Customer Reviews

Apple Pro Training Series: Final Cut Express 2

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I recently picked up a copy of Final Cut Express when I bought a miniDV camera to record some 16mm home movies to disk. I captured the DV stream with iMovie because that's what I was familiar with and was able to do simple cutting and splicing using FCE2 by just feeling around. I could see however, I was fumbling and there were obviously easier ways to accomplish even the simple things I was doing, let alone 99% of FCE2's features.

After getting my feet wet with the home movies I wanted to do something *interesting* with 5 hours of videocam footage I had recorded years ago thinking "some day I'll make a little movie from this". For this I needed to become familiar with the FCE2's capabilities. I read through the documentation that came with FCE2 but I didn't really get it. I wasn't familiar with the terminology, the concepts were foreign to me. So I grabbed a copy of the Apple Pro Training Series Final Cut Express 2 book and committed to learning some things. The book comes with a DVD containing lesson materials.

Some of the material in the first lessons was basic even for me as I'm familiar with the Mac interface. In some cases I would just read through the exercises and not bother using the computer. But the exposure to the basic terminology was already useful.

After those first few chapters I found pretty much every exercise valuable. I appreciated the author's style of repetition and reinforcement of concepts and techniques. When I completed a lesson I was satisfied that I had learned something I would use. With my own project in mind, I would visualize how I'd apply what I had learned but was glad I didn't go off and start working on my own stuff until I had finished the book.

When I did complete the lessons I was comfortable with FCE2, which before I opened the book appeared almost hopelessly complicated. With the lessons under my belt I was able to get more out of the FCE2 documentation because I understood the terminology and what questions to ask. I was also able to read through online discussions and understand what people were asking and suggesting.

Having read the book and, most importantly, done the exercises I felt I was really taking advantage of FCE2 when I used it for my project. Even if I didn't remember everything I read I remembered I had read there was a way to do this or that and found the details easily. Sometimes I'd refer back to the book but most often I used the FCE2 help document or just looked in the menus.

I found the book a great way to come up to speed with Final Cut Express 2. After completing the book I was able to make good use of FCE2 to take boring footage, modest effects, an incredible soundtrack and nice titles to tell a story in an entertaining way. The book made FCE2 accessible, FCE2 made my project a reality, and I'm very pleased with the results.

Let's start with the basic, should-be-obvious premiss: the Final Cut video editing platform is NOT "iMovie Complete"...except in the sense that it is completely different. The differences between Final Cut Express and Final Cut Pro are in certain capabilities -- Express is not a "dumbed-down" version of Pro, it just lacks certain capabilities. The interface is a professional non-linear editing (NLE) tool whose efficient use is not obvious at first launch, unlike iMovie.

That being said, there is a significant learning curve for anyone picking up the FInal Cut Express tool for the first time. Diana Weynand's training course is a thorough grounding in nonlinear video editing using Final Cut Express. She presumes that the reader has been given this tool and the underlying Macintosh platform as a black box, and is expected to produce a finished product from it. In my view Weynand does a superb presentation, estimating with accuracy how long each lesson will take, covering a specific set of objectives, and reinforcing skills learned in earlier lessons when appropriate. All sample materials (with the exception of one chapter where one practices video capture using one's own set-up) are provided on the DVD bound with the book. It was sometimes disconcerting to work through a lesson with the author's tone implying that the work would be carried through in the next lesson -- only to start from scratch on a different project in the next chapter. The reinforcement, however, is that each project needs to be treated as though it is on its way to final production.

Two points I noted: (1) As in a classroom course, the lessons in this book teach one how to produce the example videos, using the example material. It does not serve well as a reference for ongoing production. A second book or reference guide (perhaps one of the Visual Quickstart guides) is necessary for ongoing work. (2) Comparing this book (covering FCE) to one's experience learning iMovie with the aid of David Pogue's excellent "Missing Manual for iMovie" is completely misplaced and unhelpful. Weynand provides a grounding in a professional-level NLE suite, and sorry to say, that takes much more time and concentration than learning iMovie (which I love for certain projects).

