Final Cut Express Video Editing Software by Apple Computer for Mac OS X Description and Reviews.

Amazon.com Review
For all the budding Spielbergs and Lynches out there, Apple’s Final Cut Express is a great first foray into the world of movie magic. Even if you’re only looking to polish up your vacation videos, Final Cut Express offers easy-to-use controls and an open workspace that welcomes all abilities.

In a nutshell, Final Cut Express is a pared-down version of the popular Final Cut. The technology behind both packages is the same, so you can count on high quality output. But you, as the average user, won’t be burdened by the more technically robust features. In fact, while we were editing, we couldn’t think of a feature that we wished was included in Final Cut Express--this package allowed for plenty of different ways to modify your video, including

audio effects, filters (like sepia, black and white, opacity, brightness, color control), and transitions (such as fade, wipe, and so on).

We started by viewing Apple’s online help videos to learn the lingo of compositing, transitions, and ripples and rolls. These serve as an invaluable introduction to the package, especially since the package does not include a Help menu.

Setting up Final Cut Express is a breeze, with or without a camera in place. And getting going is easy too. If you’re familiar with other software packages that use layers, you’ll easily transition into the layers (both audio and video) that Final Cut Express uses. If not, it’s easy to learn. You can layer up to 99 clips of video together in the timeline to get just the right effect. Our favorite feature of Final Cut Express is the ability to import not only still images and a range of video, but also Photoshop documents.

When importing files from Photoshop, Final Cut Express retains all of the layers, meaning you can animate your presentation’s titles and graphical elements easily. The package’s animation capabilities let you really get some creative results out of your project: you can create an audio-accompanied slideshow, animate your title work, or even create a picture-in-picture effect, just to name a few. --Emilie Herbst

Product Description
Create video that looks like it was created in a Hollywood studio, on your desktop!

Product Description
Professional Video Editing for Everyone. Final Cut Express is the advanced DV editing software solution for home, education and creative business.

Based on Apple's Final Cut Pro 3 architecture, Final Cut Express delivers powerful features for video editors looking for a sophisticated and approachable application that produces professional looking results.

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Product Reviews:

Powerful, intuitive, and easy to get started, April 23, 2003
Reviewer: Andrew D. Fraser "the_fraser"

I bought a copy of Final Cut Express to edit a short film that I had shot on MiniDV. My previous experience was with Adobe's Premiere which I used without any formal training to my unfortunate frustration. These are some of my observations after finishing my first rough cut with Final Cut Express.

Final Cut Express 1.0.0 had a scary "unexpectedly quit" error that had me simultaneously sweating and squirming. There's a temporary work-around and it's fixable with a downloaded patch (1.0.1) from the Apple Support website.

Rendering clips happened quickly enough on my 700MHz G3 iBook.

I've found Final Cut Express to be very easy to use and control. The controls are simple to use and understand. The main thing is that, unlike with Premiere, I didn't become immediately frustrated with it. I'm positive that Premiere was simply "too professional" a package for me to handle.

I'm sure that on the right system and with the right training it is an excellent product. For me right now, I just need a step up from iMovie.

According to the manual all the controls and instructions are applicable to the Final Cut Pro interface. Final Cut Express appears to be a good training ground for those who eventually will migrate to the Final Cut Pro.

The documentation also says that Final Cut Express projects can be opened in Final Cut Pro, though Final Cut Express cannot open Final Cut Pro projects.

I still haven't scratched the surface of the capabilities of the package. The manual on the CD-ROM is a 600+ page .pdf file that covers not only the technical procedures for performing video and audio tasks, but also provides some advice and hints that you should keep in mind during shooting to make the post-production steps easier.