The fisheye look has been a go-to staple of cinema for ages. And while fisheye lenses can stylistically express both openness and containment, as well as distort perceptions of height, size, and importance, wide-angle lenses also have a very practical purpose. They’re great for filming in small, tight places.

Apple Motion has two behaviors that seem to do the same thing: Throw and Motion Path. What's the difference?

This trick was invented by Ansel Adams almost 100 years ago. You can use it yourself to improve exterior shots. Here's how.

Starting with macOS 10.15 Catalina, Premiere Pro, Audition, and Adobe Media Encoder no longer support the capture of DV and HDV over FireWire. Here's what you need to know.

HDR capture and displays are capable of brighter whites and deeper blacks. There are two formats: HLG and PQ. Here's a quick overview of PQ.

Starting with the FCP X 10.4.7 release, Final Cut now supports multiple GPUs. And, using preferences, you can pick which GPU it uses for render and export. Here's how.

Can you afford to lose your media? Here's an effective backup strategy to keep your priceless media safe.

The Sequence Text behavior animates text attributes; such as scale, position, color, opacity and so on. Learn more.

Watermarks are used for branding, identification and to deter theft. In this article, learn about the two types of watermarks.

The alpha channel defines the amount of transparency each pixel contains. Here's how to display it - and what the colors mean.

One of the new features in Final Cut Pro X is the ability to export multiple projects at once. Here's how.

Framing and composition are essential concepts to understand if you want to get incredible footage in the first place. Here are seven rules that can help.

There’s no limit to the number of behaviors you can add to an object. Multiple behaviors applied to a single object work together to create a final animated effect. But, what happens when you have multiple behaviors, keyframes and simulations applied? Here's how Motion handles this.

Eran Dinur's experiences as a visual effects supervisor who works on a variety of film and TV projects caused him to write "The Filmmakers Guide to Visual Effects." Here are five VFX tips to consider.

Working with stills in Adobe Premiere Pro is a little bit of a different workflow than when you’re editing video. With images, you’re often dealing with a variety of resolutions and framing, you may event want to add some movement. Here are some tips.

The alpha channel determines transparency in a clip. However, no compressed codec supports alpha channels. Here are codecs you can use.

Hidden inside Final Cut Pro X is the Event Viewer, which allows us to compare images in the browser with images in the timeline. Here's how to turn it on.

Adding subtitles to your clips on YouTube expands the number of people that can benefit from watching your projects. Here's how to add subtitles and closed captions.

Normally, you need to decide when you first create a Motion project whether you want to save it as a template for Final Cut Pro X. However, there's a hidden menu that gives you other options. Here's how.

Visual effects is not some software magic that works with any footage. Here are 10 quick tips on the importance of having appropriate video content in order to help easily create more realistic visual effects.

Have you ever wondered if your hardware is optimized for Premier Pro? The System Compatibility Report holds the answers.

So, what is bit depth? Well, essentially it determines the range of possible colors your camera is capable of capturing. Here's a quick tip to learn more.

You see them listed at the top of every library: Smart Collections. But, what are they and how can they help us? Learn more here.

The intrepid team at MotionArray has compiled a glossary of film terms. Here's a sample that relates to the gear on set.

Evan Fitzer's tip isn't really a tip, per se. He's just pointing out that Motion has two different workspaces available. And the second one is really useful.

With these FREE motion graphics, you can easily add elegant motion and animation accents to your titles and designs in any project.

This is a summary of what the icons and colors mean in the Productions folder in Adobe Premiere.

An alpha channel is essentially any channel other than the channels that define color values for pixels in an image. Here's a quick description.

You can add a cast shadow to any clip, however it is most effective with text. Here's how to create it.

Typically, a sizzle reel is a three to five minute summation of your story’s main plot points, narrative approach, direction, and introduction to your main characters. Learn more.

Virtually all the effects in Final Cut Pro X were first created in Motion and saved as a template for Final Cut Pro X. This means that, in many cases, if you don't like the default settings, they are easy to change. Here's how.

Did you know that a Bezier curve is a subset of B-splines? Nope, me either. Here's a short description of B-spline curves.

SRT closed captions are designed for readability and flexibility, not formatting. Avoid problems - read this first.

Ever wonder what Raw files actually are? Here's a quick description.

Here's a fast - but hidden - way to store the same clip in more than one event.

