Appendix 1

The Filmmaker’s Guide to Final Cut Pro Workfl ow
Adobe applications: After Effects, Photoshop, and Illustrator or a good titling system such as Boris
FX. So, we look at working these applications into your workfl ow as well.
The Final Cut Studio bundle also comes with Color, Compressor, DVD Studio Pro, and Motion. We
will also look at integrating these applications into your fi nishing workfl ow.
Basic Editing Workfl ows
Workfl ows can be divided into two basic types, depending on the shooting and fi nishing formats.
Projects shot on fi lm, which will be fi nished on fi lm, can follow several unique workfl ows. In this
camp are the projects that will be cutting the camera negative to make fi lm prints for distribution.
Other projects will make digital intermediates for printing to 35 mm fi lm. This is the realm of the
big-budget, feature fi lm, Hollywood’s lifeblood.
In the other camp are digital video and fi lm shooting with digital video fi nishing; with these workfl
ows, projects can be shot on digital video or fi lm in any format. Film is transferred to digital video
and edited and fi nished as video. This is not to say that Hollywood blockbusters on fi lm are not found
here as well. The fi nished digital video can be used to create 35 mm fi lm prints, and with the increase
in theaters that have digital projection, soon fi lm prints may not be necessary. But the workfl ow here
is different; it is a video-based workfl ow, more often used to make television shows, music videos,
and commercials.
The Basic Workfl ow Elements
There are many steps in workfl ow, and these elements must fall in a reasonable and workable order.
They may be preformed in different orders or not preformed at all, depending on the workfl ow and
the type of media being edited.
Processing, Printing, and Syncing
Historically, this was the developing and printing of the camera fi lm as well as the transfer of audio
from the original recording to an editable format and syncing to the picture.
Processing may still be the developing of the fi lm, but it may also be processing 2 K or 4 K data
into a digital video format for editing. It may be moving media from memory cards to drive or even
tape, or it could be rendering virtual elements into digital video.
The printing may still include work printing of the camera original for projection. But, more likely,
printing may be telecine or datacine (transcoding one media form into another or “cloning” highdefi
nition tapes to a lower resolution format) of the fi lm to a digital video format for editing, and
capture of digital video to drive.
Audio may be dubbed from the original tape to another format, captured or recorded into the editing
system, or it may be simply copied to drive on the editing system ready for syncing. This transfer
may include a speed change to the audio to match the video, or it may be in sync with the original
audio.
Syncing can happen in telecine or on the editing system prior to editing. It can be done with the
time-honored system of matching the image of the clapper closing to the sound of the clapper, or it
may be done with time code or smart slate.
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