This is my first experience with a self paced course...this book was really terrific...got me started and now I'm editing like a video professional...the lessons are well paced, easy to understand....literally talks you through the operation of the whole editng process as if the instructor is right there in the room with you...for someone who had never edited before I found this book amazing...highly recommend it to anyone who needs help with Final Cut EXpress...great software program too!

I recommend the Apple Pro Training Series: Final Cut Express 2 because it comes with a DVD full of Final Cut Express 2 (FCE2) projects that the reader modifies as he or she progresses through the book. Before I bought this book I tried another (less expensive) book, the Visual Quickstart Guide (VQG) to FCE2, but it was difficult to really learn what I had read without applying it. I tried to use some of my own video to fiddle with as I read the VQG, but I found importing video in FCE2 to be non-trivial.

This book, on the other hand, gives you several example projects per chapter. As you read through a given chapter, you modify one or more of these projects with a particular editing tool or group of tools. The examples are put together well and do a fantastic job of illustrating how to use FCE2. The book is also full-color and has lots of pictures, making it easy to match what you see in the book with what's happening on your computer. With this book I was able to become fairly proficient with FCE2 in only a few hours (and by the time I started importing video, I was comfortable enough with FCE2 that doing so was easy). I highly recommend this book!

If you like to read every last detail of how to perform a task, this is the book for you. She really was complete.

Unfortunately I don't have that kind of time. I learned iMovie in half a day with the Missing Manual book.

I expected 10 hours with this book and I would be off to the races but with all the detail in the chapters, and we don't start talking about importing from DV until chapter 12? Yikes! I know this product isn't that difficult to use.

Having "mastered" iMovie, I felt I was ready to go further. Final Cut Express was the only choice, however not having the time to sit down and work out every tool was frustrating. I initially purchased this book about a year ago and had not been able to pick it up until only a couple of weeks ago. I really should have done it earlier.

Learning FCE is a huge learning curve without expert guidance. Especially if you have come from the relative simple life involving iMovie. It is quite an upgrade. This book takes you through from very basic setup and OS-X principles to initial look around the interface. Reading this book on its own does not help. Following the lessons with the included media is the best way. With the media files, you can easily experiment with features. I am not going to be willing to place my footage on this system until I am 100% comfortable. But that's me. With the lessons I have experienced, they have been great and straight forward. This book is huge. I have not got to the end and with FCE HD out now, I am wondering what differences there will be, but with this book the basics will be covered and the dvd content is great at helping you ease into this brave and "FUN" new world. I found it quite relaxing diversion aswell. Recommended.

I have self-learned Photoshop, Illustrator, QuarkXpress and InDesign well enough to earn a living doing pre-press work.

I learned iMovie reading one of the "Missing Manual" books and chose Weynand's book to help me advance to Final Cut Express. Well, it didn't do the trick for me.

One review said, "The trees are clear in her manual but the forest is nowhere in sight." Frankly, I didn't know what that meant - but after wasting my "hard earned" on this book, it's crystal clear.

This is the problem with buying books via the internet. Had I looked at this book at a book store I would have put it back on the shelf!







I

The book looks good and but it was a few months before I settled down to start learning Final Cut Express. Unfortunately the DVD supplied with the used book was seriously corrupted so the book is virtually useless and I do not remember where I bought for return....grrrr

In product reviews, I am wary of adjectives such as "amazing" and "great," especially when there are only a couple of reviews. Weynand's FINAL CUT EXPRESS 2 is thorough and carefully put together, if not quite amazing, but by the time I got to Chapter 5 and floundered around, and gritted my teeth in 6 and 7, I realized that the perfect can be the enemy of the good pedagogically as well as morally. The trees are clear in her manual but the forest is nowhere in sight. That's my insight on this book. If I ever get out of this forest, I will let you know.