Tips for Final Cut Pro: Flip Image How-To
Image Control
One of the key things that make non-linear editing packages like Final Cut Pro is that they allow you an extended amount of image control. It is not just the assembly of video clips into the logical order that defines video editing, but instead the ability to go through and actually execute the creative vision that one has over the project. This is done on set during production as well, but what occurs in the editing room can be more meditative and calculated because you can employ a large amount of trial and error.
Here you can adjust and change each specific image until it flows perfectly as a piece of the larger whole. This can go from advanced effects all the way to simply how an image is framed or positioned depending on your decisions. One of the simplest of these is flipping an image, which can present an image simply reversed. In Final Cut Pro this is a relatively brief process that newcomers can do.
The Flip Side
To properly flip the image in Final Cut Pro you need to first go to the Browser and click on the Effects tab. Go to the Video Filters folder and then the Perspective sub folder. Here you see the effect Flop, which you can then drag and drop on the clip. This is easiest if the clip has already been selected and is up in the Viewer. When it is in the Viewer you can go to the Filters tab and make corrections to change it between horizontal and vertical if you want. You can also combine the two planes if you like.
This can be an interesting tool mainly to bring about a more diversity in visuals. Often times your film may have to many clips with objects on a certain side of the screen, such as a number of interview subjects sitting on the left and facing right. You then might want to take one of them and flip it to the other side so that everything is not too uniform. You may want to avoid having action or objects on one side in one use of the clip and then the other side for another use. If you are going to flip an image in Final Cut Pro it should likely stay that way.
This post is part of the series: Final Cut Pro Tutorials
Here are a series of Final Cut Pro tutorials to teach some of the most important aspects of editing in Final Cut Pro.
