Final Cut’s Button List

One of Final Cut's hidden gems is the Button List, which is found under the Tools menu or by using the keyboard shortcut Option+J. The Button List allows users to create a shortcut button for any of Final Cut's numerous commands. To find a specific function, either click the disclosure triangle adjacent to the appropriate grouping or enter a keyword in the Button List's search field. Next, simply drag your selected function to the top right corner of your Browser, Viewer, Canvas, or Timeline window. (If you currently have no buttons on your bar, you'll see what looks like a coffee bean.) Your shortcut button will now appear. You can easily rearrange buttons via dragging and dropping. To remove a button, simply drag it from the bar. Finally, by right-clicking on a button, you can add a spacer as well as color-code your shortcuts. My favorites include "Export QuickTime Movie...," "Linked Selection,"…

Continue ReadingFinal Cut’s Button List

LA Times Staffers Win Pulitzer for ‘Altered Oceans’ Multimedia Series

  • Post author:

Kenneth R. Weiss, Usha Lee McFarling and Rick Loomis of the Los Angeles Times have been awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Explantory Reporting for their print and online multimedia series Altered Oceans. The description of the award on the Pulizer site notes that the team was recognized for their "richly portrayed reports on the world's distressed oceans, telling the story in print and online, and stirring reaction among readers and officials."

Continue ReadingLA Times Staffers Win Pulitzer for ‘Altered Oceans’ Multimedia Series

MediaStorm’s Guide to Controlling Gain in Final Cut

A handy keystroke for increasing the gain on an audio clip is to first highlight the clip then hit control+] (close bracket). To decrease gain, use control+[ (open bracket). Once your clip(s) is selected you can use these keystroke to increase or decrease your levels on-the-fly. An alternate method is useful when you want to increase the gain on multiple clips, perhaps overriding any audio keyframes you have already created. To do this, select the clips you wish to change then use the keystroke Command+Option+L. The Gain Adjust dialog box will appear, asking how you'd like to increase/decrease the level. Select "Absolute" to set all clips to the same level. "Relative" works like the control+bracket method described above. For additional Final Cut shortcuts, see MediaStorm's Producing in Final Cut. Learn more about our approach to producing multimedia by purchasing MediaStorm's Post-production Workflow. Spanning more than 200 steps, the workflow covers every phase…

Continue ReadingMediaStorm’s Guide to Controlling Gain in Final Cut

FRONTLINE’s Complete ‘News War’ Series Viewable Online

  • Post author:

FRONTLINE's special four-part series "News War" examines the challenges facing today's mainstream media and how print, broadcast and electronic news organizations are struggling with, and adjusting to, these new challenges. If you missed the original television broadcast you can watch the full series online. FRONTLINE's site also offers extended interviews and other supplemental material not included in the broadcast. From the FRONTLINE site: In a four-part special series, News War, FRONTLINE examines the political, cultural, legal, and economic forces challenging the news media today and how the press has reacted in turn. Through interviews with key figures in print, broadcast and electronic media over the past four decades -- and with unequaled, behind-the-scenes access to some of today's most important news organizations, FRONTLINE traces the recent history of American journalism, from the Nixon administration's attacks on the media to the post-Watergate popularity of the press, to the new challenges presented by the…

Continue ReadingFRONTLINE’s Complete ‘News War’ Series Viewable Online

VideoSpace Widget Calculates Disk Space

VideoSpace is a handy Mac OS X dashboard widget that allows producers to determine how much hard drive space is needed to store various video durations and formats. It's perfect for calcuating just how much media your drives will hold. Learn more about our approach to producing multimedia by purchasing MediaStorm's Post-production Workflow. Spanning more than 200 steps, the workflow covers every phase of editing, from organizing and editing assets in Final Cut Pro 7 through backing up and archiving your project. The workflow includes exclusive access to our Aperture Workflow and our Final Cut Asset Parser. Learn more about MediaStorm's Post-production Workflow.

Continue ReadingVideoSpace Widget Calculates Disk Space