The new girl from Central Florida
 

Hello!
I have been reading around for over a month and want to introduce myself.

I am a hobbyist, my great passion is editing. I learned on imovie about 2 years ago and I can spend 20 hours at a time editing. I have been searching for what makes me happy and all along I have been doing it. Now I want to step up and learn Final Cut pro, and eventually merge into this full time.

Yes! I have big dreams. I was once told to do what you love and you will become successful because you’re doing what you love. I’m ready to start pursuing my passion. I’m still learning the business, reading all the books and researching all the discussion board I can.
Right now I am focused on wedding/event filming and editing.
Any suggestions or best wishes, greatly appreciated

Hi Mary!

Welcome aboard! No suggestions from me but lots of best wishes for all kinds of fun and success.

I love this line! :)

Hello Mary and welcome to our humble abode in cyberspace. I wish I had the passion for editing that you have, but I really love being a camera operator.

Good for you to pursue your passion as a profession. It won't always make you rich, but you won't hate going to work on Monday.

My suggestion is to look at other's work and see what you like or don't like, then develop your own style. That's pretty much true in any artistic endeavor.

Best of luck,

-gb-

Hi Mary,
This is a great list. You'll learn a lot here - there are so many knowledgeable folks willing to share advice and experiences and some inspiring video links.

Just a thought - I know you want to graduate to using FCP but it's a huge step up from iMovie if you go straight to the Studio version. Have you considered using Final Cut Express as an intermediate step? That way you can concentrate on the workflow and editing techniques without having to come to terms with all the other parts of the package. I don't mean to question your ability or dampen your enthusiasm in any way.

Your definitely not dampening my enthusiasm, but rather being practical.
I have been snooping around the Mac non-linear editing area and posted a question about moving from imovie to FCP. I haven’t had any feedback as of yet. Your suggestion is appreciated. It’s hard to find info here, there is just so much info its hard to find the answer your looking for!

Is it easy to transition from Express to Pro? What are the disadvantages of express? In another forum I brought up the question as to why FCP (the industry standard) is better than Vegas or Premire. Because I am starting fresh, I have the luxury to choose what program to use; I want to be professional and versatile but of course don’t want to fail miserably.

Again I appreciate any insight

Hi Mary, and my voice of welcome joins the others here.

As to your editing package choice, I agree with others that most of the major packages have all the tools you'll ever need.

But it's not always the toolsets that make a program worthy of selecting. Sometimes it's the more intangible things.

My take is that quite a few years ago, and for a good chunk of time, AVID was the only NLE that was considered "really professional." It made the first inroads into Hollywood and big budget productions. Then FCP was introduced and over the following 5 years or so, all the "young gun" editors - pro and amature - adopted it because it was not only an excellent program, but an excellent value.

Some more years went by with FCP rapidly growing a loyal following before the SUPERB audio program VEGAS got video capabilities, then that package was bought by SONY.

During all of this Adobe Premier was percolating along as a solid choice as well.

From my point of view, however, FCP has had the largest overall success - and by success I mean it's adoption rate AND it's growth as an acceptable alternative to AVID for high end work - combined with it's capabilities in all general video work.

So while you can learn to edit really well on any system, and VEGAS and PREMIER are both great systems - FCP might be your safest choice because it brings both relative affordability AND a solid track record of development and on-going penetration in to the industry.

And as someone else here mentioned, you can take what you know of iMovie, expand to FCExpress, then take that learning to FCP - all in a seamless path.

At the base, however, its not learning how to use editing software that will make or break your career, it's learning how to EDIT. Something that every one of these software packages can easily help you learn.

Again, welcome and good luck!

Here'e an article which may be of interest:
http://videoediting.digitalmedianet....sp?id=286613-0

Using FCE is very similar to using FCP itself. There are some restrictions: for instance I was worried about the apparent lack of multicamera support in FCE, but it is in fact quite easy to put footage from several cameras on different video tracks, sync them and them cut between them.

Good post, Bill. You illustrated the NLE landscape quite nicely! Totally agree with everything you said.

One thing that wasn't mentioned is that sometimes it just plain comes down to which software 'feels' right to you when you first sit down with it. That intuitiveness is IMHO, what drives many to their ultimate choice.

regards,

-gb-