Refining the Rough Cut

In previous chapters, there was very little hands-on content, as the idea was to get you started with the software. This is about to change from this chapter onward, as from now on, the discussion will be on how to practically use Final Cut Pro. The previous chapter examined preparing the rough cut. The process involved adding the raw visual and audio-based media for the video and assembling it into a Final Cut Pro project. The refining of the rough cut to produce the final edit is the main focus of this chapter. In this chapter, we will look at and discuss techniques for cleaning up the rough cut using the tools in Final Cut Pro. You will learn that the final edit is a distillation of the story, removing material that is surplus to the edit while leaving just the right amount of content to strengthen the story. Then, once the duration of the fine edit is fixed (which is called picture lock), we can move on to adding effects, actioning the color correction, and...