The Focal Easy Guide to Final Cut Pro 6 [Paperback]

Rick Young (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0240810090 | ISBN-13: 978-0240810096 | Publication Date: November 28, 2007 | Edition: 1

Software packages are complex. Software books don't need to be. Simplify your life with The Focal Easy Guide to Final Cut Pro! This concise, full-color book lives up to its name by paring down the software to its essentials. You learn the key features and essential workflow to get you up and running in no time.

With this book you can start cutting immediately, whatever you edit, whatever the format. This is an ideal introduction whether you are a professional moving over to Final Cut Pro from another package or system, a new user, or just someone who wants to get the best results from Final Cut Pro, fast!


* Save time, learn all you need to know to edit with FCP in hours
* Concise full-color coverage, suitable for all OSX versions of FCP

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book will help you learn how to use Final Cut Pro 5 quickly and confidently." - Stills Audio Motion

"In such a relatively short book as compared to the 800 page tomes I usually find, there is not much that Rick Young does not cover in order to get the new user up and running as soon and as painlessly as possible...what really sets this book apart is how Rick Young's step-by-step directions and graphics are so very easy to follow." Steve Douglas, videographer, kenstone.net

"The book lives up to its name: it is easy to follow, well illustrated with screen grabs, and will give you a decent grounding in the software to get you doing simple edits." - Zerb

"This handy guide is small enough to fit in your bag for on the go reference, but thick enough to provide you with the skills needed to master Final Cut Pro." - Black Filmmaker

"In such a relatively short book as compared to the 800 page tomes I usually find, there is not much that Rick Young does not cover in order to get the new user up and running as soon and as painlessly as possible." Steve Douglas, kenstone.net
"Short, clear and to the point... It will get you up and running on FCP in short order."
Ken Stone (www.kenstone.net), Los Angeles FCP user group
"Whether you are a newcomer to Final Cut Pro...or an experienced Final Cut Pro editor, this little book will benefit you hugely. For the newcomer it is so easy to follow and understand and for the professional it will act as a quick refresher course while bringing you up to speed on Final Cut Pro's new features."
Monroevideo.co.uk

"I just was not going to buy any books on Final Cut Pro. I mean, anyone of us who has ever set foot in this section of the bookstore knows how overwhelming and technical editing software manuals can be. But the fun, unique, cover of this book compelled me to open it...You can pick up this book in the middle of the day or the middle of the night when you feel like you want to throw your Mac and its friend, Final Cut Pro, right out the window. In it, you'll discover those little light bulb moments that mean the completion of a successful and fulfilling project."
- An Amazon reader

From the Back Cover

"Short, clear and to the point... It will get you up and running on FCP in short order."
- Ken Stone, www.kenstone.net

"Compared to the 800 page tomes I usually find, there is not much that Rick Young
does not cover...what really sets this book apart is how Rick Young's step-by-step
directions and graphics are so very easy to follow."
- Steve Douglas, videographer, www.worldfilmsandtravel.com

Rick Young's Easy Guide to Final Cut Pro is the ultimate guide to getting up and running
with Apple's professional editing software. Full of information relevant to both new
users and professionals, this book wastes no time in teaching all the vital knowledge
needed to edit your project from start to finish using Final Cut Pro. All the key features
and essential techniques are presented in this easy to understand, full-color book.
When time is of the essence, less is more.

Learn invaluable workflow tips which show you how to tap into the full power of Final
Cut Pro, whichever version of the program you are using. All the essential areas are
covered:
System Set-up . Capture . Editing . Audio Mixing . Effects . Output . Media
Management.

This latest edition also features new sections specific to Final Cut Pro 6,
including: effective ways to edit HDV . working with P2 media . encoding using
Compressor 2 . accessing the Master Templates . using Apple's ProRes 422 codec.

Praised by industry professionals, educators and independent filmmakers, the Easy
Guide to Final Cut Pro has earned a solid reputation as being the absolute best book on
the market for those wishing to get up to speed with Final Cut Pro quickly.

