Customer Reviews

Editing with Final Cut Pro 4: An Intermediate Guide to Setup and Editing Workflow

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Editing With Final Cut Pro 4
By Charles Roberts- reviewed by "Book Worm"

This is one of the best books available for learning about FCP. It is clearly written, and addresses all the issues the beginning non-linear editor faces. The illustrations (mostly screen shots) are well selected and well placed. The material is well organized and treated with sufficient depth so that the reader gains a useful understanding of how and why certain techniques work. The book covers set up, work flow and editing technique in a very clear and complete fashion. It's a great text book, and I find it is also a handy reference too (great index).

Another plus is that the book is not limited to mere technical operations, the author is willing to discuss some of the reasons that underlie an editor's choice of when and where to cut. Roberts' attention to workflow and organization is also quite helpful, as is his willingness to show more than one way to accomplish a given operation or task.

I also liked the fact that the book was not organized around a downloadable batch of clips which you manipulate according to the books instructions. This technique certainly makes the teacher's job easier since all the instructions are quite specific, but I find open-ended instruction more palatable and ultimately more useful, especially if you are already working on an editing project of your own.

The chapters about the nature of digital video and a look at storage issues are full of really useful information. One of the best things about this book is that it will grow with you; you may skip some of the more technical discussions at first, but find them useful as your skill level improves.

Also, this book has a real index, not some computer-generated simulacrum that spots all the trivial instances where a word occurs, but seems to miss the meaty parts where the actual information is.

Although this book is listed as an "intermediate" level volume, as a fairly rank beginner I found it to be accessible and very useful. If you want to get a grip on FCP this book will help you do it.