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EDITING ARTICLES

New ! Figuring Out Video Field Order, Frames, and Interlacing
Video is hard enough to understand. Throw in fields, frames, field order, and interlacing and it's enough to make you cry. In this article, I explain what you need to know to successfully navigate around the land mines. (Published: Mar. 2010 ; Final Cut Pro v. 4, HD, 5.0x, 5.1x, 6, 7.x)

New ! Getting Started with Final Cut Pro
A reader writes that his 10-year-old daughter is interested in editing and wants to know the best gear to buy and how to get trained in FCP. This is a great question, but the wrong question. This article explains that it isn't the gear, its her interest. Fan that first, then buy gear second. You can read how here. (Published: Mar. 2010 ; Final Cut Pro v. 5.1x, 6, 7.x)

New ! Searching for Missing Files in FCP
Normally, Final Cut Pro files don't go missing. However, sometimes, you end up looking for a file that you didn't create and who's file name is mostly weird letters and numbers. What kind of file is this? And how do you find it? And can you fix it if it is lost? This article explains what, why, and how. (Published: Mar. 2010 ; Final Cut Pro v. HD, 5.0x, 5.1x, 6, 7.x)

New ! Apple Announces A New Video Format -- iFrame
Recently, Apple announced a new video format - iFrame - and Sanyo announced new cameras that support that format. This article looks at this announcement and speculates on what this means for the video professional. (Note: Currently, Final Cut Pro does not support iFrame files.) (Published: Mar. 2010)

New ! Review: Euphonix Control Surfaces
Recently, Euphonix invited me to their LA offices to take a look at a suite of new products designed for video and audio editors. -- a series of external control surfaces. Control surfaces have been a fixture in the audio industry for many year, but for video editors, this is a fairly new concept. This article takes a detailed look at each of the four units Euphonix provides, along with thoughts on where they fit into a post-production workflow. (Published: Mar. 2010 ; Studio Suite v. 2, 3)

New ! Viewing Video Fields
By default, Final Cut only displays one field of video - this makes images much easier to view while editing. But, sometimes, you need to see both fields. This very, very short article explains exactly what you need to know. (Published: Mar. 2010 ; Final Cut Pro v. 4, HD, 5.0x, 5.1x, 6, 7.x)

New ! Commentary: A Love Letter to LiveType
With the release of Final Cut Studio (3), Apple signaled that LiveType was not long for this world by no longer bundling it with the suite of software. However, FCP 7 still supports LiveType files. This is a shame, as I truly like working with LiveType. This article details what makes LiveType fun to use, and features in Motion that would help us make the transition. (Published: Mar. 2010 ; LiveType v. 1.x, 2.x)

New ! Technique: Those Amazing Angle Brackets
As Eric Mittan writes: "My favorite keyboard shortcuts are those that are contextual. The function of the keys in question change in the context of what task is being performed, or what item is selected, or what tool is chosen in order to get a different, if slightly related result. (Published: Mar. 2010 ; Final Cut Pro v. HD, 5.0x, 5.1x, 6, 7.x)

New ! Recommended Combinations of Final Cut Pro and QuickTime
As you know, most versions of Final Cut Pro are tied to work best with certain versions of QuickTime. However, as time passes, it gets harder and harder to remember all the different permutations. Here's a quick link to a website that has the answers. (Published: Mar. 2010 ; QuickTime v. 6.x, 7.x, 10.x)

New ! Creating an SD 4:3 Center Cut from HD 16:9 Footage
Here's the problem. You have high-definition (HD) 16:9 footage that you need to create a standard-definition (SD) 4:3 full-screen image. This means that you are going to lose some visual information on the sides of your image. What's the best way to do this? This article explains what you need to know. (Published: Mar. 2010 ; Final Cut Pro v. 5.1x, 6, 7.x)