Color Correction in Final Cut Express HD

I'm editing a stage production of A Midsummer Nights Dream that was shot on two different cameras. The set is very bright and vivid, and i have read and re-read the FCE Help page on the color correction topic. I have corrected my master shots (wides). What i want to know is how i can adjust the colors of my close-ups:
1. the subject (Bottom in this case) is lit in a blue light (moon light).
2. the set (the woods) are lit by a bright green light.
What I want to do is match the colors to the master, but if i adjust to match the blue light on Bottom, the background loses its bright green. Likewise, if i try and make the green brighter to match the master shot, Bottom turns green too.
The help file mentions Limit Effect, but doesn't expand on it. Bear in mind i'm an 18 year old student, i pretty much need to be spoon-fed a solution!
Any help would be very very gratefully recieved, as i'm a bit pushed for time and trying to finish it this weekend (A-levels are looming...)
Thanks in advance,
James.
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.6) 17", 2.0GHz, 1Gb RAM

Limit effect is not going to help you in this case. You really need to control the overall image and get a balance between the wide and the CU. Color match Bottom's skin tone so it appears correct to you. Leave some of the blue cast to not lose the moonlight effect. Then color match the wide shot so that it has the same look as the corrected CU.

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Could I follow the color correction in final cut studio with an imac with 128mg vram?

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Yes, you can do the lessons.

Any software similar to Color, works with Final Cut Express?

Hi,
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Eric" wrote:
.. I would like to do a bit more on the color of the footage. .
you have read pg 693 ff of the manual.. ?
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Hi all,
My director friend has seen me color correct images in LR with grace and skill, and wants me to start doing color correction for his films. I have never used Final Cut Pro before, and wondered if the controls in Final Cut were similar to LR, if you could export and import between the two, and generally what the difference was between working with color in each. He has one of the RED cameras, which shoots in RAW, so I assume the different can't be too great. If anyone's proficient in both, the lowdown would be much appreciated!
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www.alecquig.com

If he shoots with RED, why isn't he using RED's copy of Lightroom that's specifically for their cameras, and is provided free? It's called RedCineX, I think.

Color Correcting in Final Cut general question

I am finding I'm at the end of a long process with my feature film and I'm preparing to output and yet again I've run up against a wall of my ignorance...
1. It's a dv film I don't want to just output the film and then apply a color correct as I'm afraid of a lot of clipping...so I'm doing the individual clips through the film and I'm finding a lot of them I have to limit the rgb to 90 some go as low as 88, some are just fine at 100 or 97...it was shot on the dvx100 and I looked up the dvx and see it is geared for superwhite...but I want to prepare my film for broadcast...I wonder though if this is why I'm getting a lot that I have to limit the rgb to 90??? I wouldn't have known to tell the DP please don't use the superwhite settings.
So am I doing this right?
After I output the whole thing, do I color correct the quicktime again when I letterbox it (it's 720x480 to be letterboxed to 1:85:1) before encoding it for the mpeg2? Or if I'm doing it this way is it not necessary?
Thank you

Also is it stupid to do this when I already went through the film and applied color correction as what is bothering me is a lot of the color correct with the range check shows that little arrow that shows it's on the edge...those are the clips I'm bringing down to code because a lot of them the rgb is too hot...for just preparing a professional dv is it necessary to do what I'm doing?
I really want to prepare it once and not do different color corrects again so if what I'm doing above is correct for broadcast quality though it's going to look more muted on a dvd but maybe that's my confusion as many of the bright hilights giving it that look are on the verge or are clipped.

Need advice on a system setup / Final Cut Express or pro

Hi all,
I am about to take on a pretty big project. I will be working on a full length documentary, approximately 90 minutes running time.
We currently have a 2 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac with 4GB of memory (667 Mhz DDR2 SDRAM) which we will be using for editing. We are using a mid-level Sony High Definition camera that records on MiniDV.
We don't have a huge budget and I wanted to get the opinion of some experienced editors on what would be the right choice. We can get a new 3Ghz iMac or Final Cut Studio. We currently own Final Cut Studio Express and are relatively well versed with it.
So, the question is, would we benefit more from the speed of an upgraded Mac, or the additional functionality of Final Cut Studio?
Editing a full length feature like this can be a long frustrating process. With a 2Ghz machine, are we really going to feel the pain while trying to work with Final Cut Studio? Might we find ourselves gliding along with more ease (or less burnout) without the additional chugging along of a 2Ghz processor when editing on a 3Ghz processor with Final Cut Express?
I understand that the two greatest benefits (as far as I've read) is the batch capturing and color correction of Final Cut Studio. There is also something about keyframes that I know little to nothing about. Are these things you believe we might get a lot of use from, particularly in the context of a documentary? I can definitely see using the batch capturing but don't see that being worth and additional $800. I'm unsure too how beneficial color correction is.
Any tips or experiences would be greatly appreciated. So far we've only done 15 minute shorts and don't see too much computer slowdown. I'm a little worried about the sheer number of gigs of video we're going to be dealing with against a 2-year-old computer.
Thanks for taking the time.

