1) PRESETS/PREFERENCES

a) Creating a Project: In the desktop, open the Final Cut Pro alias, and select: File >> New >> New Project. If a project is already open, select: File >> Close Project before creating a new one.

b) Drive Setup: There are 2 internal hard drives and a 4-drive external SCSI array hooked up to each G4 system. External drives can be booked for 20 gigs of space. These drives are all partitioned into user-specific workspaces. When your program has been approved, you have the option of being assigned one such partition for your project. All your work should be done within this partition. You should never save any media to the system hard drive or the desktop! These drives are named either Alpha or Delta Bay HD. If you save anything to the desktop, it will be deleted immediately. For instructions on how to allocate all your media to your partition, see the next section.

c) Media Allocation/Scratch Disks: To make sure your media will be allocated correctly, select: Final Cut Pro >> Preferences, and click the "Scratch Disks" tab. Click the "Set" button, and browse to select your  assigned partition. Then, in the Preferences window, click the Video Capture, Audio Capture, Video Render, and Audio Render boxes to check them. Now all your media will go exactly where it should: to your partition. You must check these settings every time before beginning an edit session.

d) Audio/Video Settings: In most cases, the default sequence presets will be those you want to use for your project. To check these settings, Select Edit >> Audio/Video Settings, and make sure that your Sequence Settings and your Capture Settings are set to DV NTSC 48 Khz. This is the default setting. If your project needs an alternate aspect ratio, audio sample rate, etc., you can edit your settings. Simply hit the "Edit" button from within your Capture and Sequence settings tabs, and change the preset in question. Make sure your Sequence and Capture settings always match exactly. You also have the option of saving your media in Offline RT format. This is a lower resolution format that will allow you to fit a great deal more media on your partition. You can capture and edit in Offline RT, and when it is time to print to video, you can then recapture only the media you use in your sequence. For detailed information on this process, see the section on Media Manager in section 5a.

2) CAPTURE PROTOCOL

a) Deck Configuration:  On the Delta Bay, you can only capture from and export to miniDV or DVcam  tapes, via the DV Deck located next to the NTSC monitor. On Alpha Bay, you can capture from and export to miniDV, DVcam, VHS or SVHS. The following steps are for digital capture. For analog capture, see below in section e.

b) Logging:  Select File >> Log and Capture to open the Log and Capture window. Using the controls located below the display window, shuttle through your source tapes to find the clips you want to capture (i.e., digitize into the computer). Use the pull-tab on the bottom left section of the Log & Capture window to advance or rewind at a slower rate, to pinpoint your In-point (where you want to begin capturing), and click the "Mark In" button. Then either play or shuttle to the exact point where you want to stop capturing and click the "Mark Out" button. Log your clip correctly in the text fields located on the right side of the Log and Capture window, making any comments you desire. Pay special attention to the Reel numbers, and label your reels correctly (if you do not, this will cause confusion during Batch Capture).

c) Clip Settings: Click the "Clip Settings" tab, and indicate what you want to capture: Video only, Audio only, or Video & Audio, and what Audio type (Stereo is recommended). See diagram on next page.

d)  Capture: If you want to capture this clip alone, click the "Clip" button at the bottom right corner of the Log and Capture window. If you want to log several clips and perform a Batch Capture, click the "Log Clip" button, and repeat the logging process as many times as needed until all the clips you want to capture are logged. You will notice that as you log, icons with red lines through them appear in the Browser. This denotes logged clips that have not been captured (i.e., offline items). Once all your clips are logged, click "Batch" and check all settings in the pop-up window: select what you wish to capture (offline items, selected items, etc.) and add handles if you wish (extra time at the beginning and end of each clip. The program will shuttle through your tapes, capturing your clips. Once the Batch capture has been completed, you will notice that all red lines have disappeared from the icons in the Browser. Your clips have now been captured.

e) Analog Capture:  For Analog capture, you must first disable the firewire connection. The SVHS deck hooked up to Alpha Bay is not controllable, so you must use the Capture Now function. You do so by accessing Edit >> Audio/Video Settings and clicking the Device Controls tab. Then select "Non-controllable Device". Click Ok. Now you are ready to capture. Shuttle your tape to a few seconds before the point you wish to begin capturing at. Play the deck, and hit the Capture Now button in the Log and Capture Window. Capturing will begin immediately. Hit the Escape key to stop capturing. Once your clip is captured, it will appear in a separate window. To move this clip into your Browser, simply click within the new window's video frame, and drag it into the Browser. Now you can close the new window, and still be able to access your clip at a later time.

f) Monitoring Levels: Should you desire to monitor your video and audio levels as you are capturing, click the "Waveform and Vectorscope" button, and the appropriate windows will open, allowing you to watch the video and audio signals being read by the computer. You can also read the IU meter next to the Tool Palette to check your audio levels.

g) Importing Files: To import other files, such as sound files (music, etc.) or still frames (jpg., etc.), Select File >> Import >> File, and browse to select the file you wish to import, and the location you wish to save it to. All imported files should be saved to your partition. When capturing sound files, make sure that you save them at the correct audio sample rate (the same as your sequence). You can alter these settings, by clicking "Options" in the Import window, and selecting a new sample rate.

