Appendix 1

The Filmmaker’s Guide to Final Cut Pro Workfl ow
into the online edit system and the original video matched to the off-line edit. Because the off-line
acted as a frame-by-frame guide for the fi nished project including the sound track, any titles, or
graphics that would be added later would be roughed in or simply “slugged,” blank video used as a
place holder in the edit. This was even true of the end titles.
The relationship of the off-line and online edits has changed dramatically. With software-based
editing, it is possible to make edit decisions from very high-quality digital video without any expensive
interfaces or equipment. Even a basic system with nothing more than a DV input and common
hard drive can produce reasonable digital video. Any effects can be created and used in these edits,
so the need for an online edit is greatly reduced. Many projects never go to online, the off-line being
quite good enough. But for broadcast quality or some high defi nition, there is still a need to take
many projects into online.
Before the online, titles and graphics must be created. If there will be no online, these graphic elements
will be added into the off-line edit before the picture is locked. You also need to cut in a
countdown leader if you have not done that yet. Cinema Tools comes with countdown leaders in all
popular frame rates in PAL and NTSC. These are DV fi les, but can be used in other formats; however,
this will require rendering. Do not use a different frame rate and render this. That will cause the
frame count to be off, rendering the countdown leader useless.
Color correction and sound are preformed with the online or just after. With the newest workfl ows,
color correction is sometimes performed in the pre-edit as a function of telecine or video capture.
Sometimes, color correction is done in the off-line edit with good results. This is especially true if
the project is fi nishing in off-line and not going to online. Color correction has historically been
performed in online and, in many cases, it still is. Or, some editors now prefer to do color correction
after the online, going tape to tape and correcting one shot at a time.
The fi nal sound with music and effects is edited after the picture is locked in off-line and mixed
before, during, or after the online. Or, if there is no online, the sound is mixed and laid back onto
the off-line edit.
Finishing on Video without an Online Edit
Even though you are not recapturing at a higher resolution in an online edit, you still have a
fi nishing phase containing many of the same processes historically reserved for the online. Color
correcting, importing and syncing the fi nal mix, fi nal graphics, effects, and fi nal output still need to
be done. Because you are doing these steps on your own system and your own time, you can perform
these steps in any order, revisit them as needed, change your mind, and be as creative as you want
to be.
This is not to say you may not want to take a DV project to a postproduction facility for special
treatment, color correction, or whatever. But part of the joy of these formats is the freedom to do
whatever you want whenever you want. Figure 6.1 shows one of the Brooks Institute’s setups for
editing off-line. Among the software tools available for off-line, there are many third-party color
correcting plug-ins for Final Cut Pro. However, don’t underestimate the power of Apple’s new
color-correcting software, Color. Color provides high-quality output and excellent control in an
easy-to-operate system.
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