Mark Twain once said: “The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and starting on the first one.”
That’s what this feels like.
I have a complex overwhelming task. My brain keeps playing the same old tapes. Why am I even trying to do this. I won’t succeed. There is no way I will ever become proficient with Final Cut Pro. No one cares. And that is where I am right now.
I am still plugging away. I worked on refining the intro. It was much quicker the second time around. I had a clear idea of what I wanted and a better understanding of how I needed to do it.
Importing the pictures was a snap and then scrubbing through them to make each the proper length took very little time.
To save time I exported the video before I added a soundtrack then imported it into a different project and adjusted the playback speed until I had it where I wanted it to be.
I wanted something that would move quickly but not be too short and go by in a blur. Nine seconds felt about right and adding a place holder for the subject of the review would allow me to make subsequent videos easily.
The hardest part was getting the soundtrack to be the length that I needed. I ended up having to add a filler to the beginning of the timeline and adjust the soundtrack so it began and ended where I wanted it to. The I exported it and airdropped it to my phone. I trimmed the video on my phone and airdropped it back to my iPad. There may be an easier way to do this, but I do not know it.
I made a new project, imported the video, and named it “Template” so I remember to not delete it.
I am going to make all of the intro videos I need and save them to an external hard drive, so I have them in a safe place to grab them from when I need them.
I am hoping it will be as easy as that sounds.
That is about it for tonight. I hope all of you are well.
So yeah, this turned out to be harder than I thought.
I wanted to make an introduction that would quickly showcase all of the @JustSpices seasoning blends that I am going to review with the final frame landing on the blend that I would be using for the review.
I thought I had been spot on with all of the pictures and, only looking at them through the camera display, they looked right. After importing them to Final Cut Pro and running through the video I quickly saw that was not the case. If you watch the video you too can experience what it’s like to film a video during an earthquake.
I need to figure out how to place each seasoning container in the same place for each shot. I also need to rely on a tripod instead of holding the camera with my hands.
I thought it would be simple but it is not.
Lesson learned.
I will do a little brainstorming, figure it out, and do a reshoot.
Problem solved.
Another thing I discovered about Final Cut Pro is that it is not set up to easily edit a collection of photos into a quick, short duration video. I had to trim each picture down after importing them into my timeline.
The soundtracks also allow only so much trimming. I could not figure out how to trim the soundtrack down to the duration I needed. I ended up having to export the video (thank you Airdrop) to my iPhone, trim the video so it ended where I wanted without the extra soundtrack playing to a blank screen, and then Airdrop it back to my iPad. I am going to see if I can find an easier solution.
Or it could be that I don’t know what I am doing.
I have a bit of work ahead of me, but I also think I have a good idea about what’s needed to accomplish it.
My Final Cut Pro 