Final Cut Pro User Group - Info

FCPUG San Diego is a SIG of the San Diego Macintosh User Group. If you are a member of SDMUG, you do not have to pay any additional dues to belong to our group. You only pay dues to SDMUG. For information about dues, visit the SDMUG site at http://www.sdmug.org/

Purpose:
Our approach will be to introduce, evaluate, and promote the use of editing processes generally accepted by professionals using FCP (Final Cut Pro). Our intent is to create a venue where individuals can receive the benefits of sharing knowledge.

This is facilitated by:
1. Immediate answers to questions concerning FCP by e-mail, or our regular meetings.
2. Increase productivity by learning "tips and tricks” used by professional editors.
3. Networking wherein members may combine their efforts to successfully complete a project.
4. Product evaluations of associated software/hardware.

Current membership:
Presently, we have far over 100 people on our e-mail list with an average attendance of 30-50 per meeting. The results from small group interactivity are surprisingly rewarding.

We invite members to bring samples on DVD (or other popular video editing media) of projects they have created to give a "show and tell." We periodically pause or stop the show to ask questions and receive explanations of the processes used.
Although I conduct many of the presentations, it is meant only to stimulate and help others to feel free to come forward to the keyboard and demonstrate their creative solutions to problems presented by the group. We formed the group to learn from others by opening our editing processes up to the critique of others and encouraging others to do the same.

Currently, we hold our meetings on the second Monday of each month, 6:00 to 8:30 PM, at the UCSD Digital Arts Center. Visit HERE for the latest information.

Please feel welcome to contact me for additional information. I hope that you will be able to join us at some meeting in the near future.

James Daugherty
FCPUG San Diego

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HELP 101
Some of the first things a video editor needs to be introduced to have little or nothing to do with video. They are elements common to any endeavor with an emphasis toward video productions.

1) Goals - Gaining an understanding of what you want to produce helps to determine your hardware and software needs. Far too many people run right out and start buying tons of junk they’ll never use enough to justify their expense. Understand clearly that FCP is not a toy, so you not only need an investment of hardware but your time and energy as well. The latter is most often overlooked and can easily be two to three times the investment of both hardware and software combined.

a. Hobbyist – You want to produce home movies, etc.
b. Low end video productions – You intend to produce each project from top to bottom using FCP, DVD Studio Pro
c. High-end video productions – You intend to specialize and sell your services to other producers using additional software such as Maya.

2) Safety – The key to all safety is RAP - Recognize, Avoid, and Prevent. You must be able to recognize and, in many cases, acknowledge that an impending problem exists. Denial is a major problem with accidents, so you must first be willing to admit the possibility of an event that may cause injury to yourself, your equipment, and/or your data.

a. Personal – Sleep deprivation, ergonomics, EMF radiation
b. Hardware – Grounding, surge protection, easy access, cable fatigue
c. Software – Registration, memory allocation, installation, segregation.
d. Data - Virus protection, partitioning, defragmenting.

3) Network - Share and receive knowledge from other people with similar goals and interests.

a. Join organizations that bring you new perspectives and levels of creativity, i.e.

i. http://www.sdmug.org/
ii. http://sdfcpug.com/fcpwp/ FCPUG San Diego
iii. http://www.pvasd.org/ Professional Videographers Association of San Diego

b. Join lists and visit informational sites on the internet, i.e.

i. http://www.2-pop.com/
ii. http://www.lafcpug.org/ Los Angeles FCP User Group
iii. DigiCam@lists.themacintoshguy.com

c. Subscribe to professional magazines and journals

i. http://www.macworld.com/ MacWorld
ii. http://industryclick.com/magazine.asp?magazineid=127&siteid=15 Video Systems
iii. http://www.dv.com/ DV
iv. http://www.videomaker.com/scripts/index.cfm VideoMaker

d. Obtain additional tutorials:

i. DigiCam@lists.themacintoshguy.com DV Companion, an additional help volume
ii. http://www.straight-scoop.com/ PowerStart for FCP and Secrets of FCP

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