Final Cut Pro vs iMovie

Two editing programs, two programs designed by the same company, two very different results.

Final Cut Pro is the editing software being used by our group for this year's coursework, the music video. As mentioned in previous blogs last year we used iMovie. I would be hard pressed to say i prefer Final Cut but I can't deny it gives crisper results. The wider range of abilities available, such as transitions (many yet not explored) mean it is not as limited. The viewer window is alot more accessible, with the use of tabs allowing you to change things in simpler ways, such as the motion tab, containing tools to adjust the scale, opacity, cropping, rotation, motion blur and many more things of the clip.

With all things said though, I still preferred iMovie. It was more 'student friendly' for what its worth and simpler to use, but this is coursework, not a playaround, so there is no doubting the best results will come from Final Cut Pro. iMovie is best used in amateur editing, I can't name a film from the top of my head (or know if there is a film) created using iMovie, but I know many a film edited using Final Cut Pro, many in fact amongst my favourite movies, including:

• Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
• Super Size Me (2004) - a somewhat amateur documentary anyway but still a huge (or super size) success
• Jarhead (2005)
• No Country For Old Men (2007) - Received global acclaim and numerous Golden Globe nominations, 2 winners.

As well as being used in other successful films, such as The Simpsons Movie and The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.

The history is shown here that you can produce quality with Final Cut Pro, and unlike iMovie, there is no excuse for us to not do so. Final Cut Pro will open a new world for our editing process, so lets just hope we can learn how to use it correctly!