Welcome to the FCP Shortcutter!

Today I launch the FCP Shortcutter, a blog that takes a new and unique approach to learning keyboard shortcuts:  a daily focus on just one shortcut at a time. FCP editors who visit this blog daily can assimilate and put into practice just one new key combination per day and we believe that is the perfect way to dramatically improve your skills.

As a freelance Final Cut Pro editor for over 10 years, a Certified Apple Pro Apps Trainer and former instructor at San Francisco State University’s Multimedia Studies Program (teaching Final Cut Pro, Motion, DVD Studio Pro and a variety of other digital post-production topics), I have had the opportunity to observe a wide variety of editors and aspiring editors in action and at various points on the learning curve. One thing I’ve noticed about all of these editors, including myself,  is that we can all benefit by streamlining our workflow with keyboard shortcuts. In fact, I’ve become something of a fanatic about it because this approach delivers tremendous results and  frees the editor’s mind and time to address some of the core goals of the editing process: effective story telling and getting the job done on time.

When an editor is wrestling with the software that they use for their life’s work, they aren’t in a good place. If you have mastered the software and your hands can keep up with your ideas (or that stressed out Producer sitting in the chair next to you), you are not only going to be happier in your work, but you’ll spend less time doing it or, if you are a freelancer, you’ll make a lot more money.

If you are a pro and already realize how incredibly important the use of keyboard shortcuts is, then I’m preaching to the choir. Use this blog as a fun and painless way to polish your skills and add to your bag of tricks.  Please register to become a commenter and jump into the fray! If some of the shortcuts presented here are aimed a little low for your skill level, hopefully our pithy commentaries will give you some ancillary information or a good tip or two on how to better use the shortcuts you already have in your repertoire.

If you’re a novice FCP user or just somewhere south of “seasoned pro” on the learning curve, then I urge you to take each of these entires to heart.  The novice FCP user is in the very vulnerable position of establishing productivity-killing bad habits early on.  Sometimes it’s easier to just get the thing done and out the door and you tell yourself that you’ll bone up on those keyboard commands when you have some down time.  Well, I’ve got news for enterprising FCP editors:  that mythical “down time” may very rarely come and when it does, you need to pull away from the keyboard and live your life.

The novice user should learn things the right way early on so they can devote their attention to the finer points of editing.  Your producers will be impressed when they sit with you and you’ll advance faster.  It’s a lead pipe cinch.

HOW TO USE THE SITE

The Shortcutter will enable you to slowly increase your knowledge one bite at a time if you read it every day.  I think you’ll be surprised at how much it will change your editing career.  It is decidedly not NSFW and I’d like to think editors will read it over their morning coffee. The entries are brief and the graphics are designed to be easy to see (like a flash card) if you leave the site open on your desktop during the working day. Take each day’s Shortcut and use it.  Often, it’s awkward and frustrating to use a shortcut until you get used to it, but I promise you that there are great benefits to be had by incorporating these techniques into your personal workflow.

When I’ve run out of shortcuts (which is a long way away), I’ll update and reissue them. The Shortcutter can be a part of your ongoing training for years to come. Stick with us for a while and perhaps you too will achieve FCP “Ninja Level” skills.

SCHEDULE

I will always publish Monday through Friday and usually on the weekends as well, but I will try to keep the weekend fare very basic–i.e., the most elementary and well-known shortcuts. That way, a working editor can keep abreast of the site during the work week while an aspiring editor (whom I assume is always working on weekends) can find something of value almost every day.