The "Ken Burns Effect"
 

This is a feature in iMovie for still images. What I want to know is how to do it in FCE. I realize it is probally a simple thing to do with the motion tab in canvas, but I've been unable to figure it out. If you know how to do it, please explain step by step 'cause I ain't real keen. knowwhatimean?
Thanks,
Ken

Ken, you're right its under the motion tab. In the viewer make sure you have view-image and wireframe. go to the motion tab and set a keyframe at the beginning of the clip. move the playhead to where you want the effect to stop and set another keyframe, the go to the video tab and position/size the shot however you want.

Ken,
check out http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage...age_index.html there is a tutorial on there for the Ken Burns effect and lots of other stuff for Final Cut Pro. Most should apply to FCE as well.

Who's Ken Bu....nevermind.

Okay, thanks Nate and Ric. I appreciate the help.

I mean thanks Rik!

ken burns is a technically adept, albeit conceptually bankrupt documentary maker whose films have pretty much set the standard for traditional pbs-style historical documentaries in the past 20 years or so. his best known work would be his civil war series. he also did series's (serii? serum? is there a plural for series?) on baseball and jazz. his most recent film was on the great heavyweight fighter jack johnson.

pretty mch anytime you see a documentary that features about 15% talking head shots and 85% archival stills, panning and or zooming about (slowly) within the frame, it's either one of his films or someone using the technique with which he is most closely associated. (during the archival stills, you're usually hearing the voices of the same people from the talking head shots, but you're looking at the stills panning around.)

i can't say for sure about his more recent stuff, but on the older stuff he shot the moving stills on an animation stand, and didn't use after effects. in reality, he doen't do much of the actual work himself anyhow. he has a team of researchers, archival photo wranglers, and so on.

also, he has a stupid haircut.

ps-
if the imovie version is good enough for you, you could always just use imovie to handle your stills sequences, and then export a quicktime movie which you could bring into final cut for the real editing work.