What exactly is a video tripod, and how does it differ from one that’s used primarily for shooting still pictures? Basically, it’s what’s on top that counts—namely the head. Learn more here.

Clones are an easy way to make multiple elements all look the same and change their look in sync with each other. Here's how they work.

It's a simple thing that confuses a lot of people: What's the difference between crop and trim?

By default, when you scale (resize) an image, Premiere maintains the aspect ratio. This means the image gets larger or smaller, but retains its overall shape. But, what if that's not what you want?

The problem with mobile devices is that the bandwidth that connects them to the web changes as they move from one cell tower to another. This becomes important when watching movies that are longer than 10 minutes.

Recently, I was writing a tutorial on how to create, add and modify closed captions for Final Cut Pro X and I discovered this cool trick.

Traditional lenses project a circular image onto a rectangular sensor to create an image. A tilt-shift lens allows us to modify where that circular image lands in relation to the sensor. Learn more here - along with an excellent demo video.

The Fill filter replaces an element in Motion with either a solid color or gradient. Here's how it works.

Autodesk published a searchable list of keyboard shortcuts for both Flame and Smoke, organized by function. Find them here.

The folks at Juiced Systems have created an excellent overview of USB. Here are their key takeaways.

Tracking adjusts the spacing between letters. This is a helpful technique for titles in video because opening letter spacing often makes text more readable. Here's how.

Normally, we can only store one clip in one event. Here's a new technique that allows us to create independent copies of media without increasing storage needs.

When picking an HDR monitor, here are some top considerations, along with a link to learn more.

You are probably familiar with using Fill and Outline for shapes. But there is a wealth of other options hiding in Shape Styles. Here's a look.

All of us a familiar with how scaling works: as you scale an image it gets larger or smaller. But, there's a little known setting you can tweak that will make your zooms or rotations much more interesting. Here's how.

Stacking timelines not only speeds your workflow, but will also help you keep a bird’s-eye view on your work. Here's a closer look at this technique.

Apple ProRes codecs provide a combination of multistream, real-time editing performance, impressive image quality, and reduced storage rates. Here's more about what they are.

Split screen videos can be a fun stylistic choice for a variety of video types, but they also allow you to display more information on-screen than a single clip. Here are some options to consider.

Used lenses provide a cost-effective way to get quality equipment, but know what to look for before you buy. Here are ten tips from Karl Taylor.

There's a hidden lighting secret in Motion for 3D text that is worth learning: colored light! At the top of the screen shot is an example of lighting 3D text with colored light. Here's how to create it.

Dappled light doesn't require a lot of fancy gear. It only requires about $4. See the results here.

Robert Withers shares his thoughts on the challenges of finding a system to run FCP 7 and Premiere CS6.

We've all heard of codecs. These convert audio, or video, from analog into digital signals and back. Just as codecs are the heart of digital visual media, they are also at the heart of VoIP, with an interesting limitation.

Optical Flow is a way to generate artificial frames to smooth extremely slow motion video. Here's what you need to know.

Caleb Pike, with DSLR Shooter, provides seven tips to improve your shooting by thinking like an editor.

Apple Motion keyframes have a lot of flexibility in their playback options, if you know where to look. Here's a quick tip to discover the secret.

Ryan Connolly, at Film Riot, came up with five in-camera effects you can easily do yourself.

Ever wonder what Frame Reordering does in Apple Compressor? Me, too. So, I did some research. Here's what I learned.

In the top-left corner of the Timeline is a wrench icon. This contains a wide variety of configuration settings to enable the timeline to look the way you want for your style of editing.

With Final Cut Pro, you can use keyframes to create simple changes to audio over time, such as fading the volume or an effect in or out in the middle of a clip. The Range Selection tool makes adding keyframes faster.

Here are five tips to avoid the catastrophe of a badly-run video shoot.

Of all the keyboard shortcuts that have ever existed in the history of the world, NONE have bothered me more than these two in Motion. Fortunately, there's a quick and easy fix.

"Line boil" animation is where lines in an animated figure shiver, or "boil,"" as though every frame was drawn by hand. It gives life and energy to a line drawing by emphasizing rough edges. Here's how to create it.

Flattening disconnects unused multicam clips from the timeline. The big benefit is that it decreases the load on your storage system during playback. Here's what you need to know.

Since the release of macOS Catalina (10.15) older media based on 32-bit codecs no longer plays. If you were able to convert all your media before updating, great. If not, read this.

