Wednesday April 11: First Edits

Now that we've got our footage, it's time to ingest it onto the computers and start editing.

1) The first step is to get it onto the computer.  To do this we'll need:
-Camera
-Tape w/ footage
-Firewire transfer cable

-Computer with Final Cut

(if you're shooting on a camera that uses digital files instead of tapes, you simply need to copy the files over.  You may need to transcode the files into a format that Final Cut can work with).

2) Turn your camera on to 'Play' or 'VCR' mode, and rewind your footage to the beginning.

3) Hook the firewire cable to the camera and the computer.

4) Open up Final Cut Pro

Once Final Cut is open, you'll need to make sure it can communicate with the camera and capture the footage in the proper format.

Once final cut is open go to Final Cut Pro > Audio/Video Settings...

Cameras shoot in a variety of different formats depending on how the information is recorded.  The list of different formats can be overwhelming - but don't worry, it's not actually that complicated and you can always look up the settings for your camera.

For the camera we used, we shot in a format known as High Definition Video, or HDV.  This means that we shot in full HD (1920 x 1080).  We also used a frame rate of 24 frames/second.  So, we need to find the settings that match that:

For my sequence preset I used HDV - 1080p24.  HDV is the format.  1080 is the resolution (size) of the image.  and the p24 is because I shot at 24 frames/second.

For my capture preset I can just tell it HDV and it will figure out the rest.

For my Device Control I'm saying use HDV and Firewire - so the computer will know to look for an HDV camera over a firewire connection.  This will allow me to control the camera's playback using Final Cut.

Now, just say 'OK'


The next thing we need to do is make sure we know where it's going to save all of our footage.  When I capture footage from a tape onto my computer using Final Cut, it creates a digital Quicktime movie file.  These are automatically stored in my 'scratch disk' - which is simply a folder somewhere on my computer.  I can tell Final Cut exactly what folder to use by going to Final Cut Pro > System settings:

Now I just navigate to my folder and everything I do will be saved there.

It's important to make sure these settings are the same every time you open Final Cut, or you may end up accidentally saving your files to someone else's folder.

Now you're ready to capture!  Go to File>Log and Capture...

The Capture window will open and you should be able to control the camera to watch your footage.  When you're ready to capture it, just hit the 'Now' button.

It will start saving your files onto your scratch disk location.  The clips will appear in your browser window in Final Cut.