“I was a little intimidated about using Final Cut Pro at first, because it seemed like learning it would take so much longer than iMovie,” Iverson admits. “But I really learned the whole thing in a day. Then I found I could speed things up, slow scenes down, and add all kinds of effects. Everyone who’s seen the video so far says it’s incredibly cool ... and I owe all of that reaction to Final Cut Pro.”

“It [the library video] made me want to go there all the time,” raves Boots Dunlap, a fourth-year student at UVa. “I had no idea of the immense resources available to students before I saw the library video. It was awesome!”

A Marathon Edit
If Iverson wasn’t already a Final Cut “Pro,” by the time he was finished he could have taught a course in the product. The editing phase, he notes, involved equal parts digital technology and caffeine.

“I was trying to make a deadline to show the tape to the librarian,” Iverson says with a laugh. “I was mostly working on my own PowerBook, because I could work late into the evening. On this night, I set up my computer, the camera, and the tapes in my friend’s living room. I was also hooked up to a TV set and a sound system, so I sort of had a mini-portable studio around me. I edited for 27 hours straight, then came in at 11 a.m. and showed the video to everyone. They loved it so much that they asked me to show it a second time, then a third ... then I went home and passed out!”

Special Edition on DVD
Response to the library orientation tape has been overwhelming, Iverson modestly admits. Faculty and students alike have given it “thumbs up” at every screening. Says UVa student Mary Stuart Young: “I didn’t know half those places existed until I saw the library video. It took my concept of a library and expanded it to places I had never before imagined. I am looking forward to using some of the amazing things highlighted in the tape.”

Several of the university’s administrators have requested their own copies of the DVD, which Iverson says was easily done on the Macs with Final Cut Pro and iDVD.

“One of the things I was touting in my original presentation was the fact that Final Cut Pro and iDVD could deliver the finished video in any format desired — DVDs, the Web, VHS, or anything else,” Iverson says. “With digital video, you have unlimited export options, and it’s so easy. We actually created a ‘special edition’ of the video on DVD, which includes ‘behind-the-scenes’ footage and outtakes. The administration even asked for a copy to add to the library’s Special Collections!”

Big Production(s) in His Future
Word of the video has spread across UVa, and Iverson says he’s beginning to get offers to do similar pieces for other departments. He continues to learn the finer points of Final Cut Pro, and feels sure the tool will be the secret to his future success as a producer/director.

“I find myself watching TV or a movie, and thinking ‘how did they do that?’” Iverson says. “Then I go to Final Cut Pro, and realize ‘wow, I can actually do that with my PowerBook!’ That’s what’s so amazing ... you see the effects that were done in these huge studios, but just about anyone can do the same thing with one software program on a laptop. With Final Cut Pro, you can do just about anything.”