The Basics of Post-Production Workflow

       The very first thing that you should do in the post-production process is decide where all of your media will be stored. It's important that everything is stored in the same place so that if you ever need to transfer the project to another device, you don't lose anything. It also makes the job 100 times easier.  You should make a new folder and name it appropriately.

       I've named my folder 'The Project' and I've placed it on the desktop, making it easy to find. You can choose to save your work on an internal or external hard drive, depending on what is best for you (if you plan on working on several different machines, saving everything on an external hard drive would save time).

       Now it's time to set up Scratch Disks on Final Cut Pro. These are very important, because they dictate where autosaves, log and transfer footage and other files are saved. Firstly, navigate to the "Final Cut Pro" tab at the top of the page and then click "System settings".

       A window will pop up entitled "Scratch Disks". You'll see that there are four boxes that are all ticked. Next to them there will be a button that says "Set". Click that and navigate to the folder you created earlier. By doing this, you will tell Final Cut Pro to save all files in said folder and so nothing will be lost.

       Your project can consist of as many or as little sequences as you want. Sequences relate to the timeline in which you are working with. If you double click on the sequence you want to work with you are able to add or change footage within that timeline.

       When it comes to exporting the finished product, you may want or need to have the file in a specific format. If you're producing work for a client they may need the format to be DVD/ internet friendly etc. Final Cut Pro has two main methods when it comes to exporting: Quicktime movie (a high quality compressed version of your project in a .MOV file - an Apple developed format) 

OR Quicktime conversion (this allows the user to choose the format of the finished project, as well as the resolution and the quality).