I vote for FCS3. Of course you'll love what you can do and then you'll want a better machine, but that can wait. All the modules, Color, Soundtrack and Motion as well as Compressor make it worthwhile.
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Final Cut Express Help

I have a SONY HDR-CX360 but cannot seem to get the footage to load correctly into Final Cut Express. Each time I do it it gives me a "!" under the status portion where you drag the footage. Anyone know how to fix this?

The HDR-CX360 can shoot in either HD or SD mode. If you shoot in HD mode the video is AVCHD and you should be able to use Log & Transfer to get the video into FCE. That is, provided the camera is connected via USB and you selected one of the AVCHD Apple Intermediate easy setups in FCE (found in FCE > Easy Setup)
Please tell us exactly what model Mac you have, what version of OSX and FCE you are using. We need that info in order to further help you. By the way, if you have FCE 4, we need to know if you have version 4.0 or version 4.0.1

Correct way of importing an iMovie 6 movie into Final Cut Express?

Hi,
Many thanks in advance for your attention.
Any correct way to import an iMovie 6 HD movie into Final Cut Express for further editing?
I tried.
1. I Exported the iMovie, at Full Quality and it made a Quicktime version of that movie.
2. I then Imported this Quicktime version into Final Cut Express.
3. The audio was smooth, but at regular intervals, the video freezes for a second (and then moves on).
4. The movie plays smoothly back in its original iMovie incarnation and in its Quicktime incarnation. Only in Final Cut Express is there this intermittent freezing. Stop and start.
5. I have Final Cut Express 3.5.1 and iMovie 6 HD.
Thank you,
- Ross

"Full Quality" QuickTime export from iMovie gives you a DV stream which will need rendering in FCE. Rather than "Full Quality," choose "Expert Settings," and then the following:
Video
DV-DVCPRO - NTSC (assuming you're in USA)
Sound
48kHz
16-bit

Made a 2 minute edit on Final Cut Express but at the 30 seconds (after I exported), there's a clip showing up that is not in my project, a clip i don't want in there, a glitch, how can I correct this problem? I don't want to start over again :(

Basically, I have 2 problems:
1) When I export it shows this clip that's not in my normal project and it ruins my project by having this clip in there; it's like a glitch. I tried to change the clip, and and still doesn't make the project normal again. Tried a new sequence and dragging the project into HD Mode and to no avail.
My camera:
HD: 1080p
Settings: At Hd
2)
Also, it's only displaying black bars above my project, even after exporting at 720p. I just don't want this random clip in my project or the black bars. I'm using Final Cut Express. Does anyone have any possible idea what this could be? Any help woud be much appreciated! I'm clueless on this.
IS ANYBODY OUT THERE? : )

1) Is it a video clip? Something you recognize? To be clear, it's displaying at a point in your exported movie but doesn't appear at all in the sequence?
2) What are your sequence settings? Right-click your sequence and choose "Item Properties" to verify.

Question re Final Cut Express Capabilities

I'm about to make the jump from another editing system over to Final Cut Express 4.
One of the things I want to be able to do is line up and load three different angles from three different cameras and be able to edit "on the fly" as the scenes play. I have a concert video, shot in a studio, with three cameras on tripods. Now I've got three tapes and I want to load them all into memory and then crossfade or cut between angles on-the-fly.
As well, I want to be able to shoot interviews with two cameras, each one pointing at the different people interview. Can FCE handle two different simulataneous inputs and then store the scenes in such a way that I can then cut between the two during the editing process?
Is there additional software or hardware needed for this? In my ten-year-old editing machine I've been using, this can be done ... but it's a major workaround and a major effort. And in the later versions of my same old machine, they had a feature called "Quad Cam" which showed up to four scenes on your monitor playing simultaneously, but it was expensive and needed a fast processor, which I didn't have. I suspect my new MacBook Pro will handle this, assuming FCE4 is able to do it.

