Final Cut Express And What I Learned =)

Final cut express is a must need for anyone studying media or just for fun if you like to make films etc. It is rather quick and easy to use once you know what your doing although you have to be focused as it is difficult to learn at first. Its best to get some hands on learning by actually using the software as your brain will process it quicker then just being told what to do.

You can do a multiple amount of things which include, uploading a complete DV tape and then if you delete a section of it because it doesn't work or such you can again film but over the part that you deleted on final cut meaning that you don't have to waste the tape space. You can also go forwards and backwards on the timeline by pressing the left and right arrows. You can even go frame by frame forward or backwards in the film which gives you a better look in case there are any problems with shots etc.

If you thought that the things above were good then your gonna love what follows: the editing and placing the film, music etc in the timeline is the best part of the software (in my opinion). This is because it makes you think about what your doing, you cant just place clips here and there you want to fit the music beat with the clips/effects to create the effect that the film is of a good quality.

Choosing the music is one of the hardest things as you don't want music too fast or you will need a lot of footage, where as if you have it too slow then it will be boring watching it. This most useful type of music for clips with no dialogue in them would be ones with no lyrics, this lets you hear the beat easier and the audience wont get dragged into the lyrics instead of the film however if the lyrics fit with what the film is talking about or describing then it would be better to have the lyrics in.

Final cut express is especially useful for making things like trailers as you can edit a lot of footage with music in order to give a variety of effects and ideas. All in all the software is easy to use once you know what your doing but you have to get some hands on experience and just try things out as you go along. e.g. special effects- you never know if they are going to work but once you look through a few the right one with stand out.