3) EDITING

a) Marking Clips: When bringing a clip into the timeline, it is best to select only what you think you'll need. Thus, you will want to mark In- and Out-points beforehand. To do so, double click a clip in the Browser, thus opening it in the Viewer. You may then scroll through the clip using the Viewer controls, or moving one frame at a time using the arrow and fl buttons. Mark In-points and Out-points as you see fit. Don't be afraid to open and close clips after you've marked them, because marks do not change unless you change them.

b) Bringing Clips into the Timeline: You may then bring the clip into the timeline one of two ways: 1) click the clip in the Viewer and drag it straight down into the Timeline, placing it wherever you want. 2) Click the clip in the Viewer and drag it to the right into the canvas window. A series of options will appear in the Canvas window: Insert, Overlay, Replace, Fit to Fill, or Superimpose. Drag the clip over the option you wish to perform. This method places the clip in the Timeline wherever the Playhead (the vertical line with a yellow triangle at the top) is currently positioned. Also note that the clip will be placed on whichever Video and Audio tracks are highlighted in yellow (notice the yellow filmstrip and speaker icons) at the left side of the timeline: these are your target tracks. To change this selection, simply click the appropriate button on the track you want to place the clip on. The Insert function will lay down the clip, and push everything in its way (in ALL tracks) further down the timeline. Overlay will lay down the clip, and delete everything in its path. To Replace one clip with another, you must first select the clip in the Timeline that you wish to replace (and likewise with Superimpose). To Fit to Fill, you must click the space in the Timeline you wish to fill, and then drag the Clip into the Fit to Fill field in the Canvas. Note that if the clip duration and the space to be filled are different, Final Cut Pro will modify the clip speed to fit the space (note this action requires the computer to render the effect: for Rendering instructions, see section 4e).

c) Viewer Features: There are several features in the Viewer that will more effectively allow you to edit your video. For example, you can check for illegal broadcast levels using the Range Check tool. Select View >> Range Check >> Excess Luma, Excess Chroma, or Both (depending on whether you want to check for over-exposed or over-saturated images). The green zebra stripes refer to sections of your frame that are 90-100% over-exposed or over-saturated, and the zebra stripes display areas of your video frame that exceed levels of 100%. To correct these levels, use the Broadcast Safe filter (see section 4: Effects). You can also activate Title-Safe borders in your frame to show you the areas that will appear on most television sets. The inner border is the title-safe line and the outer border is the action-safe line. This is the range of the average television display. You may also view the timecodes of each clip by activating the Timecode Markers feature.

d) The Tool Bench: These are multiple video scopes that live in a single window. The Waveform tool allows you to check your video levels. The RGB tool allows you to check the levels of each color in your frame. The Vectorscope allows you to see the distribution of color in your frame. Either select from the pulldown menu which window you want to monitor, or select "Auto" to simply monitor the active window.

e) Timeline Features: If you wish to keep a track safe from unwanted edits, you have the option of locking a track. To do so, click the padlock icon on the track you want to lock, and you will be unable to make any changes to the track. To unlock the track, click the padlock again.

To adjust audio levels, click the Clip Overlays button at the bottom left section of the Timeline, and you will notice that horizontal pink lines appear across all tracks. To adjust these levels, simply position the mouse over these lines, and click and drag them up or down. To modify levels over time, you must create nodes: Nodes are a form of marker that you may place at a specific frame that tells the program that some form of action needs to happen there. In this case, that action is an audio fade. To create nodes, you may either Option-click the pink level line where you want to create a node, or you may click the Pen tool in the Tool Palette, and then simply click the level line. To perform an audio fade, you'll need to create two nodes: one to begin the fade, and one to end it. Once your nodes are created, position the mouse over the node until the crosshairs appear. You may then click and drag the audio level up or down, as well as adjust the nodes left or right.

Should you desire to mute a track while you continue to edit your program, you have the option of   deselecting any track by clicking the green indicator at the far left of the track in the Timeline. Once performed, this action shades the entire track and prevents it from appearing in the Canvas.

