When I learned that I ’d be part of the Macworld Video production squad , I was both excited and more than a scrap apprehensive . I was activated because I enjoy working in video , though it never seems I have enough time to do so , and anxious because Apple had recently ( with the debut of iLife ’ 08 ) essentially killed off my video production tool of choice : iMovie HD.iLife ’ 08includes a program named iMovie ’ 08 , but it ’s colligate to its precursor in name only — iMovie ’ 08 is a completely young plan .
While iMovie ’ 08 added a number of interesting features beyond those bid in iMovie HD , it also removed quite a few , and more significantly to me , create a completely new paradigm for television redaction . In a typical video - redact app , such as iMovie HD , you have a spot to store your picture cartridge holder , and a timeline on which to place them . In iMovie ’ 08 , however , the traditional timeline and storehouse bin have undergo major change — your videos are shown as a serial publication of still image in both the bin and timeline country , and a traditional timeline panorama is not uncommitted .
For my first two Macworld video production , I used iMovie ’ 08 , adjudicate my skilful to adapt to the new way of doing things . Even though I was capable to create both videos , and the end resolution were okay — at least as hunky-dory as my talents allow — I would n’t say either product was an enjoyable experience . I knead too hard to empathize the iMovie ’ 08 way of doing things , and it seemed that many unproblematic tasks , such as making a cut on a exact frame , were either inconceivable or more complicated than they were in iMovie HD .
As but one example , as I note above , clips in iMovie ’ 08 are presented as a serial publication of still frame ; as you move the mouse over the still , the video and audio play back . Here ’s what the “ bin ” see like for a projection I was doing involving some X - Plane video captures :
As you could see , each clipping is correspond as a number of stills , and there ’s a tenuous break between each clip . As you move the mouse over the clip bin , the clips toy both audio and video — I found this very distracting and not at all utilitarian . In addition , if you ’re using the black eye like this to preview cartridge holder , you have to dredge it from the rightmost bound of the skeletal frame back to the left so as to continue toy the clip when it spans more than one row . Overall , I just could n’t adjust to this new paradigm , finding it imprecise , visually busy , and not at all intuitive . As you append more and more clips to a project , there ’s a lot of scrolling around to find the share of the clip you want to use . I also missed many of iMovie ’s outcome , and the more - coherent manner of handling projects — iMovie ’ 08 automatically creates “ upshot ” when you import picture , but I tend to remember in terms of projects , and prefer verbatim control over such things .
With my dislike for iMovie ’ 08 and desire for a in force solution , I was confront with a decision : do I go back to my tried - and - true iMovie HD , or do I set out in a new direction ? I know iMovie HD inside - out , and it would certainly be an easy move to make . However , Apple has made it pretty clean that the future of iMovie HD is , well , not — the computer programme has arrive at the end of its living , and for better or uncollectible , iMovie ’ 08 is the time to come of consumer video redaction on the Mac . ( From where I sit around , it ’s the wrong decision , but then again , they do n’t ask my opinion on such thing . )
For a while , it seemed that iMovie HD was choke to be my only selection … but then , just before I was put to take off working on the latest video , Apple releasedFinal Cut Express 4 , and dropped the monetary value $ 100 in the process ( $ 199 new , $ 99 upgrade ) . Somewhere in my thick past , I had purchased a previous version of Final Cut Express , and so , with a $ 99 toll of ledger entry , I decided to take the dip and seek to teach something novel … of course , choosing to do so with a video recording web log due in only a couple weeks may not have been the best determination .
However , after launch Final Cut Express , I sense the transition would be easier than expected . The interface is much more traditional , with a ABA transit number for clip , a viewer window for creating segments out of those cartridge holder , a full timeline with support for multiple audio and video track , and a sheet in which to view your last composition .
At the top left of the windowpane is the bin , showing 10 clips and the default sequence . Compare the amount of space used for those 10 clips with that taken up by only three ( and a half ) clips in the iMovie ’ 08 screenshot above . Not only can you see many more clips in a smaller blank , but with the power to set apart each clip a name , I can really see more information at a glance than I can in iMovie ’ 08 . If you need to see any of the clips , a twofold - click will spread out one in the Viewer window to the right . ( This is also where you set the clip ’s in and out points , which controls how much of the cartridge holder is used in the timeline . ) To the right of the Viewer is the Canvas , where you view the production you ’ve create on the timeline .
I spent some time with the exploiter manual , and then basically just dove into my undertaking . affair move comparatively well , although there were alteration to be made . My screen captures , for representative , had to be shorten to 640 - by-480 before I brought them into Final Cut Express , whereas iMovie ’ 08 seemed to handle any scaling that needed to be done . Titles , which are basically automatic in iMovie ’ 08 , ask to have disappearance in / out bring manually in Final Cut Express .
But those nonaged annoyances aside , I found working in Final Cut Express to be more intuitive , quicker , and more pleasant than working in iMovie ’ 08 . There were no annoying sound recording and video preview as I moved the computer mouse over clips in the bin ; and the ability to have more than one television track permit much greater flexibility . The independent audio tracks allowed me to exchange a TV cartridge clip that had to be reshot without having to re - memorialize the voiceover , and have memory access to a wide form of impression and titling options should permit more creative thinking in next projects .
To take my encyclopaedism even further , I ’ve start working my style through the just - releasedApple Pro Training Series : Final Cut Express 4manual . I have n’t gotten very far yet — vacation obligations have taken precedence — but I ’ve already learned quite a chip about the language of telecasting production , and how the Final Cut Express port works . The book let in a videodisk packed with sample projects , so you may utilise what you ’re read to actual Final Cut Express 4 project as you learn . Once I ’ve worked my room through the Bible , I ’ll hopefully have more to say about it , for anyone contemplating making the leap as I ’ve select to do .
As of today , I still know almost nothing of Final Cut Express ’ capabilities — I learned just enough to get through my television blog project . The good word is that , for one experienced with iMovie HD , the passage to Final Cut Express really should n’t be all that hard — at least in damage of being able to get a dim-witted project done . And now I ’ve got a few hebdomad “ off ” in which to find out even more before its again time for my turn in front of the photographic camera .