Hi
The Multi Camera function in FCP is very time saving. And there are other functions
in FCP that might add to the value to take the leap.
The Color correcting tool was so much better and Color included (even more sofisticated)
DVD-Studio Pro
AND - Compressor !
Still to get more than one Camera to hard disk in live.
I tried a simpler version of this "Capture Magic HD" - only SD but
on a PowerBook G4 1.5GHz
one extra FW-port on a PSCIA (or whatever) card - to get an extra individual FW-port
and TWO Cameras in real-time download to internal hard disk.
EACH Camera Must have a true FireWire port - not a split one as on Mac 400/800
(they are one and the same)
It worked as a charm. Ready to be edited immediately after Capture.
Yours Bengt W

Brightness adjustment in Final Cut Express HD.

Dear members;
I have a clip that is a little dark and I would like to make it brighter. I've tried the levels adjustments for the black and white points. While it has improved a bit I still feel that I need to improve it more.
After trying the brightness adjustment in Final Cut Express I found that the clip looked too washed out and the colors became somewhat lifeless. The contrast and brightness adjustments combined didn't produced very good results either. This is the route I would have taken with a digital still photo but it doesn't seem to be working with my clip.
What am I doing wrong ? Is there a way to improve the brightness so that the clip doesn't look washed out and the colors still look good ? How can I make this adjustment ?
Thank you in advance,
Joseph Chamberlain

Hi Ian:
I haven't tried the gamma filters yet. I will give it a try.
This may be the case you describe (a shot that can't be saved or improved) but I would like to think that it can. The footage is from a movie and I extracted a 20 sec clip to include in a presentation.
Since you mention both, what are the differences between the Gamma and Gamma correction filters ?
Also, how can I post a screenshot to this list as you suggested ? Is there a page on this web site where photos can be posted for members of this discussion groups ?
Thank you in advance for your help.
Joseph Chamberlain

Disk space error - final cut express 4

I'm new to final cut express. I color corrected a 60 minute video clip and attempted to export the sequence to Quicktime. It got about 80% complete and stopped due to out of disk space error. I have about 16 GB of remaining internal hard drive space on my macbook pro. I just received the software last night, so I do not yet understand scratch disk setup, etc. Is there a preference I should change or should I export to an external hard drive? I'm attempting to
import the final clip into imovie and idvd.

In addition to Al's response, with only 16GB left on your internal hard drive you are effectively out of disk space. You need to move stuff off that drive and/or delete what you no longer need. If you are doing video it is wise to keep at least 50% free space especially if the drive capacity is 500GB or less.
If you are doing HD video, here are some numbers to consider:
1 hour source media (video clips) = ~45GB
1 hour of render files of your 1 hour movie = ~45GB
1 hour exported QT movie = ~45GB
1 hour iDVD project of your completed QT movie = 2 to 4 GB
So your 1 hour project could easily consume 140GB of disk space.

Final Cut Express - Not asking to auto-conform?

Here's the story -
I make videos for YouTube all the time, I currently film with a Canon Rebel T2i at 1920x1080 at 30fps. When I import my footage, I use MPEG Streamclip to convert it to Apple Intermediate Codec at 100% quality, and "1920x1080 (unscaled)". I never specify a framerate, it usually does it on its own. Whenever I put that footage into Final Cut Express (4.0.1), I drag it into the timeline and it asks me if I want to change the sequence settings to match the settings of that clip, and I always click yes, and it always works fine. However, today I wanted to try out some new settings on my T2i, and the ONLY different thing I did was change from 1920x1080 30fps to 1920x1080 24fps (and also changed some color settings to make it easier to color correct, but that should have no effect). I put the SD card into my computer, as I always do, put the footage into MPEG Streamclip, as I always do, changed the settings to Apple Intermediate Codec, 1920x1080 (unscaled), 100% quality, and no specified framerate, as I always do. The clip imported fine, as it always does. I put it into Final Cut, made a new project, opened the new sequence in the timline, and dragged my clip in. But I got no message asking to change the sequence settings, and the clip was in a square canvas, instead of changing to the normal setting one, which is wide. The quality was also highly reduced. This was abnormal for me, so I tried making a new sequence and importing an old 1920x1080 30fps clip, and sure enough the message popped up asking me to change the sequence settings. It worked fine, but then I tried again in a new sequence to import the NEW clip, and the popup ceased to appear again. I tried restarting my computer, reimporting the clip, checking for Final Cut updates, everything, to no avail. I just can't seem to get the new settings' clip to work.
My question is - why isn't Final Cut working with this clip's minor framerate change, and how do I get it to work again?
Thanks.
P.S. - I've tried looking in the preferences (editing tab) and checking the box to "Always" or "Ask", neither have made anything different.

wrong forum - the Final Cut EXPRESS forum is here:
Final Cut Express

Final Cut Express? Many Questions.