Trim is a very simple and handy tool when you want to trim clips in the timeline. Simply place the mouse over either the beginning or end of the clip you want to trim. You'll see an icon appears where the arrow used to be. Now you can click and drag the In or Out-point of the clip.

The Match-Frame tool allows you to easily- and precisely- synchronize Audio and Video so that an audio action occurs at the same time as a video action. First, you'll need to mark the spot in your timeline where your audio cue is. Play through your timeline until you hear the cue, position the playhead directly over it. You may also double-click the clip in the Timeline, and click the Audio tab to view your audio waveform, so that you can scrub through the audio track and pinpoint the exact position of the cue. Now press M. This creates a marker on this frame. Select Mark >> Markers >> Edit, and label the Marker accordingly. Then click the Match-Frame button in the Canvas. Above, you'll see a copy of the corresponding video clip appears in the Viewer, cued to the frame displayed in the canvas. Shuttle to the video frame you want to synchronize with your audio cue, and then drag the clip from the Viewer to the right into the Canvas window, and into the Replace field. Now the two cues occur simultaneously.

f) Tool Palette: At the bottom right of the monitor you will notice a thin vertical strip of icons. This is the Tool Palette. Unless you are using a specific tool, leave the arrow tool selected.

The Razor Tool allows you to cut one clip into several smaller clips. Simply select the Razor in the Tool Palette, position the mouse over where you want to cut the clip, and click. To attain a greater degree of specificity in the position of your cuts, select: View‡ Snapping, so that Snapping is checked in the pulldown menu. This allows you to "snap" to exactly where the play- head is positioned, so you may simply position the playhead where you want the cut, select the Razor, move it over the playhead (the shaded playhead indicates that the tool has snapped to it), and click.

The Select Track tool allows you to select multiple items at the same time. Simply choose the select option in question (Select Track Forward or Backward, Select Track, or Select All Tracks Forward or Backward) and click where you want to select. You may then drag these items wherever you desire.

The Roll Edit tool allows you to adjust the position of an edit without moving the clips in question or anything preceeding or following the edit. Position the mouse over the edit you want to modify, and double-click it. This will open the Roll Edit tool. You'll notice two windows appear above with In and Out-points marked. You'll notice that if you drag the In and Out-points in one clip window, the tool compensates for this by adjusting the In and Out points of the other clip involved in the edit, so the rest of your timeline remains untouched.

The Slip Edit tool allows you to adjust the part of a clip being used in the timeline without moving any of your edits. Simply select the Slip Edit tool in the Tool Palette, and click and drag the clip in the Timeline that you want to adjust. You'll notice that the In- and Out-points of the clip have been changed, but the duration, and the rest of the timeline remains intact.

The Crop and Distort tools live within the same button. To crop, select the tool, and select View >> Image and Wireframe in your Canvas. Position the cursor at any edge of the frame, and click and drag to crop. The Distort tool allows you to stretch the corners of your video frame wherever you desire. Simply select the tool and click and drag any corner. These are effects and will have to render.

4) EFFECTS

a) Transitions: To create a transition, begin by selecting the Timeline, and placing the playhead exactly on the edit you want to put the transition on. Then, select Effects >> Video Transitions >> and select the specific transition you want to use. You will notice the Transition appears over your selected edit in the Timeline. The default transition time is one second. To modify the transition, double-click it to open it in the Viewer. In the Viewer, you will see two blue horizontal bars, and a lighter colored bar in-between them. The middle bar represents your transition. You can adjust the in and out-points by dragging the edges of the transition bar to the right or left. If you want to spread the transition evenly across the two clips, but change the duration, simply click the duration field in the top left corner of the Viewer, and enter in a new duration. Press return, and you'll see the change.

b) Modifying a Clip: Final Cut Pro also allows you to modify the speed of a clip. To do so, double click the clip you want to modify in the Timeline to open it in the Viewer. Click the "Motion" tab, and then select Modify >> Speed. The pop-up window will allow you to specify how you want to modify the speed in terms of percentage. To slow the clip down to half-time, enter in "50." To speed it up double-time, enter in "200," and so on. Clip modifications must be rendered before you are able to watch them in real-time (for rendering information, see section E).

c) Video Filters: Final Cut Pro allows you to apply various video filters to a clip. To apply a Video Filter to a clip, click the "Effects" tab in the Browser, and click the triangle to the left of the "Video Filters" folder. Browse through the different filters until you find the one you want, and then click and drag it onto the clip you want to modify in the Timeline. From there, you may double click the clip in the Timeline, and click the "Filters" tab to access the controls and adjust the filter settings.

