Focal Easy Guide to Final Cut Pro 5: For New Users and Professionals (The Focal Easy Guide) [Paperback]

Rick Young (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0240520157 | ISBN-13: 978-0240520155 | Publication Date: November 23, 2005

Software packages are complex. Shouldn't software books make it easier? Simplify your life with The Focal Easy Guide to Final Cut Pro 5! This short, full-color book lives up to its name by paring down the software to its essentials. It covers only the key features and essential workflow to get you up and running in no time. When time is of the essence, less is more.

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 professionally with FCP5 in a few hours!
* Concise full-color coverage, written for FCP5 but relevant to all versions

Editorial Reviews

Review

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

"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

Book Description

A fresh alternative to software bibles

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press (November 23, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240520157
• ISBN-13: 978-0240520155
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,207,554 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #87 in Books > Computers & Technology > Apple > Final Cut

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SUCH A COMFORTING COMPANION, March 9, 2006

By 

Elizabeth L. Jones (Los Angeles, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Focal Easy Guide to Final Cut Pro 5: For New Users and Professionals (The Focal Easy Guide) (Paperback)

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. In it, you'll find a conversation between two friends, one who obviously knows a lot about his craft. That's the way it's laid out...like a friend who is sitting next to you in the cutting room as you are panicking because you've suddenly forgotten how to realign those out-of-sync clips or how to time-remap without pulling your hair out. Rick Young is a friend to all editors, new and tenured, who need information without information overload. 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 it's 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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exactly what I was looking for, October 31, 2006

By 

Finn Gregory - See all my reviews

This review is from: Focal Easy Guide to Final Cut Pro 5: For New Users and Professionals (The Focal Easy Guide) (Paperback)

I have been trying to teach myself Final Cut Pro recently, and was making some progress. However, using lots of trial and error and referring to the voluminous Help guide was taking up a whack of my time, time I would rather have spent just getting stuck into the editing. I wanted a book that would lay down all the groundwork for me. This book fits that requirement perfectly.

It's really nicely designed - easy on the eyes, lots of screenshots and step-by-step instructions, and an intuitive structure. The writing style doesn't treat you like an idiot, but it is simply written, clear and concise. It also shows the shortest and simplest ways of achieving things. The shortcuts that I've learnt alone have saved me a lot of time.

Some important points about the approach the book takes: firstly, it isn't a 'project-based' approach. I bought another book which used a CD with files on it to walk you through the step-by-step process of achieving an exact final product. I hated this approach - it made the book very difficult to use as a general reference. With the Focal guide, I just use the index to find out information on what I want.
Secondly, it is far more functional than stylistic. By this I mean it shows you how the various tools work, not recommendations on the effects you can achieve. You're left to do the monkeying around with all the filters and things to figure that part out by yourself - but at least you should be comfortable at the controls.
Thirdly, it's not going to teach you how to edit, in terms of the types of shots to cut together, framing, and so on. Either learn this somewhere else, or use your own creative instincts.

All of which adds up to the book delivering exactly what it promises: a guide to the software, for beginner to intermediate users. More advanced users will want more detail. Good price, great book, will get you up and running fast. Buy it.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great little book, January 11, 2006

By 

quick edit "sam" (NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Focal Easy Guide to Final Cut Pro 5: For New Users and Professionals (The Focal Easy Guide) (Paperback)

Very fast, get you up and running, book. If you need to start editing with FCP RIGHT NOW, then this is a great resource, sort of like taking a one day immersion course in FCP editing. Its not focused on teaching you the ART of editing (there are other books that do that), but it assumes that lots of great (and potentially great) editors frankly just need to know how you get a clip from the Viewer to the right edit point in a Sequence. Did I mention that its also cheap?