I'm interested in shooting a short film in the near future. I'm looking to invest in a camera that will be under $1000.00. I'm also looking to use Final Cut Express to edit the footage. I believe Imovie will not offer enough editing options, and FCP will offer more than I need. I'm looking mainly to do simple cuts, transitions, put my footage in letterbox mode with the hopes of it looking like a real film, etc.
So here are my questions:
First off: With what I've written above, am I right in thinking FCE is a better option than FCP? Keep in mind I've never really done any work in video editing, but am anxious to purchase a new camera, shoot my film, edit it myself, etc.
Second: Will a HD camcorder work well with FCE? I'm currently looking to purchase a Canon HV 20. Link to the camera itself:
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=177&mo delid=14869
Third: I want to purchase a laptop to use FCE and edit my future film. Will a black Macbook work well (upgraded with 4 GB of RAM)? Strong enough graphics card on that macbook? Or am I forced to move up to a Macbook Pro? (My thinking is that the Macbook Pro is unnecessary unless I want to use FCP.) Correct?
Answers to these questions and any additional advice would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks!!!

Hi(Bonjour)!
HDV and FCE HD:
I shoot and edit in HDV with FCE HD without problem, but there are some points that need clarification.
1) HDV is converted upon capturing process within FCE to Apple Intermediate Codec movie. Regular HDV take the same amount of hard disk space as regular DV, but AIC needs aroung 49 Gig/hour of space.
2) HDV colorspace and compression sheme doesn't support well color correction or compositing (at least not as well than DV).
3) Rendering process is very very long one, and to play realtime effect you need a pretty fast CPU and many RAM.
4) A dedicated external hard drive runnig at 7200 rpm is a must to avoid drop frame on playback/capture/print.
5) Print to tape must be done overnight because it took a rule of 5 to 6 time the length of your sequence to operate.
6) HDV is astoning when viewed in a 1 to 1 pixel ratio on your computer screen, but it take at least 1920 X1080 pixel to do so. Apple Cinema HD display from 23" can do the job.
7) There is not easy/affortable way to distribute HDV on DVD right now. Your only option is to use your camcorder as VCR hooked on HD TV set, or use an Apple TV.
8) Final Cut Pro (part of Final Cut Studio 2) handles HDV natively but push hard on CPU. Compressor and DVD studio Pro allows to burn (in some forma right now, but with limitation) HD DVD disk.
9) I shoot in HDV but sometime, I downconvert from camcorder (Sony allows this) to DV upon capturing in DV NTSC in Final Cut Express. The result in a very good image (many pixels shrinked to fit the DV dimensions) in a standard def movie distributed on regular DVD or wide screen DVD.
10) HDV is still captured on tape, despite many manufacturers offer hard drive, DVD or card storing system for ohter flavor of HD like AVCHD. Tape is an affordable way to archive your material.
Final Cut Express HD 4 supports AVCHD.
Michel Boissonneault

Final Cut Express 4.0.1 Update

Can anyone provide a link to update from Final Cut Express 4.0 to 4.0.1?
I would really appreciate the help!
Thanks.

Ian R. Brown wrote:
To the best of my knowledge the only thing the update does is to enable you to edit AVCHD.
I am not sure about that as I have the software boxes for both FCXP 3.5 HD and FCXP 4 and from description on both boxes and from Amazon, also, both these versions of FCXP were supposed to already support AVCHD.
I had to update/upgrade to these versions of FCXP when I upgraded my Sony digital video camcorder that uses AVCHD.
Here's the feature description for FCXP 4.
Edit like a pro. Final Cut Express 4.
Top Features
Edit quickly and precisely with professional, flexible editing tools
Mix and edit DV, HDV, and AVCHD video in a single Timeline*
Watch effects in real time thanks to RT Extreme with Dynamic RT
Import iMovie '08 video projects with cuts and cross dissolves
Precisely adjust the animation of any effect or transition using keyframes
Achieve the look you want with a robust suite of color correction and image adjustment tools
Work with built-in filter effects and third-party FxPlug plug-ins
Easily create sophisticated, animated titles with LiveType 2.1
Mix up to 99 audio tracks with built-in audio editing tools
Here's the feature description for FCXP 3.5 HD.
More Powerful Video Editing for DV, HDV, and AVCHD
Capture clips from your camcorder over a single FireWire or USB cable, then use the new Open Format Timeline in Final Cut Express 4 to edit together DV, HDV, and AVCHD material, even if they have different frame rates. Fine-tune your choices with professional ripple, roll, slip, and slide editing functions, either in the Timeline or a dedicated Trim window. And when it comes time to add effects, Dynamic RT lets you instantly preview effects, filters, transitions, and multistream composites in real time without rendering.

Color Correction in Final Cut Express HD

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