Final Cut Express

We chose to edit our film in Final Cut Express on the Apple Mac’s. Before we started filming we made sure to read through the ‘beginner’s guide’ by Joel Speed. This proved really helpful when we came to edit because all of the most important editing skills where explained in detail.

INTRODUCTION TO FINAL CUT

Final Cut Express 4.0 is one of the lastest video editing sofeware's available from Apple, it's one of the most advanced pieces of software and with it we can stunning videos. The standard layout consists of the Browser, Timeline, Viewer and Canvas. The browser is where unedited content is stored, when a file is imported it will appear in the browser as a small preview with the clip number and length underneath. Double clicking this clip will allow you to edit it.

The Viewer is where you watch unedited, unrendered footage.

The Canvas is where you can play back your edited clips from the Timeline. You can drag and drop the curser to the place you want to view the video from. You can also arrange clips by scaling and moving them. The Timeline is where you assemble your video. Video clips are shown in blue and audio clips are shown in green. You can arrange the clip simply by dragging and dropping them into the suitable place. You can also cut and trim clips within the timeline.

The Voice Over applet allows you to record audio using the Mac’s built in microphone. Voice overs are often used over clips at the start of a story, but in our case we used this tool to add the voice of Martha and Clark reading the Draft that is posted through Nancy's door.

Once you have recorded your voice over you can import the sound clip straight into your timeline and edit as needed.