The New Apple Pro Video Training and Certifications

Written by Peter Wiggins Published: 13 January 2022

Category: FCP News

Top BlogReading time: 01:19

Hot off the press, Apple and FMC have announced new training courses and certifications.

More information when we get it, but this is what we have so far..

Apple and FMC are pleased to announce a new initiative that offers training and certifications for Apple Pro Video Apps, starting with Final Cut Pro.

Planned for the first quarter of 2022, the Apple Training Network website will feature:

Live, interactive training courses in English, Chinese, Japanese, French, Spanish and German
FCP Certification Exams
Recorded Exam Prep workshops in multiple languages
Live Conferences supported by Apple
On-site training services
Certification Prep Workshops

The Network will feature three, distinct, end-user Exams and Accreditations.

FCP Certified SocialPro

This exam certifies users wishing to focus on online content and social media. It is ideal for students and professionals looking to get their feet wet in the Final Cut Pro ecosystem.

It covers the main features of Final Cut Pro at an introductory-to-intermediate level and includes questions about integrating iPhone video into the production process.

FCP Certified VideoPro

This exam certifies users wishing to showcase their efficiency and expertise in producing professional content for film, television, advertising, and business.

It covers all areas of Final Cut Pro at an intermediate to advanced level and includes questions on importing, editing, and exporting finalized professional-quality videos.

FCP Certified Post-ProductionPro

This exam certifies users wishing to gain a wide breadth of knowledge across the Pro Apps ecosystem.

It covers all areas of Final Cut Pro at the expert level and includes questions concerning Motion and Compressor as well as post-production terminology and concepts.

Written by Peter Wiggins

Top BloggerThought Leader

I am the Editor-in-Chief of FCP.co and have run the website since its inception ten years ago.

I have also worked as a broadcast and corporate editor for over 30 years, starting on one inch tape, working through many formats, right up to today's NLEs.

Under the name Idustrial Revolution, I have written and sold plugins for Final Cut Pro for 13 years.

I was made a Freeman of Lichfield through The Worshipful Company of Smiths (established 1601). Though I haven't yet tried to herd a flock of sheep through the city centre!

Current Editing

great house giveaway 2020

2020 has been busy, the beginning of the year was finishing off a new property series (cut on FCP) for Channel 4 called The Great House Giveaway. I also designed and built the majority of the graphics as Motion templates. It has been a great success and the shows grabbed more viewers in the 4pm weekday slot than any previous strand. It has been recommissioned by C4 for 60 episodes, including prime-time versions and five themed programmes. The shows have also been nominated for a 2021 BAFTA.

Tour de france 2020
Although both were postponed to later in the year, I worked again on ITV's coverage of the Tour de France and La Vuelta. 2020 was my 25th year of editing the TdF and my 20th year as lead editor. The Tour was the first broadcast show to adopt FCPX working for multiple editors on shared storage.

BBC snooker the crucible

BBC's Snooker has played a big part in my life, I've been editing tournament coverage since 1997. I'm proud to be part of a very creative team that has pioneered many new ideas and workflows that are now industry standard in sports' production. This is currently an Adobe Premiere edit.

amazon kindle BF

Covid cancelled some of the regular corporate events that I edit such as trade shows & events. I was lucky however to edit, from home, on projects for Amazon Kindle, Amazon Black Friday, Mastercard and very proud to have helped local charitable trust Kendall & Wall secure lottery funding.

As for software, my weapon of choice is Final Cut Pro and Motion, but I also have a good knowledge and broadcast credits with Adobe Premiere Pro, MOGRT design and Photoshop.

Plugin Design & Development

I'm the creative force behind Idustrial Revolution, one of the oldest Final Cut Pro plugin developers. It hosts a range of commercial and free plugins on the site. One free plugin was downloaded over a thousand times within 24 hours of release.

I also take on custom work, whether it is adapting an existing plugin for a special use or designing new plugins for clients from scratch. Having a good knowledge of editing allows me to build-in flexibility and more importantly, usability.

FCP.co

Now in its 10th year and 4th redesign, running FCP.co has given me knowledge on how to run a large CMS- you are currently reading my bio from the database! Although it sounds corny, I am pretty well up on social media trends & techniques, especially in the video sector. The recent Covid restrictions has enabled live FCP.co shows online. This involves managing a Zoom Webinar through Restream.io to YouTube and Facebook.

