Easier Editing with Final Cut Pro

Video editing is definitely on the rise these days, with many people starting to edit short videos on their phones for social media before getting into dedicated programs like Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro and more.

- CHERYL TAN

For those of us who just do it for fun, however, it can be a little daunting to learn all the ins and outs of the program and what it could possibly offer more than your current preferred mobile video editing tool. To address that, we rounded up five nifty features that Apple’s Final Cut Pro (FCP) on Mac has to offer to level up your video editing easily. And of course, we show you how it’s done too.

01 AUTO LUT APPLICATION

This is a particularly handy feature for people who want to take advantage of the new LOG recording on the iPhone 15 Pro lineup. LOG is a video format that offers a flat, desaturated colour profile. When shooting in LOG, video files have a higher dynamic range and a wider scope for colour-grading the footage in post-production. However, for hobbyists and beginners, learning colour grading can be a long process.

Colour grading is part of the post-production video editing workflow, and changes attributes like contrast, colour, saturation, white balance and more. As part of the process, hues and tones can also be added for a more stylised look if desired.

With FCP, imported Log files automatically have a Lookup Table (LUT) applied so you don’t have to manually adjust the footage’s contrast, saturation, and such. LUTs differ from brand to brand because most brands have their own LOG profile that requires different tweaks. The Apple Log LUT applied for Log footage is built into FCP, so you don’t have to worry about downloading it. Aside from Apple Log, FCP can automatically apply LUTs for other cameras as well.