[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

Actor SLEEPING on V1 = 100% opacity,
never change it.

Actor WAKING and WALKING on V2 = find a good “mix” of between 40% to 80% opacity,
only change (ramp) the opacity when you bring the effect IN or take it OUT.

That’s all there is to it, no matte needed as the V1 SLEEPING actor will always appear 100%.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

[A.Lee] “For old projects, can’t I just throw them away?”

Sure!

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

OK,
You’re NOT trying to “glue TWO clips together”… you really want to RESTORE a shortened clip to a longer (or full) length.

You can use the “Extend” function:
1. Touch the END of the clip you want to extend with the cursor (it will become highlighted).
2. Put the cursor on the timeline to exactly where you want the clip to end.
3. Hit the “e” key.
4. The end of the clip will extend to want it to end. It will now be that new, longer length.
(This will work at the FRONT edge of a shortened clip as well.

You can use the “Drag” function:
1. Touch the END of the clip you want to extend with the cursor (it will become highlighted).
2. “Drag” the end of the clip to where you want it to end. It will now be that new, longer length.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

“Nesting” will “marry” any number of clips into a single “item”.

Edit your clips to the timeline the way you want them.

SELECT all of the clips you want to “nest”.

Hit “option-c” and click “OK” in the dialog box that will open.

Now you have a “nest” that you can move as a single “clip”.

But, Nested sequences have their own set of “rules” and can’t be treated exactly the same as individual clips.

So, as I asked, why do you NEED to “glue two clips together”?

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

“Gluing two clips together” is called “Editing”.
When you edit, you “glue” lots of clips together.

Why do you need two clips to become “ONE”?

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

[MP Peters] “Will dubbing these tapes without the right channel cause the audience to lose more than 10% of the viewing pleasure?”

Nope.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

I assume you mean for a VIDEO MONITOR and not a computer screen.

I would stay away from that, for sure.

LCD’s make “everything look great” and for a critical editing monitor that can be a very bad thing.

LCD’s don’t reveal proper brightness and contrast levels… a scene that is under-exposed can look “just fine”.

Same goes for any color-correction decisions… you can make some really BAD mistakes with an LCD display.

Other than that… at least you’ll “get” to pay too much for an LCD compared to a trusty CRT (NTSC or PAL) video monitor.

All that said, a Sony Vega can be just as “forgiving” of a poor image (it makes it look “good”) as some LCD’s.
That’s why pro editors recommend a “critical” or “broadcast” monitor… they show you the REAL image.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

[Eli Mavros] “Does anyone know a good work around, rather than just having a blank slate and importing it into FCP and then putting the text generator above it?”

Sorry, but that’s the exact method hundreds of editors have used for years.
I suppose you could actually create a PROGRAM (if you can write code) that would “build a custom slate”… but that might be a bit of overkill.

I don’t bother with any fancy slates (they are hardly ever seen by anyone other than a dub engineer, anyway).

I just type out all the info in a single “page” of “Title 3D” and keep a copy of it ready to drop in at the head of any new project.
I just open it and “type-over” with the correct info.

If you want it to be fancy, you can create a layer below it that even has animation (say, from LiveType) or anything else you’d like.

It can get pretty NUTS with what “bored editors” sometimes create for slates.
Some are good for a laugh (an “alternative art-form” I guess.)

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

There is no way to “adjust” audio levels of a DV FireWire transfer.
It is just a “numbers-to-numbers” transfer from the tape to the computer HD.
(Those “unavailable” sliders are for use if you are capturing via a capture card with analog inputs.)

If you need to adjust audio levels, you must do it in FCP during the edit and not during the capture phase.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

Most “audio editing” software will do this.

“Peak DV” is a program that came bundled along with FCP 2 & 3 (and I think, FCP 4).
It has a function under the “DSP” menu called “Duration” that will do what you want.

You import the original track and change the duration to a new length.

But beware, use it sparingly, and don’t expect miracles.
You can only do this by a VERY SMALL percentage (5-10%?) before it becomes apparent that something “sounds funny”.

Nothing beats a properly-recorded (or re-recorded) VO for the best quality.