d) Video Generators: In the Effects tab of the Browser, you will notice a folder labeled Video Generators. This folder contains templates for creating Titles, Backgrounds, Color Mattes, etc. Select the type of Generator you wish to create by double-clicking it, thus opening it in the Viewer. Click the "Controls" tab to begin. For titles, type your text in the text field at the top of the window, and hit return to enter the change. You may change your text or background color by clicking the color box (it will appear gray, unless you've already created a title), and adjusting the controls in the pop-up window until you have the color you desire. To select the origin of your title (the starting point in the frame), click the cross-hairs button, and then in the Canvas, click the point in the frame where you'd like your title to begin. From there, you may adjust the duration using the field in the top left corner of the Viewer window, or by clicking and dragging the in and out-points at the bottom of the Viewer window. If at any time, you wish to view your title, simply click the "Video" tab. You have several other options for modifying the look and features of your text, using the subsequent controls in the "Controls" tab, however, when it comes to these generators, experimentation is the best teacher. Experiment!

e) Keyframes: If you wish to change the parameters of an effect over time, you must create keyframes. A keyframe is similar to a node in that it is a marker that triggers an action within a specific clip. Apply the desired effect to the clip, and open it into the Viewer. Click on the Filters tab. The area to the right of each parameter denotes the timeline. Your clip will appear as a shaded white area. Position the Viewer playhead where you wish to create a keyframe and hit the keyframe button. For each effect shift, you must create two keyframes. Position the playhead over each keyframe and set the parameters as desired. Final Cut Pro will create a gradient in the parameter's row in the Viewer timeline, indicating the effect shift.  See diagram opposite page.

f) Rendering: Any time you create a Video Filter, Video Generator (e.g., Matte or Titles), or some Video Transitions, Final Cut Pro must write new frames of video,

and save them as a Render file (one render file per rendered clip). Thus, before you can watch your Transition, Filter, Generator, etc. in real time, you must render the selection. To render selections one at a time, click the item in question and select: Sequence >> Render Selection. To render several items at once, select Sequence >> Render All.    

g) Real-Time Effects: The exceptions to the above rules are the Real-Time Effects that Final Cut Pro offers. These will appear in bold in the Effects menu in the Browser. When you apply these transitions, they will appear in the Timeline with a green bar above them (as opposed to the red bar denoting unrendered effects). You may view these transitions and effects immediately upon applying them, but it is recommended that you render these effects before printing to video.

5) EXPORT

a) Media Manager: The Media Manager allows you to more effectively manage your storage space. You can make a copy of your sequence, delete all unused media, and (if you decided to capture using the Offline RT format), recapture only those clips you used in your timeline at a higher resolution. To do so, select File>> Media Manager, which will open the Media Manager window. The Summary area provides you with an overview of the selected options and how it will affect your media: "Original" refers to your total disk space currently used, while "Modified" refers to the used disk space after you perform the selected option. The Media area is where you choose your operation: 1) Copy creates a copy of all selected items, 2) Move moves all selected items to a new location and deletes the previous media set, 3) Recompress works similarly to "Copy," but it applies a new compression codec to your media, 4) Use Existing allows you to save only media that is associated with your selected items, 5) Create Offline allows you to copy items and place them into a new project and sever the links to your current media. The "Delete Unused" box allows you to delete media that isn't used in the selected items. The Project Area allows you to choose whether you will be affecting the current project or creating a duplicate.  See diagram opposite page.

b) Printing to Video: Once you are finished with your project, you can export it to tape. To print to tape, select: File >>  Print to Video. The window that pops up allows you to assemble a Leader. If you haven't placed bars and tone or black at the beginning of your sequence, you have the opportunity to do so now. You also may insert a countdown, as well as a period of black following your program. B-TV programs require 30 seconds of bars and tone, and 30 seconds of black before the start of your program, so keep this in mind when exporting projects for air on the station. You also have the option of printing only a section of your project by selecting in- and out-points in your Timeline (using the "Mark In" and "Mark Out" buttons in the Canvas window, and then selecting "In to Out" instead of "Entire Media" from the pull-down menu at the top of the window. Once you have assembled the header you want, click "ok." Final Cut Pro will ask you to start your record deck and then click ok. Do so, and the export will begin. When the project is finished, stop the record deck.

c) Exporting to FCP movie/Quicktime: If you have finished your project, and wish to have a copy on file, you have the option of exporting to Quicktime. To do so, select: File >> Export >> Quicktime or Final Cut Pro movie. You may then choose the file format and quality you wish to export to. If these formats and settings seem unfamiliar to you, use the default settings. Save the file in your partition, click "OK", and the export will begin.