Some basic steps in Final Cut Pro...

Create a new folder on a the dedicated media drive (external drive)—be sure you notice the correct external drive if there are two. Inside that drive, there will be a folder for the current semester, and inside that a folder for each class, and inside that a folder for each student. You will then create a folder for each of your individual projects. Put the current project you’re setting up in the correct folder. Name the project yourlastname_project name Open FCP. Click continue if you do not currently have a firewire connection to the computer. Do a "save as..." under file. Name project YourLastName_ProjectName and save inside the folder you created. Now go to system settings under the Final Cut menu. Set your "scratch disks" The first one at the top is for audio and video. Set all four options to your project folder that you created—including the three at the bottom-- waveform cache, thumbnail cache, autosave vault. Then make sure that you have a buffer over 2000MB and you can also set the max time for captured clips. Once this is done, click the blue ok button.

At this point all of your project (proj file, video, audio, related support

files) is going to one place--the folder in your media drive. This is a great aspect about FCP, it is all in one place and when you are done with the project you can trash the folder and get rid of the whole thing. NOTE: The next time you launch Final Cut Pro, it will look for that scratch disk. If someone else has used that computer in the interim for a different Final Cut Pro project, they probably set it to use a different scratch disk. In that case at the prompt you'll need to reset the scratch preferences to your disk, as described above—but, the best thing to do is to open Final Cut Pro by double clicking on your project file so it will find the correct scratch disk.

To capture clips, go to FILE. Drop down to log and capture. A window will pop up and you can describe your clips (then click the slate/clapboard icon) and the program will generate a name in the name box. Use the VTR controls onscreen to remotely control your DV camera or deck. Hit the play button and "Capture Now" and it will capture until to press ESC on the keyboard. Do a "COMMAND S" often. It’s good to do a quick save after every capture.

After all wanted clips are captured, close out the capture window and the clips should be in the browser bin. These clips can now be double-clicked or dragged to the viewer window. At the bottom of this window you will find in (i) and out (o) markers. Use these to specify the length of the edit and drag the clip from the window over to the other window--the canvas. Once you have it in the canvas, you are given the option of overwriting or inserting the edit. You can also control what track the clip will edit into inside the timeline based on what tracks (in the timeline) are connected. To connect or unconnect tracks in the timeline, look down at the very beginning of the timeline tracks and notice a single video button and two audio buttons. These buttons can be moved to other tracks or clicked on and off.

For titles, there is a button that drops down at the bottom right hand side

of the viewer window. The button has a filmstrip icon. Drop the menu down

and find text. Use the tabs at the top of the viewer window to edit and set

the font of the new title. Once the title looks good, set in and out points

and edit it into the timeline like any other clip.