Final Cut Express 4 – Peachpit 2007

In this illstration I wanted to acknowledge two sides of the workflow process, aquisition and editing. Final Cut Express is very accessible for the small project budget where the Final Cut Express user might also be shooting the footage that they edit. The unique duality of this workflow to which the tool was ideally suited formed the fundamental for this illustration.

With this fundamental driving aspect for the illustration, I created a clear divider on the horizontal axis. Captured frames flow into the users timeline from the aquisition point, to tie the two aspects together. I liked the idea that the user is actively influencing their edit, and wanted to show the user embedded in their timeline fully engrossed in the act of editing. Live Type was a new inclusion with this version of Final Cut Express.

The animated “a” on the right of the composition falls into place at the end of the timeline sequence. The sideways “T” on the right of the image implies the “end of program” marker in the timeline. The composition logically flows from left to right with the camera-man aquisition at the left-most in the frame. Since Final Cut Express derives from the same application as Final Cut Pro, i used a similar graphic element indicating the aquisition and focal point of collecting an image; the similarity to the traditional illustration of light collecting on the cornea is intentional.

Completed fall 2007.

Apple Pro Training Series:
Final Cut Express 4
ISBN: 0321534670
October 2007