A hidden feature in Final Cut is the ability to assign multiple shortcuts to the same menu option. Here's how this works.

For several years, I ran the "Creative Truths Contest." This invited readers to send in aphorisms that best represent the editing process. Here are five of my favorites.

One of the challenges in using cell phone cameras is that too much of the image is in-focus. The amount of the image that's in-focus is called "depth-of-field." We use depth-of-field to control where the eye looks first in the frame. Here's a way to fake it.

There are two ways to pivot a camera: around the tripod or around the subject. Here's a quick tip to explain the difference.

Nesting combines multiple elements, like clips, into one "thing," called a nest. It’s easier to perform a task on a single nest than repeat the same task on multiple clips. Nests are not only more organized, they are also more efficient. This is the basic theory of nesting in Premiere Pro. Here's how to create a nest.

Media can go offline for a variety of reasons. However, once you show Premiere where the media went, relinking is straight-forward. Here's how it works.

"Broadcast Safe" refers to luma and chroma levels that are within long-established bounds required for broadcast, cable and digital cinema. The problem is that most digital cameras - both still and video - record levels in excess of these amounts. This tip describes your two options.

Understanding microphone technology can help you pick the right mic for your project. Here are some tips.

Here's a very cool way to create a time-warp effect. I've never used this in real-life, but I teach it in all of my Motion classes, because it is fun to play with and teaches an important lesson. Here are the steps.

A chroma-key removes a background by making all the pixels of a certain color transparent so we can put something else in its place. But it doesn't need to be green. Here's why.

One facet of standard definition digital video was that pixels were not square. This caused all kinds of issues. Learn why here.

Color wheels adjust all three color elements of a pixel: gray-scale, hue and saturation. Each wheel affects one-third of the image: shadows, mid-tones and highlights separately. Here's how they work.

You may know that we can set audio level keyframes quickly by selecting a range within a clip, then dragging the audio level line up or down. But did you also know you can use this same trick for visual effects? Here's how.

Day for night interiors can be tough. However, with the right approach, you can sell the effect by controlling, shaping, and cutting out the daylight. Here are some tips to keep in mind.

Text with animated video inside it is always fun to watch. Motion makes it easy to fill any text with any background. Here's how. (Part 1 of 3)

A tilt-shift blur simulates depth of field or the softening of edges with distance from a source. Here's what it looks like.

Your Mac holds hundreds of fonts, here's a quick tip to help you find your favorites.

There are two ways to apply the same mask to more than one clip: an adjustment layer or copying and pasting a mask. Here's how to use copy/paste.

The Range tool in Final Cut Pro X can speed your edits, if you know its secrets. These tips will help you decide if this tool is useful to you.

Brian Thomas has a tip to boost the performance of older laptops - and it doesn't cost any money!

Rigs are used to pass controls for Motion template effects from Motion to Final Cut Pro X. But they are also useful in Motion, itself. Learn more here.

Pre-visualization is critical for any visual project. The script is your foundation, while the art for pre-production is the frame that rests upon that foundation.Learn more about it here.

Premiere's Sequence Settings panel is daunting. Even experienced editors scratch their heads over some of these options. Fortunately, Premiere has two fast ways to configure a sequence. Learn more here.

Ogg is an open-source container format for media assets. Here's a quick sketch of what you need to know.

The Skimmer in Final Cut Pro X allows us to quickly review clips in the Browser. But, did you know it has a hidden feature that's just a keystroke away? It does.

A common misconception among aspiring or soon-to-be filmmakers is that you need a lot of huge, expensive lights to really pull of a professional, cinematic look. That was true once, but not anymore. Here are some tips.

Text can move around paths or shapes. This tip explains how to get text to follow a path.

A vignette, in film, darkens the edges of the frame to focus the attention of the eye on the brighter portion of the image at the center. Here are more thoughts on its use.

If you are posting audio to your web site, streaming it live where bandwidth requirements make a difference, or posting it to services that charge for storage, you want to make your audio file as small as possible, without damaging quality. Here's what you need to know.

Once we have a rough cut complete, it is often necessary to move or replace clips in the timeline. Here are two tricks - swap and replace - that make that easier.

... for Apple Final Cut Pro X Tip #392: How to Use a Second Display with FCP X Larry Jordan - LarryJordan.com The Secondary Monitor display menu only appears when you have a second monitor connected. This tip is from an Apple…