| In this chapter, you will begin to investigate special effects that can be applied to your video clips. Many effects are available, but this book can't cover them all. In fact, there are so many, you'd need a set of books just to work with each of them and combinations of them. (You'll find more detailed information in Appendix F, "Video Filters List.") Using effects properly is possibly the most complicated area of Final Cut Pro or any NLE, but they are not in any way impossible to master. However, it can be said that it takes a special and different set of skills to effectively work with them. It also can be argued that there are better programs than those contained in any NLE to achieve the best results for the effect you're after. However, Final Cut Pro gives you many fine tools to work with, and you could spend years honing the art and craft of using them effectively. Just take a look at the number of credits in a Hollywood big-budget feature such as Star Wars or Titanic given to the effects artists . Chances are with big-budget effects films like these, the larger part of the entire production crew is, in one way or another, a part of the effects team. Just a few years ago, doing what you can do now with Final Cut Pro would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Isn't technology great? |
