CoolMacintosh.com: The Macside: Mac Movie Making

By Nick Canfield

The Mac has always been a major presence in the graphics industry. Applications like Photoshop and Bryce 3D have always been a major part of the Mac, and professionals have a long history of using the Mac for their graphics needs. But recently a unique field has come to be associated with the Mac. Movie making using a computer is a relatively new idea. However, with Apple pushing, movie making has become very popular on the Mac. Professionals who used to use expensive and bulky editing equipment to edit their video are now using the Mac with Final Cut Pro. Apple has done something unique with iMovie as well, they have introduced movie making to the consumer. Home users can now edit their own movies and distribute their own DVDs that they made with iDVD. DVD Studio Pro gives the professionals that ability as well. Movie making on the Mac has grown into an industry within an industry, and it is more successful than anybody ever imagined.

Since its release Final Cut Pro has dominated the computer video editing industry. Final Cut Pro includes professional effects and a relatively easy to use interface. There are editing options galore such as Speed Control, Transitions, Modifiable Text, and the ability to capture from multiple sources. Final Cut Pro is very appealing to professionals because it has all these and more features, and a lower price than editing systems. It also offers a feature that no editing system can offer, the ability to run on a 5-pound laptop. With a feature called OfflineRT, Final Cut Pro can now compress over 40 minutes of video on one gig of hardrive space. It dominates over other video editing programs because it offers more features and works better in conjunction with special effects programs for basically the same price. Final Cut Pro 3 was just released and it boasts even more features such as Color Correction and Real-time effects. Apple is really helping its sales grow with this application.

However, Apple would be inconsiderate if it left out the home users. Apple pioneered the idea of an application that made editing your own movies at home fun and easy. iMovie was born, an application designed to make movie editing not only possible but easy for anybody from a geek to a new user. iMovie is surprisingly capable with Scrolling Text, Transitions, Soundtrack, and more. The timeline and clip interface makes it easy to use. Nobody would ever have guessed that iMovie would become so popular and a big reason for new Mac purchases.

But all these movies are useless if you can't show them to anybody. Apple has released iDVD and DVD Studio Pro to help in this matter. Apple is thinking ahead of its time again. Millions of households now have DVD players. Giving people the ability to burn DVDs gives them a great way to share their movies. iDVD is extremely easy to use employing a drag and drop interface. It also bestows a lot of creativity by allowing you to create your own music and menus for the DVD, and set it up any way you want. DVD Studio Pro has many features that make using a Mac for the whole movie production very reasonable. Burning DVDs is something new to the computer world, but I am confident that it will be extremely popular.

Movie making on your Mac is something you should try if you have not done it before. Go out and get a digital camcorder for Christmas. Making your own movies is fun and you can be proud of your work with iMovie on your side. Apple has set a new standard with its promotion of video editing. More Macs are being sold because of it and more people are experiencing something new and fun. Apple has brought movie making to the Mac in all forms, it's all part of the digital hub stragedy.

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