Learn the Secrets of Multicam Editing

Successful multicam editing begins long before you sit down at your editing workstation. It actually begins in the planning stages of your shoot - whether you are shooting a high profile sporting event or a school play. We're calling this tutorial the "secrets" of multicam editing, because along with showing you how to properly execute a multi-camera edit in Final Cut Pro, we also show you how to approach a shoot - what cameras to use and how to achieve and maintain sync regardless of your production budget. We also cover advanced multicam workflow that will save you hours of work when preparing your footage for the edit.

Experience our Training on the iPad

The iPad is revolutionizing the way people access and interact with media. Video training is therefore a natural fit for people who want their training on the go or on a separate device from their main system. Because of the limited storage capacities of the iPad, we have labored to keep the movie sizes as small as possible while maintaining our high standards of image and sound quality. And perhaps best of all, you don't need to be connected to the internet to watch our tutorials on your iPad.

How Does it Work?

We realize you may have a question or two, so we created a short FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page to answer them.

Click here for FAQ

Fluidly Change Point of View

Final Cut Pro will allow you to sync up to 128 camera angles into a single group called a multiclip. This makes it possible to fluidly cut from one camera to another. The techniques we demonstrate in this tutorial are not just limited to multicam footage. You can also create multiclips from a variety of source clips that were shot at completely different times and locations. This opens up the tool to a whole range of creative possibilities.

Locate Sync Points

You will learn techniques both pros and non-pros use when syncing up cameras on location, methods for logging multiple camera sources, and creating perfectly synced multiclips for editing.

Lock-Step Shooting

Learn now timecode generators work and how to use "time of day" timecode to sync your cameras and maintain sync, even if one camera was temporarily shut down for a battery change or media reload.

Learn Advanced Multicam Workflow

We include an entire lesson on how to leverage Final Cut Pro's Make Multiclip Sequence command. Why is this important to you? Because it's the biggest secret of all, and the one thing that will save you hours of work in the event you need to sync cameras from an event recorded over several hours. We even show you how to use this workflow with so-called "pro-sumer" camcorders that do not have the ability to receive an external timecode reference.

Who is this Tutorial for?

This tutorial is for anyone with an interest in cutting footage shot on location from multiple camera sources. Any user of Final Cut Pro version 5, 6 or 7 will benefit from this material.

What's in this tutorial?

There are 2 lessons in the iTunes feed. One lesson titled "The Essentials of Multicam Editing" is a complete soup-to-nuts tutorial on syncing cameras, creating multiclips and performing a multicam edit. The second lesson titled "Advanced Multicam Workflow" covers how to work with multicam footage shot over several hours using footage shot with time-of-day timecode.

Table of Contents

Lesson 1: The Essentials of Multicam Editing

Lesson 2: Advanced Multicam Workflow