Couch Gymnastics (and a Video Editing Software Review)

My Final Cut Pro X review.  This is the first video I have made using the new and improved Final Cut Pro X.

Yes, I did say improved.  And, yes, it is more like iMovie.  Where I differ from most reviewers is that I think the simplification and compatibility with iMovie is a plus, not a minus.  Here we go into IMHO land from here on...

Understand, gentle reader, that it is advisable to rough cut a video in iMovie before importing into Final Cut (old or new version) anyway, so why shouldn't the interface between the two be similar?  Get a project into decent shape and then go to town with the titles tweaks, audio fixes and effects in Final Cut.

But the new Final Cut is far more intuitive for an intermediate-level iMovie user, and much easier to use than the old Final Cut. I think they went into the old Final Cut and looked at all the stuff nobody could use because it was super hard, and they came midway towards making it super easy.

Before you do it, I'll do a self critique on the video above.  The voice mix isn't right and my voice does not sound warm and full.  Solution:  Do the voice overs in iMovie, do the tweaks in Final Cut Pro X. There's a typo in one of the titles.  Solution:  no, really, there is a typo in one of the titles.  That's totally sub-par but the step back to fix it seemed daunting at the moment I uploaded.  Solution:  A small amount of effort will overcome this as I determine what software works best for what.  Crappy Canned Music.  Solution:  I also hate crappy canned music, so no excuses there.  I'll make my own crappy music, thank you very much, and apply polly logies for this one indiscretion.

I apologize for the gratuitous swearing, but I figure that the word "crap" and any derivative words thereof are almost not real swear words anymore.

Jimmyjumpnjive March 4, 2012

Final Cut Pro X Review (part 2)

Click Here for a Dumb Dog Trick Video!


Apple Final Cut Pro X review (part 2).

Most of what you see in this video was created in iMovie.  Most of what you can hear has been manipulated fairly heavily in Final Cut Pro X.

This time my focus was on voice over and sound quality.  I started in iMovie and roughed out the project.  I left a blank section for the first title, which was then created in Final Cut Pro X.  Then I went to work on improving the quality of the voice and the mix between the voice and ambient sound.

The sound (voice and ambient) were auto tuned, bass boosted and adjusted with the hum and noise reduction options.  I would have added some echo on the voice, but couldn't figure out how to do it.  I had already done a loudness adjustment in iMovie and the other mentioned tweaks in Final Cut Pro X.

The end result is okay.  Next step will be to focus on the mixing of sound -- voice over and music -- to see what the best way is to do it.  I am totally thinking to mix it in iMovie then tweak it in Pro X.

I really had to steer myself away from the image-effect options.  Two of them were really drawing me in -- this video almost ended up with either a "fish eye" effect or a "geometric block" effect.

I will definitely come back to the video effects pre sets in Pro X.  The video camera effect was good.  The distortion effects were also interesting.  Many ways to improve projects or catch moods and some odd scrambling effects.

Next time it's full onto mixing a bumper sound, a voice over, and a song.  Not sure if the song will be original, but an original song will probably be a bigger challenge in that I tend to crank the distortion when I do rock music in Garageband.

So far so good.  This is my second day using FInal Cut Pro X and I am beginning to get a good feel for how to improve or attempt to improve videos.  Honestly, though, this may take a month or so to fully get a passable working knowledge of the program.

Jimmyjumpnjive March 6, 2012.