The Future

I'm always open to new ideas and opportunities, so please get in touch at editor (at) fcp.co. I've judged film competitions, presented workflow techniques to international audiences and come up with ideas for TV shows and software programs!

Posts in discussion: The New Apple Pro Video Training and Certifications

alex4D replied the topic: #118428 13 Jan 2022 17:30

I wonder if there'll be a book to go with each course. Blackmagic Design have official training books which you can buy online. They also make PDF versions of those books available for free.

alex4D replied the topic: #118429 13 Jan 2022 17:33

I hope there'll be ‘Motion Certified Motion Graphics Pro’ training and certification too. Because knowing Motion 5 would be very useful for those who want to do more than their NLE (be it Final Cut, Premiere, Resolve or Media Composer) can do but find that After Effects isn't right for them.

VTC replied the topic: #118433 13 Jan 2022 18:33

alex4D wrote:
...Blackmagic Design have official training books which you can buy online...

Blackmagic recently released a set of videos devoted to Davinci Resolve training...
www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinc...olve/training/#color

Anyone care to guess at what makes these training sessions a true delight?
Anyone... Anyone?

There's none of that obnoxious bump thump bump music embed silliness that so childishly scores most all web video these days sounding as if there's combat boots running in the dryer the next room over.

"If you can't improve on the silence of the desert... remain silent." (Bedouin saying.)

Can anything be more annoying than forced into hearing it for 14 minutes? Not in my world there isn't.

JoeEditor replied the topic: #118437 13 Jan 2022 20:43

I happen to think Jenn Jager is doing some great tutorials, keeps folks attention, makes them fun. Why remove the fun from training? That gets boring. Between Ripple Training and Jenn Jager, what else does anyone need? At least someone is making the effort, I guess.

And I'm sure us previous ATCs are going to be ignored... oh wait, we were ignored and tossed out with the trash a long time ago. Just seems lots of good folks got cut off by Apple without so much as a "thank you for that decade plus of promoting us at your own expense."

Doesn't surprise me that FMC gets the monopoly on this. And yes, a Motion specific, plus a Compressor specific training would be nice to see.

Big question is, always has been, do these actually help anyone gain employment?

JoeEditor replied the topic: #118439 13 Jan 2022 21:38

Watching Richard Taylor's broadcast at the moment. He thinks a major new version of FCP will be released with the new training. I sure hope so. That would be nice.

alex4D replied the topic: #118443 14 Jan 2022 11:54

"Apple and FMC have announced" - not yet. Just FMC for now. I hope Apple are allowed to announce this. Beyond eventually linking to FMC from the Apple Final Cut site. That wouldn't be announcing it. If they do announce it, it would be a sign that the wider Apple has given the Storytelling group have a little more latitude in publicly promoting their applications, features and services.

JoeEditor replied the topic: #118447 14 Jan 2022 13:53

Ah, just FMC, good point!

RSK replied the topic: #118449 14 Jan 2022 14:01

alex4D wrote:
I hope there'll be ‘Motion Certified Motion Graphics Pro’ training and certification too.

Or it just stays at what's described in the "Certified Post-ProductionPro" section. Unfortunately, I suspect it will. At least for the foreseeable future.

.

Ben wrote:
Watching Richard Taylor's broadcast at the moment. He thinks a major new version of FCP will be released…

😂… when has he ever NOT thought that?

alex4D replied the topic: #118451 14 Jan 2022 15:09

RSK wrote:

alex4D wrote:
I hope there'll be ‘Motion Certified Motion Graphics Pro’ training and certification too.
Or it just stays at what's described in the "Certified Post-ProductionPro" section. Unfortunately, I suspect it will.

…but the announcement includes this text:

"training and certifications for Apple Pro Video Apps, starting with Final Cut Pro.

RSK replied the topic: #118452 14 Jan 2022 15:13

alex4D wrote:
…but the announcement includes this text:
"training and certifications for Apple Pro Video Apps, starting with Final Cut Pro.

Sure. A big fat "We'll see where this goes and decide on further details later…" 😜
Which is also why I wrote, "At least for the foreseeable future".

Xan replied the topic: #118454 14 Jan 2022 16:12

I am a certified trainer for both Final Cut Pro and Apple Motion, for obvious reasons I haven't taught a single class in years. Does this mean that Learnquest is not going to continue its fantastic work?

