Production Glossary
Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro, innovated by Macromedia Inc. and Apple Inc., is non-linear editing software that gives the users the ability to save video onto their hard drive to then be altered, refined and formatted into many different varieties. Compatible with the QuickTime video format, Final Cut Pro offers an abundance of features including but not limited to multi-camera editing, video transitions and audio filters, color correction, and real-time multi-stream effects construction, known as DynamicRT.Timeline of Versions and Innovations:
1998: Final Cut Pro was viewed privately at NAB (National Association of Broadcasters).
1999: After being bought by Apple Inc., the tweaked and polished Final Cut Pro was introduced and made available to consumers.
2001: The film Rules of Attraction premiered after its full edit using Final Cut Pro. This achievement demonstrated to the movie community that a consumer level product could hold its own against the older editing software competition.
2002: In August of this year, Final Cut Pro was awarded the Primetime Emmy Engineering Award for the impression it made on the television industry.
2003: A cheaper, non-professional version of Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Express, was released this year. Possessing many of the same elements, such as the interface, Final Cut Express did not include all of the film-specific functions.
2003 also saw the debut of Final Cut Pro 4. This version introduced three new features. Compressor provided transcoding among videos; LiveType enabled the development of advanced titling; and finally Soundtrack gave the user the ability to create royalty free music tracks.
2004: Final Cut Pro version 4.5 was introduced. Labeled by Apple as “Final Cut Pro HD”, this version promoted Panasonic’s DVCPRO HD format.
2005: Final Cut Pro 5 was debuted with increased support for the HDV format (compressed HD). This version also expanded its support of the DVCPRO recording to memory cards instead of tape.
2006: This year saw the beginning of the Final Cut Pro bundle. The editing software was no longer available for individual purchase, but required the consumer to buy the bundled versions that supported the Universal Binary format.
2011: Final Cut Pro X became available in the Mac Store for $299. This overhauled and innovated new version was received with mixed reviews by consumers.
Standard Features and Elements:
The Browser: lists media files and enables transitions and filters from the ‘effects’ tab to be dragged to specific clips.
The Viewer: location where clips can be previewed and cropped. Contains tabs for audio clips to allow for accurate keyframing. The ‘motion’ tab holds all the tools to adjust the properties of a clip.
The Canvas: area of the program in which “in progress” media is viewed. Features ‘edit overlay’ with seven drop areas where clips are moved to be edited by, ‘insert’, ‘fit to fill’, ‘replace’, ‘superimpose’, and ‘overwrite’.
The Timeline: it is here that clips are placed together in sequence. The timeline can hold up to 99 tracks, layered one on top of the other, with compositing features to alter the clips (difference, overlay, screen, subtract, travel matte luma/alpha, and add).
