Apple Pro Training Series. Optimizing Your Final Cut Pro System. A Technical Guide to Real-World Post-Production

Lesson 7. Video Standards and Fundamentals

Armed with a thorough understanding of the different types of workflows, you have probably decided which workflow suits your projects best. The next step is to prepare your system for getting your work done, which will mean configuring and optimizing your system. We'll discuss how to do that in the third section of this book. Before you start in on those tasks, you'll save yourself time and hassle by first learning some concepts that you'll use throughout the rest of the book.

In this lesson, you'll learn the basics of video imaging and recording. You'll get an overview of the various formats, frame rates, and recording methods; and learn how video is compressed and stored in the digital domain. You'll also learn about audio for video and timecode. With this information you'll be well prepared to understand how to capture video and audio; what sorts of problems you're likely to run into and how to resolve them; and what combinations of formats and standards work togetherand which ones do not.

You may find some of the topics very technical, perhaps more so than you want to deal with right now. If so, just skim them so that you'll know what to come back and reread when you find a need for that information.

Conversely, we've simplified many of the details and tried to focus on what's relevant to Final Cut Pro people; this lesson is a primer, not an encyclopedia. If any of this information whets your appetite for more, there are plenty of good books and Web sites covering video formats, technology, and engineering, some of which we'll mention in the lesson itself.

A foundation of knowledge built upon the basics will raise your editing to new heights.