DV Editing and Apple's New Final Cut Pro
by Robert Moore
I recently got the chance to spend some time on a much talked-about new editing system, Apple Computer's Final Cut Pro 1.0. Running on a Macintosh G3, the software is intended for professionals producing everything from DV projects to streaming video for the World Wide Web. The idea is that you can dump material from a DV camera into Final Cut Pro via firewire, edit your project and send it back out via firewire, keeping everything digital so that you don't lose any quality.
 |
|
Courtesy of Apple Computer, Inc. |
 |
As a Mac lover and user of Avid Media and Film Composers, AudioVision, Digidesign Pro Tools and Adobe Premiere, I have to say that I was amazed at the number of features in this initial release of FCP. Granted, there were some problems, but I think that is to be expected in a first-generation application. Still, FCP did pretty much everything all current DV video editors do. The trimming is excellent, and inserting video into the middle of a sequence in the timeline also works very well. Because it is fully integrated to the Mac desktop, you can actually drag a QuickTime movie from the desktop and drop it right into any FCP window, which is a great feature. I was also very impressed with the speed of the G3. It's fast! Certainly much faster than the Quadra 950/33 and PowerMac 8100/100 I'm used to.
The first thing I look for in any system is ease of use and ease of learning. I want to sit down at the console or keyboard and start cutting, without the manual. Of course, you will likely have to refer to the manual eventually for advanced features, but I think the basic functions should be intuitive and easy to figure out. When I first learned AudioVision, Media Composer and Premiere, I never opened the manuals and could still do everything I needed. With FCP I started out by playing the system's "Power Start" CD-ROM, which provided an excellent interactive introduction. When I went to use the system, though, I found that the FCP interface is not quite as intuitive as some other systems. But once you get used to it, FCP is actually quite user friendly.
The system's Effects tool is very powerful. Within FCP you actually have some of the power of AfterEffects, including compositing and motion control. The time it takes to render seemed a bit long (30 seconds plus for simple effects), but I was rendering at DV quality.
Unfortunately, I did not have a DV camera with me during the time I had to review the system, so I did not get a chance to try out every function I wanted. I can say, however, that firewire transport control of a camera worked great. Through the FCP interface I was able to communicate directly with a Canon XL1, commanding it to start and stop rolling tape and auto-batch digitize. Firewire allows data transfer of DV video, two tracks of audio and SMPTE-like timecode called DV Time (hours, minutes, seconds and frames). FCP will output a standard, SMPTE-timecoded EDL, though I did not get a chance to actually test this function. Log and Capture is a bit tricky at first, but works fine.
During the firewire download, I lost audio sync to picture. An Apple representative later pointed out that FCP has an Autosync function that corrects this problem. Armed with that information, I was able to produce a short project in just a few hours that included mixed video media, titles, video effects and sound. I used media from the XL1 camera, as well as QuickTime movies that I had previously compressed for CD-ROM playback, which were Cinepak 320 x 240 8-bit, stereo 22k. FCP upconverted the Cinepak movies to DV format, which didn't take long. The final result was a nice-looking little movie.
Currently, FCP is not positioned as a film system and so does not have native 24-frame support. However, people working on tight budgets, such as independent filmmakers or students, can still edit their film-based projects with Final Cut Pro and make cut lists using one of several third-party negative matchback products for the Mac.
Ultimately, I think the cost of FCP is certainly one of its most attractive features. Including a new G3 and assorted peripherals, you can be up and running for around $3,700, which makes it a great low-cost alternative to other Mac-based systems. It's definitely still a young product, but with a few modifications and bug fixes, FCP has the potential to be a very impressive program.
Robert Moore is an editor and member of the Guild with
over 200 episodic shows and 40 feature films to his credit.
Reprinted from
The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter
Vol. 20, No. 4 - July/August1999
Guild
Home |
Newsletter
Home
Copyright © 1996-2001
The Motion Picture Editors Guild, IATSE Local 700, All Rights Reserved