Depending on your point of view, these are either exciting times or times filled with fear and uncertainty. All this talk of convergence of media, multimedia, video and so on either makes us smile as we realise they are new tools to allow us to tell stories or channel our creativity through, or makes us run away wishing for the good old times.
Simon Ruben commenting on an edit
Typically, the latter behaviour is often a fear of the unknown. The best action is then to learn about these tools, technologies and methods, then make up our minds.
Just as photographers we know how to edit our images; for video, we need to gain a knowledge of how to edit video. By far the most elegant way of editing video and the industry standard is Final Cut; in it’s cut down version of Final Cut Express and it’s fuller version Final Cut Pro (which comes as part of Final Cut Studio).
I’ve been using Final Cut Pro for a couple of years now, initially for doing complex photo slideshows and then for editing video. With practice and research I taught myself how to get by and even got an award for my editing. However I wasn’t fully proficient; I wanted to become efficient and take my editing to the next level. My desire was to begin editing like a professional editor.
Already a fan of The Frontline Club and a regular visitor to their excellent events of talks by prominent journalists, I was overjoyed to find that they hold Final Cut Pro Training Courses. I had already had the pleasure of meeting editor Simon Ruben, and when I realised he was teaching the course, I signed up immediately.
The course ran for five days at the club. All equipment (Apple iMacs, headphones, footage to edit with, course notes and really good coffee!) are supplied. I can’t recommend the course highly enough. Simon’s teaching style is wonderful; a very relaxed way that communicates knowledge in a way that’s natural and effortless. It’s definitely well worth taking off five days and doing the course. It’s helped me take my editing to the next level and I’m much more efficient in my workflow.
The great news is that the next course starts on October 18, so get booking!
