How can I import my movies into Final Cut Pro?
It depends where you are importing your movie from. If it is a file already on your computer, go to the File menu, select Import, and then click if you want to import ‘files’ or a ‘folder’. Then navigate to the file you want, select it and click ‘choose’. The file should be imported to the Browser (the list of clips and folders on the left side of your FCP workspace) and from there, you can drag it to the timeline to work with it.
If your movie is on a miniDV tape, you will need to have a tape deck plugged in and your computer will have to recognize it. Then you go to File>Log and Capture. At the bottom right of the box that pops up, you’ll see options to Capture ‘Clip’, ‘Now’, or ‘Batch’. The easiest way is to select ‘Now’, so that FCP will capture everything currently happening on the tape deck screen. Press play on the tape deck, your movie will play, and it will capture your film as it plays. You’ll have the option to stop when your movie is over.
If your movie is burned on a DVD, it’s not really possible with FCP because the DVD is copyright protected and shouldn’t allow this. There are external programs you can download to try, but I’ve yet to find one that doesn’t significantly lessen the quality. But if you really want to, you can search around message boards for which to try.