Rick Young (www.macvideo.tv) is the Director and Founding Member of the UK Final
Cut Pro User Group and an Apple Solutions Expert. A freelance television director and
editor, Young has many years of broadcast experience, including work for the BBC,
Sky, ITN, CNBC, and Reuters. Also a Final Cut Pro Consultant, Rick has been invited as
a public speaker at numerous UK and US exhibitions, is a liaison to the US FCP user
groups, and is author of the best-selling, The Focal Easy Guide to Final Cut Pro 5.

The Focal Easy Guide series:
. Start working with new software immediately regardless of your level
. Achieve professional results, learn practical skills from industry experts
. Focused, user-friendly coverage of the key tools you need to know

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press; 1 edition (November 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240810090
• ISBN-13: 978-0240810096
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #238,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #27 in Books > Computers & Technology > Apple > Final Cut

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great illustrations - to the point descriptions!, June 22, 2008

By 

Leica Hound "WD" (Michigan USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Focal Easy Guide to Final Cut Pro 6 (Paperback)

If you need to get up to speed on Final Cut and new features --- this guide gives you concise information and visual backup to explain a complicated edit process minus having to wade through a typical 600-800 page manual (use the official manuals as a reference when you have time!) --- plus the size makes it portable enough to take with your laptop on the job. This is my 4th Rick Young manual --- his choices and descriptions have never disappointed me - I have referred many novice editors to his books. The feedback has been positive.

What the larger Apple manuals are great at --- is providing practice material and step by step instruction --- sometimes it's best to start from page 1 --- especially as a newbie to editing. However --- Rick Young's series of condensed guides --- serves as a tremendous handy abridgment with the MOST important details needed for most conditions when you don't have time to drag out the BIG books. His manuals are written from an editor's perspective with brevity in mind. Think of it as a "greatest hits" version of editing information. You won't be disappointed.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars inexpensive, but fills a very narrow niche, July 13, 2009

By 

GameMaker (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Focal Easy Guide to Final Cut Pro 6 (Paperback)

I am taking a class in Video Editing, and we are doing the class on the Macintosh using Final Cut Pro 6, so this was a required text for the class.

This book has both some serious plusses but also serious minuses. First the strengths. I feel this book serves as a good reference for intermediate Final Cut Pro users. I think mainly this book is great for people who may be familiar with an older version of Final Cut, or are familiar with a different editor (Premiere, Vegas or whatever) and are migrating over to use Final Cut. For such people, this book is great because if you want to, say, know how to add a video track, or how to slice a clip into two parts, these kinds of things are very easy to look up in this book. And obviously the book is attractively priced.

Now the negatives. I think this book is nearly useless for users who are trying to learn not only Final Cut, but how to edit in general. Because the book is organized in "how to do this, how to do that" with pretty much no discussion of *why* you'd want to do these things, or how doing these things would improve your video project, or even how to go about editing a video project using some clips that you might already have. A pretty substantial level of editing knowledge seems to be assumed by this book. On the other hand, really only the pretty basic straightforward things are covered in this book. So I don't think it has anything to offer advanced users.

So I dunno, for a very specific group of users, this book is a nice one to have on your shelf. For everyone else, I think they'd be better served by something else.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book for Final Cut Pro 6 Users, February 19, 2008

By 

Miriam L. Moran "video gal" (Omaha NE USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Focal Easy Guide to Final Cut Pro 6 (Paperback)

I'm a video editor with 3 years of experience in Final Cut Pro. When I spotted this slim volume at my bookstore, I was intrigued and picked it up to look through - then I bought it on the spot and went home and read it. The explanations are very clear and well illustrated. The tips I picked up have already saved me a good bit of time and frustration during my editing. I wish I had found this book earlier!

This book also does a great job of going over what you need to get started in Final Cut Pro - installation, settings, etc. While this book is not a "load this clip from the CD and now push this button" type book, the examples are very clear, and can be done with any video clip on your computer.

There is definitely material here for even experienced Final Cut Pro users - for example, I'd never really understood some of the rendering and format options (AIC, ProRes 422, etc) and this explains them, and shows how to use them to your advantage. Heck, the explanation on page 24 of how to put custom buttons on your toolbars, or the one on page 85 on how to use the select track tool, have probably saved me 5 or 10 minutes an hour since I learned to use them.

Hope you enjoy this book as much as I have!