easy Setup for codecs that play well with FCP) and convert them. Then do your editing and titles and all that, and export to whatever delivery format your system needs.

[Kylee Pena]

It sounds like you’re doing an insert edit, when you should do an overwrite. If you’re dragging the clips from the viewer to the timeline, the arrow will face to the right, which means it’s going to scoot stuff over and insert the footage.

One way to do this is to make sure you are targeting the correct track (if you only have one video track you’re working on, don’t worry about it). Then put your playhead over the footage you want to replace and drag the footage you want to replace it with over to the right until a panel pops up. Drop it on Replace.

You should read up on the different kinds of edits in FCP, it will make your life easier. Here’s a quick source I found. The Final Cut Pro Apple Pro Training Series book will also make your life easier.

https://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/moving-clips-to-the-timeline-in-final-cut-pro-hd.html

[Kylee Pena]

Someone on the other FCP forum was having a similar issue with not having sync between video shot on the DSLR and audio recorded. It’s not exactly the same and I don’t think there’s a resolution yet, but maybe reading it will spark something?

https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/8/1070880

If the video was recorded at 30 fps and the audio at 29.97 separately, wouldn’t that cause your issue then, too? Maybe you can try using Cinema Tools to conform the audio..

[Kylee Pena]

Thanks for the suggestion. I read that white paper before I got the footage actually since I knew I would be getting XDCAM to work with and I wanted to see what I could learn ahead of time. The footage was shot by someone else and he took all the files off the discs, re-wrapped them to Quicktime and gave them to me on a hard drive, so a lot of those steps with ingesting don’t seem to apply in this case. …Right?

[Kylee Pena]

I took the FCP6 level 1 exam in March. And also the ones for DVD Studio Pro, Motion, Color, and Soundtrack Pro. Basically I was a senior in college and I initially decided to try and reach the FCP level 2 certification as part of my big final project. My reason for doing this was so I could feel totally comfortable within the software. You’re always going to get people who say they don’t pay attention to certifications when they’re hiring. To that I say DUH. Of course your actual storytelling skills and natural ability are the most important things by far. And you learn a lot of the software by just using it a lot, yes. But it’s so much easier to just take the leap and learn it at a much deeper level initially – it helps you tell your story much more easily when you aren’t fumbling around. The Apple Pro Training Series books are AWESOME. From this process, I learned more than what buttons Apple thinks I should push. The books tell you many ways to go about editing something, workflow suggestions, and how the software really works at a deeper level. Just knowing that helps me greatly. So basically, I did the certs for myself to ease anxiety that I would seem like a total noob in front of Final Cut.

That being said, I was a pretty regular user of FCP before I took the FCP101 exam. I studied the Apple Pro Training book for that pretty intensely anyway, just to be safe. I thought it would be super easy. It so wasn’t super easy lol. Like I said, I initially was going to do the 3 day workshop and take the FCP 2 exam the next month. Unfortunately, I was the only person signed up for it so they cancelled it. Long story short, I had to scramble for a way to make up for that loss in my graduation project. So I decided to attempt the master level certification. I knew there was little to no chance of actually obtaining it. It consists of taking the Motion, Color, Soundtrack Pro, and DVD Studio Pro level 1 exams. Those along with final cut level 1 = master certification. I had one month to study those books and software on top of 18 credit hours and two other major projects to finish and I had barely touched Color and Motion. I passed Color and Soundtrack Pro somehow (the proctor mentioned Color was the hardest of all the tests and I would agree), and BARELY failed Motion and DVD Studio Pro. GAH. I’m talking less than 10% with each. Not bad for cramming for one month. Even though I failed, I saw what the tests were like and I really did learn a lot about the whole suite, so it was worth a try. Especially with Color, I learned a ton about color correcting I never knew.

Basically my point is use the Apple Pro Training Series books. But don’t rely on just the questions at the end…read the chapters, do all the exercises, AND don’t memorize it – actually learn it.

In terms of format, I went to a testing center and took a computer based multiple choice test. It didn’t take very long, although you have a time limit. I think I took all 4 of those tests above within an hour and a half. The FCP one was definitely under an hour.

Hopefully this novel of a response is what you’re looking for. I did certifications for myself, though of course I still stick them on my resume. It certainly helps a bit to have things like that being in the midwest where a lot of jobs are obtained through HR people.

[Kylee Pena]

Just wanted to second these:

In the Blink of an Eye – by Walter Murch

The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film

Behind the Seen: How Walter Murch Edited Cold Mountain Using Apple’s Final Cut Pro and What This Means for Cinema

THOSE!

Also second the “there IS no book for that”. Above come close though.