OT: FX for Newbs

Hi Guys,
I'm working on a training video that covers all the basics for those that can edit in Final Cut Pro, but are struggling with some of the effects you can do quite easily right inside of the application (no fair jumping to Motion quite yet).

As I'm finalizing my outline, I was wondering if any of you could list your top 10 (or more) effects that you think all students need to learn. Or perhaps list the effects you struggled with when you first learned about effects creation.

I want this to be a killer video so your comments and ideas are most welcome!

Thanks.

Kevin Monahan
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How's about doing a thing on ADD graphics (I call them). You know, a montage of images and text that fly around the screen so fast that you can't tell what the message is. Each image moves in less than 1/2 second and makes lots of "whirring" sounds but really gives no real message?

Well, it's a basic fx tape. Might wait for Tape II to get into ADD fx.

We're talkin':

Superimpose Effects
PIP
Transitions
Motion Paths
Filters
Mattes
Keys

Y'know. Reeeeaaaaal basic.

anything that involves duplicating a layer seems to cause beginners no end of pain
along the same lines (and a good one to get students thinking about what is actually happening) is showing them how to use a chroma key to limit any effect ie the same controls found in the color correctors "limit effect" section can be shown to be the basic chroma key controls and can be used to limit any effect you choose

basic Colour Correcting is a VERY popular request when i'm teaching,
this might seem beyond the scope of your book,
but there are some real simple CC basics you can teach that people just lap up.
more essential than keys, etc. IMO

"Cops" or "witness protection" comes up a lot on the boards.
the cool thing about teaching this is it covers mattes, filters AND motion paths!

feinds of mine were blown away when they learnt really simple PIP stuff,
and in particular saving their box-shapes as favorites for future use.

moving text on and off was very exiting for them, too
either with keyframes, or more simply slide transitions
as well as simple ways to get the most out of the FCP text generators.


DIY diffusion is cool too.
you know, blurring the top track, and dropping opacity.


oh, yes...
juggling 4/3 & 16/9 material is a real gotcha for the new players.
it might be not what you planed to go into, but its a very real world problem



good luck with the video, Kevin

nick

I might suggest:

- Motivation (yes, yes, I'm the "theory" guy...but it astounds me how even working editors get lost in a mountain of plug-ins without ever considering what the effect means, instead obsessing about how the effect looks.
- Motifs -- building styles, how to build a palette, how limiting one's palette is more important than a "free for all" for every effect
- Colour Correction as the basis of all light and colour effects. How many people have posted on here "How do I get this so-and-so look for my film" without actually thinking about colour correction, which should have been the first stop in the thought process, not the last?
- Stacking the same shot -- which is in practice a form of masking
- Text -- even a white-on-black title needs to have design
- Composite Modes always gave me a challenge. Especially when they interact with other effects. Christine Steele gave an excellent explanation in the July meeting to one of the audience members.
- Filter Packing
- Copy/Paste Attributes. I spent several years on Final Cut Pro without knowing about them, and I was miserable...and mediocre.
- Not just an effects point, but very important to working with effects: Saving, organization and backup routines! Effects is not an arena where you want to *&^% around on saving and protecting your work. All you guys have probably heard my story about the visual-arts student who worked a 16-hour all-nighter without saving even once?


www.derekmok.com

I would add right at the end of all your tips something along the lines of...


"The most useful skill you can have is the ability to Google your queries!

There are so many tricks n tips out there that you are almost certain to find either a tutorial or a bunch of people (LAFCPUG) who will be able to help you achieve your FX!"



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

here's one:

how DO you get that lower 3rd bg to trail off into nothingness?


nick

CC would be where to start as well as understanding composite modes (though Motion, AE or PS would have more composite modes than FCP). Having layers with lowered opacity, slightly out of sync on both a CC and a composite mode has yielded interesting effects. Stacking different dissolve transitions on top of 2 layers of the same video on a composite mode...



www.strypesinpost.com