If you’re having trouble adding transitions to your sequence in Final Cut Express or Final Cut Pro, this video should help.

I have received this same question from many different viewers, and rather than answer them all individually, I thought it would make sense to make a video that shows you:

• Why the problem happens
• How to fix it
• How to work around it if it’s not something you CAN fix

I hope you find it helpful.

You can also right-click here to save the video to your computer.

I have more free video tutorials here. If you want access to everything, you need to become a member.

Photography and videography have a lot in common. Many of the tools that photographers use can be useful for video shooters as well. In this installment of Izzy Video, I review the difference between reflected light meters and incident light meters, and I also demonstrate how to use them.

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Do you like this tutorial and want more? Izzy Video Members get access to the complete collection of Izzy Video Tutorials. Please follow this link for more details on becoming an Izzy Video Member.

Want to automatically receive all the free shows as they’re released?

Subscribe to the free version of Izzy Video in iTunes, and have this episode plus future free episodes delivered to your computer by clicking on the following link:

Free Izzy Video Tutorials in iTunes

You can download the Quicktime version of the episode here.

We’re returning to some video fundamentals with this episode. This tutorial is all about getting a good exposure. Also, I demonstrate how to to use an 18% gray card.

The specific gray card I’m using is from Lastolite. Here is an Amazon link (where I purchased mine): Lastolite 12-Inch Ezybalance Card Gray Card

You can watch the high quality version of the video here.

Want to see more videos like this one? Check out the membership information page to see how you can get access to all the other videos.

Who says that video production can’t be a family activity?

I get requests for Motion tutorials all the time, and it’s been a while since I’ve released one, so I thought we’d have a little fun in this week’s episode. In this installment of Izzy Video, I demonstrate the steps you take in Motion to turn a face into a monster’s face. The technique uses motion tracking and keyframed filters. I hope you have as much fun with this technique as we did.

You can download the video here.

This week’s video does a couple things. It promotes my new course, Learn Final Cut Pro 6: The Izzy Video Guide for Beginners. Also the video answers a question that viewers frequently ask me: “What is your process for exporting video for the web?”

I covered the subject a while back, but my process has changed a bit since then, so it’s a good time to update you.

As I mention in the video, this free version is much smaller than the ones available as part of my Final Cut Pro course. My course offers both HD videos at 1280×800 and Small videos at 960×600, so viewers can see everything that I’m doing on the screen.

I’m really excited about this new course. It took a long time, but I’m very happy with it. I believe it’s a great way for someone new to Final Cut Pro to learn the fundamentals of the app. I’ve already started receiving feedback from people who signed up for it yesterday right after I launched it. The feedback has been quite positive so far, and of course, I’m delighted about that!

By the way, if you’re an Izzy Video Member, then you get $20 off the price of the course. Simply login to the members area and you’ll find a coupon code. If you’re not a Member, and you’re interested in learning Final Cut Pro, this is a great time to become a Member.

You can download this video here.

Finally, if you have additional recommendations regarding outputting video for the web after watching the video, please post any comments here. I’d love to read additional strategies.

Of course, you can leave any comment you want. It doesn’t have to be an exporting strategy.

This is a popular request I get: Will you please show different ways of shooting video outdoors, when you don’t have all the comforts of a studio?

That’s a big request, and there’s a lot to cover, so this installment of Izzy Video will get the ball rolling. This one is all about diffusion. I’ve touched on the subject in the past, but this episode goes more in-depth and does a better job of covering gear.

UPDATE: Several people have asked me to post a link to the Scrim Jim Kit that I show in this video. Here it is: Scrim Jim Broadcast Location Kit – Large

You can watch Izzy Video episode 121 here.

As I mention in the video, this is the first part of a series of tutorials on the subject of shooting video outdoors. There’s plenty to talk about, so there’s no way to fit it into one episode. If you’re new to Izzy Video, I recommend you subscribe to the RSS feed in iTunes to ensure you get the future episodes.

If you want to see every episode in the series, you’ll need to be an Izzy Video Member. Members always get more. If you’re new, you might want to learn about an Izzy Video Membership.

Still photos can be powerful additions to your video, and adding movement to the photos can take them to the next level. Today’s episode shows you how to take the movement even further, by using an effect called 2.5D (two-and-a-half dimensions). In this tutorial, I demonstrate how to create the effect using a combination of Photoshop and Motion, but you could just as easily do it in Photoshop and After Effects, or even other software combinations.

The effect is difficult to describe. It’s subtle, and the best way to understand 2.5D is just to see it in action.

You can watch the video here.

As always, the paid members can download an HD version of this video in the member’s area. To learn more about becoming an Izzy Video Member, please visit the membership information page.

Please leave feedback and questions regarding this Izzy Video tutorial right here in the comments.

Thanks to Amber Heckler from Norfolk, VA for requesting this week’s topic. She wrote me at izzy (at) izzyvideo (dot) com and asked:

I was wondering if you could do a tutorial on how to achieve the “300 Effect” in post production. To me the “300 Effect” is when a piece of video seems to speed up, and then slow down; mainly seen in fight sequences.

Izzy Video 108 answers this question.

Some of the topics I cover in this episode are:

• What is a variable speed change
• Time-Remapping
• Video Frame Rates
• Smoothing Keyframes

This is one of those techniques that can be a lot of fun. My children certainly enjoyed making this video!

You can watch the video here.

As always, the paid members can download an HD version of this video in the member’s area. To learn more about becoming an Izzy Video Member, please visit the membership information page.

This week’s video tutorial is on the subject of color grading. Specifically, you get to see my entire workflow as I grade a casual video clip in Apple’s Color. Don’t worry about the specific application, though. Many of the concepts in this video should be universal among most color grading tools.

Some of the topics I cover are:

• Principles of Cropping
• Waveform Monitors
• Vectorscopes
• Primary and Secondary Color Grades
• HSL Keys
• Vignettes

This might be one of the single most educational episodes I’ve made so far. It certainly strays from the short, focused structure I typically use — it’s more than 20 minutes long. But I still tried to make sure it was packed with good, useful information.

And to top it all off, I’m releasing it under a Creative Commons License, so you can pass it around and share it as much as you would like.

You can get the video tutorial here.

Because it’s a screencast, it only seems appropriate that I should also release it in a higher resolution to make the screen easier to see.

By the way, both of these are huge downloads, but I didn’t want to compromise too much on the picture quality, so I settled for big file sizes.

This video tutorial brings together some of the concepts I have previously discussed.

Many people like to do their interview outside because they enjoy the look of sunlight more than tungsten lights. I prefer sunlight as well, but it can be difficult to work with such an uncooperative key light. Inside this video podcast are some ideas which can help you improve your outdoor interview imagery.

You can watch this video here.

Once you’re done watching this video, you can also watch other free sample episodes.