Jerry Hofmann on Final Cut Pro 4

During his 33-year show business career, Jerry Hofmann has become an award-winning theatrical actor, TV and film editor, writer, director, and producer. His show business career began when he was 5. He was a singer, dancer, pianist, and actor. He was performing professionally by the time he was 18. For the next 10 years, he wrote, directed, and performed in more than 2,000 live sold-out theatrical performances that he coproduced with his wife of now 29 years. In 1978, Hofmann and his wife moved from Colorado to Los Angeles. There, he began his odyssey in video production, selling equipment for the largest color broadcast equipment VAR in LA. His territory was Burbank and Hollywood. This experience gave him valuable insight into new methods of telling stories with mass communication technologies. He founded his first television production company in Los Angeles in 1983. During the next eight years, he produced hundreds of TV commercials and industrial films. His clients ranged from Fortune 500 companies to Hollywood studios and advertising agencies. In 1989, Hofmann obtained one of the first Avid nonlinear disk-based editors in Los Angeles and became a pioneer in the technology. He has been a beta tester for Avid Technology over the years, helping them develop one of the world's premier non- linear editing solutions. In 1993, he relocated to Colorado to raise his growing family. He edited the only feature film shot there that year and freelanced as an Avid editor, director, and producer along the front range of the Rockies. He has produced and directed more than 600 projects and has edited many more. In 1999, Hofmann started teaching part-time at the Colorado Film and Video Instructional Studios, a facility used by the University of Colorado and Aurora Community College. There are 18 Final Cut Pro bays in his classroom and another 24 nonlinear editing bays in the facility. At CFVI, he has post-supervised hundreds of short films produced by his students. Currently, he has his own company, jlh productions, and he is a partner in Bat-Mann Productions, both located in Denver, Colorado. Hofmann is a team leader in the Final Cut Pro forum at http://www.creativecow.net. He also is a designated helper in Apple Computer's Final Cut Pro discussion group and is a frequent visitor at 2-Pop's discussion groups. He received a BA in theater and a BA in communications (with emphasis on TV and film production) from the University of Denver.

1. Essential Equipment.


Minimum System Requirements. Editing in DV (NTSC and/or PAL). Additional Equipment to Think About. Higher-Quality Video Editing. Which Setup Is Best? Workshop 1: Set Up and Double-Check Your System.



2. Specifying Setups, Settings, Presets, and Preferences.


About All Those Resolutions. Easy Setups. Setting User Preferences. Changing System Settings. Changing Settings Using the Audio/Video Settings. Workshop 2: Investigate the Settings.



3. Understanding Final Cut Pro's Interface: An Overview.


Activating Windows. The Browser Window. The Viewer Window. The Canvas Window. The Timeline Window. The Tools Palette. Workshop 3: Load the First Project and Become Familiar with the Navigational Controls and Window Arrangement.



4. Organization and Basic Editing.


The Editing Workflow. Organizing Source Clips. Setting In Points and Out Points. Making Subclips and Their Properties. Alternative Methods of Organizing Material. Workshop 4: Organize and Begin Picking Shots.



5. Basic Editing.


Making Basic Edits. Adding Transitions. Working with Clip Overlays. Working with Snapping. Using Undo and Redo. Workshop 5: Edit Your Subclips into a Sequence and Add Transitional Effects.



6. Audio Editing.


Audio File Formats. Audio Mixing. Real-Time Audio Mixing. Examining an Audio-Only Clip. Audio Transitions. Workshop 6: Finish Editing Scene 1.



7. Advanced Trimming: Beyond the Razor Blade.


The Trim Edit Window. Slipping and Sliding Clips in the Sequence. Workshop 7: Use More-Advanced Trimming.



8. Audio Filters, Timeline Editing, and Keeping Sync.


Audio Filters. Editing in the Timeline Window. Linking and Merging Audio and Video Clips. Syncing Issues. Workshop 8: Finish Scene 2 and Edit Scene 3.



9. Using Markers.


Understanding the Use of Markers. Using Timeline and Canvas Window Markers. Workshop 9: Experiment with Markers.



10. Putting a Workflow Together.


The Basic Workflow. The Best Workflow. Workshop 10: Edit Scene 9.



11. Video Filter Effects and Basic Compositing.


Effects Editing. Composites and Renders. Video Filters. Using the Video Scopes and Color-Correction Tools. Real-Time Previewing. Workshop 11: Work with Composites.



12. Using the Title Tools and the Motion Tab.


The Title Generators. Using Fonts. The Text Generators. The Calligraphy Title Tools. Using Title Safe. Using the Motion Tab. Using Basic Motion. Workshop 12: Create Titles.



13. Working with Advanced Composites, Nests, and Exported QuickTime Movies.


Working with Composite Modes. Working with Nests. Working with Exported QuickTime Movies. Workshop 13: Create Advanced Composites.



14. Managing Large Projects.


Media Management. Organizing a Large Project. Using Final Cut Pro's Media Management Features. Workshop 14: Add the Effects to Sequence 1. Conclusion.



Appendix A: Capturing Footage.


Using the Log and Capture Window. Log and Capture Strategy. Making Sure You Are Set to Capture with the Proper Device Control.



Appendix B: Output Options: Videotape, DVDs, and the Web.


Viewing Video Externally and Recording It. Using the Print to Video Command. Using the Edit to Tape Command. Outputting for the Web: Compressor and DVDs. Preparing Your Video for iDVD. Preparing Your Video for DVD Studio Pro.



Appendix C: Solving Common Problems.


System Problems and Playback Problems. Problems with Video Devices. Problems Playing Back Your Media. Broken Timecode. When All Else Fails.



Appendix D: Keyboard Shortcuts.


General Shortcuts. Select, Copy, Cut, and Paste. Activating Windows. Activating Tools. Navigation. Finding Items. Special Timeline Views. Editing. Logging and Capturing. Special Commands. Markers. Other Tools.



Appendix E: Other Resources.


Websites, Discussion Groups, and User Groups. Related Sites. Online Reading About Digital Video on CD and DVD. Hardware Manufacturers. Specialized and Third-Party Equipment and Software. Software Companies. Great Places to Visit. More Free Stuff.



Appendix F: Video Filters List.


Blur Filters. Border Filters. Channel Filters. Color Correction Filters. Distort Filters. Image Control Filters. Key Filters. Matte Filters. Perspective Filters. Sharpen Filters. Stylize Filters. Video Filters.



Appendix G: What's on the DVD.


System Requirements. Loading the DVD Files. Exercise Files. Third-Party Programs.