Final Cut Pro Power Skills: Work Faster and Smarter in Final Cut Pro 7 [Paperback]

Larry Jordan (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0321646908 | ISBN-13: 978-0321646903 | Publication Date: October 25, 2009 | Edition: 1

You have the basics of Final Cut Pro down and now you need to work faster and more efficiently in the program. With over 600 focused techniques and shortcuts, this book gives you what you need to know to blaze through your projects and work smarter in Final Cut Pro.

In Final Cut Pro Power Skills, you'll learn everything from organizing and setting up your workspace to uncovering secrets for editing and effects work to color-correction speed techniques, and more. You'll learn about Final Cut Pro 7's new features including new ProRes formats, which allows faster and higher quality editing across a wide variety of workflows; iChat theater support, which lets remote clients and collaborators see the same footage the editor sees while making changes ; new speed tools; Alpha Transitions which allows the creation of  dramatic moving matte transitions; the ability to easily deliver content to multiple devices including iPhone, iPod, MobileMe; seamless integration with the other apps in Final Cut Studio and much more.

These are the hidden techniques, the little-known keyboard shortcuts, the power skills that make the difference between getting a project done and getting in done with enough time to still have a life. 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Larry Jordan is an Apple Certified Trainer in Digital Media with more than 30 years' experience as a television producer, director, and editor with national broadcast and corporate credits. Based in Los Angeles, he's a member of both the Directors Guild of America and the Producers Guild of America. Recognized as one of the Top 100 Corporate Producers in America, he has also written three books on Final Cut Studio for Peachpit Press and is the executive producer and host of Digital Production BuZZ. His websites are www.larryjordan.biz and www.digitalproductionbuzz.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press; 1 edition (October 25, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321646908
• ISBN-13: 978-0321646903
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #287,499 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #31 in Books > Computers & Technology > Apple > Final Cut

More About the Author

Final Cut training guru, Larry Jordan, is an internationally-renowned consultant and Apple-Certified trainer in digital media with over 35 years experience as a television producer, director and editor with national broadcast and corporate credits. His informative and entertaining teaching style provides video and film editors around the world with unique techniques, methods and resources to increase productivity and enhance their skills. Visit Larry's website - http://www.larryjordan.biz - for more great Final Cut training and Adobe Premiere Pro training.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is essential for using Final Cut Pro, December 6, 2009

By 

Ronald Henry "ronnatural" (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Final Cut Pro Power Skills: Work Faster and Smarter in Final Cut Pro 7 (Paperback)

I am a doctor who decided to learn video to educate my patients about health care. I have now completed two documentaries and am currently working on two more. Having followed Larry Jordan's online courses on Final Cut Pro for over two years now, I have gone from knowing nothing about video and video editing, to what some have described as semi-pro. FCP Power Skills is an exceptional book which is well-organized and clearly describes both those editing methods that we editors use over and over again, as well as many lesser-known techniques that greatly make video editing more efficient and pleasurable. Anyone using Final Cut Pro, from beginner to "expert", could benefit from purchasing this book. Larry is one of the most experienced professionals in video editing, and has a great way of adding a sense of humor that makes learning a delight. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Power Skills that actually help, February 6, 2010

By 

Glenn Mulcahy (Brisbane, Qld Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Final Cut Pro Power Skills: Work Faster and Smarter in Final Cut Pro 7 (Paperback)

I don't buy many software instruction books, but this book has been genuinely helpful and practical for me.
I do not have time to sit down and read an instruction book cover to cover, neither would I remember it if I did. I like small bite-size and uncomplicated chunks of help that can actually be recalled and put to use quickly in real-life editing projects. This book assumes that the reader has basic knowledge of Final Cut Pro but also assumes - quite rightly - that many users do not tap into most of the potential of the program - or take a long time to do what could be done quickly if only one knew how. That describes my situation very accurately.
I have been editing in Final Cut Pro for about 5 years, but it is a hobby not a career for me, and I tend to forget useful shortcuts, or how to do clever effects because I am not using the program every day.
Hence the format of this book with one or two topics to a page and all tips very concise and self-contained, even if part of a group, is realistic for me as a learning tool that can actually work in my typically busy life, doing spasmodic editing projects.
The index is very good and the scope and choice of topics suggest an author who is himself a true user, well aware of what editors need to know on the run.
I am also a very visual learner, so I like the mix of illustrations and uncluttered concise text.

I am normally skeptical of books that promise to make one 'work faster and smarter' as the cover states, but that is exactly what this book has done - tangibly - for me.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Larry Jordan is a great explainer., January 9, 2010

By 

D. Bourne "bournemedia" (Western NC, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Final Cut Pro Power Skills: Work Faster and Smarter in Final Cut Pro 7 (Paperback)

I learned about Larry at the Lynda website, where he has several video-based tutorials. These are great, so I picked this up as a shelf reference. You think you know it all, then a super user like Larry shows you three more ways to do something.

There is a code in the back of the book that allows you to get online access to the text for one month.

I don't have FCP 7 yet, but it's still very valuable to me. I highly recommend it.