Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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.

As a college student who only had one semester to learn Final Cut Pro, this book was
very useful for quick reference. It includes all kinds of tips neatly organized and simply
explained. When I had a question, I simply looked up the topic in the chapters in the table
of contents or in the index. The tips are easy to understand and straight to the point. They
are usually explained in a page or less with helpful illustrations. This is also a great user
manual for people who want to know more than the basics. It presents shortcuts and tips
to make you work faster. As I read the book in order, I discovered how much I didn't
know!
The first chapter shows how to manage your system with Final Cut Pro with tips on
organizing files, backing up, settings and preferences. The next chapter was very helpful
to me because it clearly explained technical settings that can make or break your project
such as dropped frame errors, how to avoid interlacing problems, the different types of
ProRes, different transfer rates, bit depth, etc. The third chapter describes how Final Cut
Pro ingests different types of media and gives pointers on which settings to use to import
them. The most helpful tips for me where on reconnecting and converting media. Chapter
four shows shortcuts and useful hints on working with the application. This is the
essential chapter that can save you hours of work! Chapter five continues demonstrating
tips to help you edit faster by presenting different trimming, toggling, sliding, and rolling
techniques. The next chapter focuses on audio and explains the best ways to monitor
audio as well as fast tips to mix it all. Chapter seven taught me a lot of transition and
effect techniques. I discovered new transition and effects that I wasn't even aware of.
And to wrap things up, the last chapter describes the last part of every project-exporting
and outputting. This chapter describes how to export to various forms of media and gives
you some last tips to improve your work.
I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who is learning how to use Final Cut
Pro or already knows the basics and would like to learn more.

This is an excellent book to answer a lot of those questions Final Cut Pro users always have.

The perfect companion for those who edit video on a less than full time basis. I am a still photographer who is new to editing video. I will never be a full time professional editor nor do I want to be one. I just want to edit short videos of 3-5 minutes in length. Larry Jordan is a master craftsman and an extraordinary teacher. I was familiar with Larry's video training through [...] where his presentation skills really shine. This book lets you get at specific details without wading through a textbook. If you want to learn Final Cut Pro you need to do two things: (1) take a course from an excellent instructor like Larry Jordan and (2) buy this book so you can access what you learned what you learned in the course or textbook.

Over the 5 years I've been using FCP, there has only been one author I always refer to when I need information. Larry Jordan is the definitive expert on Final Cut Pro. Power Skills may not be the definitive book on FCP7, but it's the most useful text for FCP7 because it's written in simple plain English.

The information is laid out like a blog or magazine article. Larry does not waste your time. I keep this book right next to my computer and use it often when I need to do something I haven't done before on FCP7 OR if I want to search for a more efficient way to complete a function. This also makes for great toilet reading -- I say that in a good way. Since the book is basically comprised of a series of tips and tricks, you can read one tip at a time in spurts.

Larry Jordan has the ability to quickly summarize the tips and tricks that get me working more efficiently in FCP (and at times he'll throw in amusing quip here or there to make the book more lively) I've been flipping through this book for a few weeks now and it has already saved me a bunch of time. Don't get this if you want a comprehensive overview of Final Cut Pro - this book is for editors who already know the software, but want to know how to work more quickly or who need a refresher.

Larry communicates the ins and outs of Final Cut Pro 7 in a clear and easy to follow manner. This book will help you edit faster and smarter in FCP!!