6. FINAL CUT PRO: SOCIAL MEDIA WORKFLOWS AND SMART CONFORM CONTROLS [6:03 min]
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What You'll Need: Final Cut Pro
TRANSCRIPT
Hi I’m Kiarra Drew with We Make Movies.
We consume and watch videos from a variety of sources, our tv, our smart phone, computer, tablet, billboards, etc. We also use a variety of apps, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, to view these videos.
Each destination has its own custom sizes. Especially the Social Media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, etc.)
It use to be a process to take footage you created and resize it in your project’s timeline for various destinations.
With the 10.4.9 update. Final Cut Pro X gives you the ability to create your video in the format and resolution for the various social media platforms.
In this video we are going to go over the new Social Media Tools that were introduced in Final Cut Pro 10.4.9
STARTING OUT:
Starting out a new project:
Most Televisions, Youtube videos and widescreen mode on your iPhone shoot/deliver in a 16:9 aspect ratio. However, If you have already shot your video in a square format in Filmic Pro commonly used for Instagram, or Vertically in your camera app or Filmic Pro, then follow these steps to quickly set up your project in the right aspect ratio.
File > New > Project > Use Automatic Settings
(Video: Set based on first video clip properties)
Click OK
Drag your clip to the timeline, and your project will match the video resolution.
OR
When you create a new project, select Use Custom Settings, Click on the pop up menu on Video, select Vertical or Square. Select the Resolution and frame rate you’d like this video to be (typically you want to match the frame rate of the video to the frame rate you shot in.)
Change any other setting you need to.
Click OK.
Start dragging some of the clips you have shot into your timeline to assemble your video.
Smart Conform
There are times when you will want to use video footage that was shot 16:9/widescreen for theSquare/Vertical Project.
You can use Smart Conform analysis. A new feature introduced in Final Cut Pro 10.4.9 that will automatically analyze and reframe the videoclips, giving you a starting point for additional fine-tuning.
Using Smart Conform
There are two ways to use the Smart Conform Analysis:
Method One Repuposing A prior widescreen project:
Select a wide-screen project, right-click and select Duplicate Project As:
Select a Vertical or Square Aspect,
check the “Smart Conform.” Box.
Click OK.
Select the Duplicate Timeline in the Browser.
Your duplicate timeline will be in the Vertical or Square format, with the video clips framed accordingly.
Method Two using existing widescreen video in a new project:
Create a New Project.
Go to the Video drop-down menu, select Vertical.
Click OK.
Select a group of video clips and place them into the timeline by hitting the E key.
The clips are currently sized to fit in the vertical video, leaving black bars on the top and bottom.
Select all clips in the timeline (Command-A).
Modify > Smart Conform.
The Clips are analyzed faces and areas of interest, and are framed accordingly.
From here you can fine-tune your framing by using the Transform tools and controls that we went over in our Effects and Inspector overview tutorial.
Overscan View in Transform Controls.
An additional view to help you in fine tuning your reframed footage for vertical or square video is the overscan view.
This will allow you to see areas of your footage that are “not in frame” and allow you to reposition as necessary.
First, In order to see your video frame better, click on the percentage box arrow above your video in the viewer and select 25% to 50%.
Additionally you can also enable the Show Title/Action Safe and Show Horizon Overlays under View and use these guides to help center and frame your videos and titles.
Go to your timeline, select the clip you want to reframe, and in the viewer, right click and select Transform.
(Can also use the keyboard shortcut of (Shift-T)
Your footage now has the On Screen Controls which appear around your clip in the viewer.
Select the overscan button (1st button on the right side of the viewer, next to Reset) to see the parts of your video in and out of frame.
Click and drag the white circle in the center to move the image around.
Click and drag the outer blue circle handle to rotate the image.
Click and drag the blue handles in the corner to resize the image in proportion.
If you don’t like your changes you can hit the Reset button on the top right hand side.
Click done when you are satisfied with your changes.
CONCLUSION:
The new Social Media Tools introduced in Final Cut 10.4.9 allow you to customize your videos to a variety of social media platforms. Experiment with some previous footage you’ve shot with, or make a new project with footage shot specifically for the destination of your choice.
Create, have fun, and make your next project unique to the social media platform of your choice.