Customer Reviews

Creative Titling with Final Cut Pro

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Some of us in the business, like to pick up some skills when using a tool like Final Cut Pro 4 by looking to an experienced third-party for input, instead of the blah help files or gargantuan hard copy manuals. I bought this book for just that reason.

I have no doubt that Diannah Morgan knows her stuff. Ms. Morgan has the experience and the chops to be listed as an "expert". As I started exploring the book, I was rather impressed. I REALLY wanted to like this book. However, the longer I lived with the book, the more I longed for the opportunity to try out some of the "tips". Unfortunately, there are a couple of problems. The first is, there aren't any "tips", per se. The book is another presentation of the help file that comes with FCP or the PDF manual for LiveType. There is nothing in the book that made me go, "Ahh, so that's the way to do it".

And even if you wanted to try out some of the examples, there is nothing included with the book to allow you to do that. It would have been nice to have a DVD or CD ROM containing the referenced clips and video. That way, the prospective student can follow along with the exercises. As it is, the reader is doing nothing more than watching over Ms. Morgan's shoulder, while just getting a look at her impressive creative portfolio. While she is a very capable communicator, reading her book is like standing outside the window of the Apple Store and watching someone else edit with FCP.

As is typical with other CMP books, the quality of the printing and layout is first-rate. You'd think, however, that with a cover price of $44.95 for less than 200 pages, including the index, there'd be a little profit wiggle-room for some clips and graphics.

I hope the publishers will rethink the packaging for this book and include some clips and graphics for the examples in the second edition. If you're looking for an instructional tome that will help you get that edge on the competition, this isn't it.

Although I am comparatively new to working with Final Cut Pro, I found this book to be very helpful in walking me through the various ways to create titles. Over ten years ago I was in the printing business, so this new look at fonts and ways to deal with them as movies is a lot of fun and different for me.
Great book for those newly finding their way into films and the myrid ways in which they can be titled. Really loved the "blowing up" of the Hollywood sign as a possibility for a fun beginning to a piece. I liked this book alot.

This book helped me out of a creative Jam. This book made me feel comfortable with Live Type. It's great they way Diannah starts of with the what is and then gets down to the how to. Easy to understand and easy to do. Thanks!

A great book. It certainly solved my problems and I would heartily recommend it to others. Ms. Morgan has a way of clearing up complex problems with simple solutions well spelled out.
RM

I want to thank Ms. Morgan for writing this book. I'm not a pro at the computer but this book has simplified the process of being artistic. We need more authors who know what they're talking about who are able to convey that knowledge to those of us trying to learn the process. I hope Ms. Morgan continues writing these technical books for non-technical people like me. Thank you.

As usual Diannah has put her heart and soul into her work. Diannah is a professional FCP and Avid video editor. Buy, read and apply this book to improve your titling skill. A must have reference book in any FCP editor's library.