Less Hustle More Coffee

Hope you have a Happy Valentine’s Day. Hope you have a great day! I was surprised with roses this morning and a card that said “take these to work so you can enjoy them” – so I will – since that is where I am most of the time.

We had a fine time with my BIL and SIL. They arrived and we played a few games LCR and Pass the Pigs while we talked and caught up and waited for our dinner reservations at Hermitage Steak House. The steak was one I called “the best steak I ever had”. Oh my gosh. It’s flavor and tenderness – and the salad bar of course is the best in miles and is everyone’s favorite. Even the baked potato was good.

We had an amazing breakfast at First Watch in Hermitage. I got a healthy morning juice blend that had organic ginger, oranges, lemons, agave nectar, turmeric, beets, and several other things. It was really good but had like 30g of sugar. Had I know, I’d have not done that. But honestly it seemed like something that my body needed as far as the citrus goes and the ginger taste added so much to it. It was so good. It looks like an alcoholic drink but it was not.

We came home and they loaded a trailer with their items they had in our basement. And then after that George went to the store and I began working on the new intro in Final Cut Pro. I can’t say I’m elated or thrilled with the Intro I’ve created, but it’ll have to do for now. I made the project harder on myself than it really needed to be. I had pulled a lot of photos and videos with intent to use somehow but really only needed a few. I’m sure the Intro will evolve at some point but I created something very similar to what I had before. It’s finished and it’s done.

What a learning curve I’ve had to go through with Final Cut Pro. I was able to get started on the next video. It’s a bit shorter than most and less than my standard 19 minutes. My goal is 13 to 19 but sometimes it goes into 21 minutes or longer. I think this one is about 9 or so. It will go live Saturday at 7 a.m. as long as everything goes well. I just have to add a few layers (graphics) to it and it’s done. But I had to watch about 5 to 8 various YouTube videos for help during this learning process. So here’s my thoughts on Final Cut Pro.

My Review on Switching from iMovie to Final Cut Pro

I think it’s important to capture the “beginner’s” view point on this. I had maxed out pretty much what I could do with iMovie. Well, I can’t say I learned how to do EVERYTHING on iMovie but I was experiencing moments where iMovie would not allow me to do what I wanted to do. I wanted more options with text, more layering of graphics, and more use with gifs. I wanted to go beyond the limits that iMovie was keeping me in. So I was very excited to dive into Final Cut Pro.

My initial reaction was: “HOLY COW, WHERE ARE ALL MY NORMAL BUTTONS AND ICONS”. Pretty much had the same “frame layout” such as my media (clips, photos, etc.) is still in the left hand corner and the video frame was in the same place and then the timeline down below, but it seemed that not much else was the same. I had to watch a video straight from the start. I tried to mess around with the icons and buttons and saw a few things but was totally confused as to how to do even the basic things.

I remember having these issues below which I had to watch videos to overcome.

• Somehow my viewer (where you watch your movie as you piece it together) was different and I couldn’t figure out why. I couldn’t tell where the frame was. It was off or disproportioned. Turns out somehow mine got on portrait mode instead of landscape – didn’t even know you could do that, lol. I think I found it by accident out of almost desperation while looking for what was wrong. I didn’t even know what to search for in a tutorial on that one but found the solution up above in my “file menus”.
• I could not even get a picture or video to drag into the timeline as it always tried to get only part or a section of it and it was very frustrating.
• Where the heck did everything go? Where was my text options, where was the color adjustment panel, where were the filters, and where were the timeline control buttons? Nearly everything was reconfigured and all over the place.
• There was some confusion as to the difference between events and projects and how to even get started creating your files
• There were moments where my photos went black and had to figure out what happened and how to get it back.
• My record button for voice overs – where on earth did that go?
• Where’s the delete options?

Pretty much every process had a learning curve. All the buttons were in odd places and some processes didn’t have buttons any more and some were hidden and things were all over the place. I am not an expert and still not able to give you a list of short cuts and a fabulous “starter’s guide” but I can give you some advice or tips to anyone wanting to make the switchover.

My Tips for Getting Started on Final Cut Pro

• First of all, be patient and do not give up.
• Be prepared to watch a few videos on YouTube as to how to start your files and projects, what proxy is, whether to edit your clips and photos from your hard drive, or a back up drive. Be prepared to watch videos on just about every process you need to do. One by one, just watch as you start to do each process of using it. You can find short videos out there to discuss most any thing you need as you need it. But I’d start with an overview if you can and then get specific from there as you need to learn it.
• You will need to learn your Mac control short cuts for sure. Most YouTube videos will cover this in the coaching videos you find. Be prepared to take notes. Because it’s really necessary to know these or the editing process will be so cumbersome you will no longer enjoy it. For example Control B gives you the blade tool. And you can learn to copy attributes for the rest of your clips.
• You will use your file menu options at the top a lot more, especially until you get used to using the short cuts using your Command and Control buttons and various letters of the alphabet that most Mac users knew already but I’ve been slow to learn.

What You will LOVE about Final Cut Pro once you get around the Learning Curve:

First of all, I’m not saying you have to get all the way around the curve, I’m still climbing up it. But the very things I set out to improve, are the reasons why I love it so much. It’s iMovie on steroids and with more choices and options.

• More control with titles and texts and fonts as there are more options and more freedom with what you can do with it.
• Practically as many layers as you need in the timeline for each clip, video, or photo.
• Increased use of gifs and layering videos on top of videos
• Increases the creativity levels – it’s endless as to the tricks and tips to learn
• There’s more of everything: more transitions, more titles, more filters
• And a drum roll please. The color correction and color grading. Oh my gosh, it’s so cool what all you can do and it’s easy once you watch a basic video.
• Endless learning lol

So hopefully over time you will see some improvements in the videos. This next one is very basic and may not have the bells and whistles yet but I can tell you that the colorization I used of this video definitely enhanced it and made it more interesting to watch. I changed the hue some of my shirt to liven it up and take attention away from my make-up-less face! lol.

This Week’s Outlook

Valentine’s tonight, No blog entry in the morning! I’ll be working to finish up the video and get it uploaded and scheduled into YouTube. It’s Mom’s eye doc appointment week, which is on Friday. I am making myself get my colonoscopy appointment scheduled as well as Mom’s scan, getting my Isagenix auto ship cancelled, finishing Sister Wives for the season (reunion show), talking to George about streaming and changing our cable set up. I need to order a few things from Amazon and begin another Target order. And I am starting to layout what my next “challenge” will be. It will be simple but multilayered just in an effort to improve some habits. And we will also get ready for company coming this weekend too. I also will think about when to take Mom out and run some of her errands such as looking at furniture and going to AT&T. I’m also considering going back to church now that this next round of the virus is on the downswing, and things are calming.

We need to work on our routine with Mom a bit and make sure she is taken care of and not too lonely in our busy spurts. I’m sure she is ready for a meal out before long. She has met a neighbor friend that she is spending some time visiting with. They have been to each other’s house. So that is good. I hope she continues to meet more people over there so that she has more than just us to talk to as we are not available much for conversation and can’t see here but a time or two a week.

So I’m off of here to get going on the day and get out the door for work. Ya’ll have an excellent Valentine’s Day and let me know if you made it this far. I figured I bored everyone out with the techie talk on Final Cut Pro.

What you doing for Valentine’s?