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Chapter markers should be a requirement for every DVD created. While the motion picture industry has been using them for years, those doing wedding videos, corporate, or training videos can increase interactivity and customer satisfaction. After going through these steps, you?ll smack yourself on the head and cry, ?Why haven?t I been doing this all along!?? In this Final Cut Pro Quick Tip, Stephen Schleicher shows how easy it is to use chapter markers in iDVD.
In the Final Cut Pro timeline place markers (using the ` key). Place the markers wherever they fit into your production. For example, if you are creating a wedding video, you may have markers at the beginning, bridal prep, guests arriving, pre wedding stuff, ceremony, reception, and so on. This allows the bride and groom to instantly jump to that portion of the day to relive the moment when Uncle Philip stood up on the table and belted out a toon.
Open the Edit Marker panel, and give the Marker a unique name. Then click on the Add Chapter Marker. This turns on the flag for Final Cut Pro to generate a Chapter Marker at this point.
Choose File>Export>QuickTime Movie. Give the sequence a unique name, and select a folder to save the file you will use in iDVD. From the Markers drop down menu, select Chapter Markers.
When exporting the sequence from Final Cut Pro, I like to create a reference movie instead of recompressing the entire file and making it self contained.. The main reason is it saves a lot of hard drive space. The reference file simply points to the original media. It exports a very small file, quickly. This is why I do not turn on Make Movie Self-Contained or Recompress All Frames.
Launch iDVD. Select a theme or create one of your own. If you want to learn more about iDVD, may I suggest the most excellent series of tutorial written by David Nagel. You can find those tutorials at www.creativemac.com or on other Digital Media Net community of sites.
Choose iDVD>Preferences. In the Preferences panel, select the Movies Tab, and make sure Automatically create chapter marker submenu. This will ensure iDVD creates a Scene Selections menu.
Drag the reference movie from the folder to the iDVD interface. The chapter markers will be recognized and created for you.
If you click on the Map button, you can see the hierarchy that has been created, along with the individual chapters.
It is clear creating and adding chapter markers in Final Cut Pro for use in iDVD is very easy. Use this Final Cut Pro Quick Tip next time you are creating a project for a client and you?ll see a smile on their face.
For a complete listing of all Final Cut Pro Quick Tips to date, visit my website at www.stephenschleicher.com. You might even find a royalty free HDV shot of a wheat field for your next project.
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