JoeEditor replied the topic: #118459 14 Jan 2022 22:10

Learnquest was dropped by Apple some time ago, Xan. There are some of us here who are also trainers. I've been since 2006. Learnquest didn't to squat. And the program we were certified under, no longer exists, so we're not really certified trainers any longer.

Xan replied the topic: #118467 15 Jan 2022 08:23

www.learnquest.com/vendor-training-v2019...d=709&subcategoryid=

Xan replied the topic: #118468 15 Jan 2022 08:38

The agreement between apple and learnquest was the worst thing that could have happened, at least everything related to the education of apple's proapps.

RSK replied the topic: #118469 15 Jan 2022 11:21

Ben wrote:
Learnquest was dropped by Apple some time ago, Xan.

Wrong.

_

Ben wrote:
And the program we were certified under, no longer exists, so we're not really certified trainers any longer.

Wrong again. That's like saying if your school closes, then all your diplomas become invalid. As far as I'm concerned, I'm a Master Trainer to this day.

JoeEditor replied the topic: #118472 15 Jan 2022 14:32

You're certified by Apple for the versions of the apps you got certified for. So yes, technically you are still a Master Trainer (as am I) for discontinued apps. But our Master Trainer credential is not valid for the current versions of the apps. It's like being a certified auto mechanic for the Model-T, and then claiming you are by default certified to service a 2021 Corvette. So I am not "wrong".

Xan, let me clarify, Apple dropped LearnQuest for pro apps, which is true.

KB replied the topic: #118480 16 Jan 2022 16:32

I've not watched any of her videos before - I liked the content but yes, the music is annoying. WAY annoying.

VTC replied the topic: #118481 17 Jan 2022 05:20

KB wrote:
... but yes, the music is annoying. WAY annoying.

I think we could all agree that an edit shouldn't be so annoying that the viewer leaves the theater, enables Closed Captions to get away from the audio, or clicks away to abandon watching it at all. To those ends it's important to stand back and objectively look at (or listen to) your work.

1 - Have you ever not watched something because it had no music bed? Not likely.

2 - Have you ever abandond watching something because of lousy audio or bad selection of a music bed? I certainly have.

To be fair I gave the video referenced a second chance but this time muted and CC enabled. Watched at 2x speed so I may have missed a few of them but she said “hey guys’ six times, needlessly inserted “allright” eight times, and pounded the viewer with “head on over/up to” some twentyone times. The saving grace was she didn’t pepper the piece with ‘you knows’ or the favorite filler word for the past 20 years, “like”. (It’s interesting people will bombard a conversation with those two but don’t bother typing them into an email or text, although I did catch one ‘um’ that hysterically made it into the CC transcript.) Voice over is so easy to correct or strip out superfluous chatter why not clean things up?

Subtitles / CC are often briefer than the conversation on the screen they follow. They aren’t meant to be as precise as a courtroom transcript but an opportunity to get the story across without creating excessively wordy content to read.

The overall point of this screed is have a valid reason for doing what you’re doing other than parroting what other YouTubers are doing. THEN be open for suggestions or critique from someone other than a parent or someone working for you.

RSK replied the topic: #118482 17 Jan 2022 12:52

Ben wrote:
It's like being a certified auto mechanic for the Model-T, and then claiming you are by default certified to service a 2021Corvette.

Completely ludicrous comparison.

-

Ben wrote:
Apple dropped LearnQuest for pro apps, which is true.

www.learnquest.com/course-detail-v3.aspx?cnum=APL-FCPX-101-031
www.learnquest.com/course-detail-v3.aspx?cnum=APL-LPX-125

🙄

François-Xavier NOULENS replied the topic: #118496 18 Jan 2022 10:34

RSK wrote:

Ben wrote:
It's like being a certified auto mechanic for the Model-T, and then claiming you are by default certified to service a 2021Corvette.
Completely ludicrous comparison.
🙄

you're right about that , the "T" was Ford and Corvette is Chevrolet.

AlexBacker replied the topic: #118663 27 Jan 2022 19:00

I love when developers of a video editing program come up with such cool training courses/books and videos. It becomes much easier for a beginner to learn how to merge a video. When I started editing videos (half a year ago) I found here everything I needed. Fastreel was my first ever editing app and I'm sure people know about it for its comfortable and simple interface and useful tools for editing.