In This Chapter
Editing tasks can be divided into two main categories: creating a rough assembly of your story and refining and fine-tuning those edits to create a finished product. This chapter will focus primarily on the first stage, that is, getting stuff into (and out of) the Timeline.
Final Cut Pro offers at least five ways to add a clip to your project, with multiple options within each. We’ll start by showing you a couple of the most commonly used methods and then elaborate on the remaining methods, identifying when and why you might choose one over another.
We’ll also explore ways to limit those edits, such as making an audio-only or video-only edit.
Next, you’ll learn various ways of removing clips from a project. FCP offers a variety of options here too.
Finally, we’ll get into the basics of moving objects around and making simple modifications to clips once they’re in the project.
The Timeline displays audio and video clips as colored bars. The horizontal position of a bar indicates the clip’s position in time, and the width of a bar represents the clip’s duration . The bars can display video thumbnails, audio waveforms, or both. At the top of the window the ruler displays frame numbers, providing a reference for where each item exists in time.
The middle row (or track) contains your primary storyline, where you place most of the clips that make up your movie. These clips can contain both audio and video. Clips that came directly from your camera will likely contain both. Video-only or clips with both video and audio appear in blue. Audio-only clips appear in green.
You can connect additional clips above or below the primary storyline to synchronize them with a particular frame in one of the primary clips.
In the Timeline, a connected clip is indicated by a connection line that extends from the first frame of the connected clip to the sync point in the primary storyline .
Once you’ve connected a clip, it’s attached to that point in the primary storyline and will move any time that primary storyline clip is moved .
Video clips obscure the contents of any tracks below them. So, attaching a full-size video clip on top of your primary storyline effectively replaces the underlying image when the video is played back. If the object on the higher track is partially transparent (such as a logo or a title) or if its size is reduced, the underlying video will show through, creating a composition.
Audio that overlaps in time is mixed together based on the relative volume and fade settings of each object.
You can customize clip height as well as clip appearance; specifically, you can choose how much of the clip area displays the thumbnails and how much displays the audio waveforms. Changing these settings applies to all clips in the Timeline.
Click the Show Connections checkbox to show (or hide) the connection lines that indicate where each connect clip is linked to the primary storyline (see again ).
Connection lines are always visible when a connected clip is selected. The Show Connections checkbox controls whether the lines appear even when connected clips are unselected.
1. Click the Clip Appearance button that is beneath the Timeline and to the right of the Timeline Zoom slider .
The Clip Appearance controls appear.
2. Click one of the six Clip Appearance icons (see again ).
The icons on the left display larger audio waveforms, and the icons on the right display larger video thumbnails.
The rightmost icon displays a simplified track view, with neither audio waveforms nor video thumbnails and a fixed clip height.
3. Drag the Clip Height slider to the left for shorter clips and to the right for taller clips.
4. Once you have made your selections, click anywhere outside the Clip Appearance panel to close it.
The clips in the Timeline change to reflect the style and height you selected.
To get started editing, begin by adding your first clip to your project. Then, you can add additional clips using a variety of methods.
1. If you haven’t yet created a project, click the Create New Project icon in the Timeline area .
The New Project dialog appears .
2. Enter a name for the project, specify a default event, and click OK.
A new project is added, and an empty Timeline appears .
3. In the Event Browser, select the clip you want to edit, and select the portion of the clip you want to edit .
4. Click the Append button, or press E.
The clip is added to the project and appears in the Timeline .
1. In the Event Browser, mark the section of the clip you want to edit .
2. Click the Append Edit button or press E to add the clip the end of the project .
The clip is added to the project after the other clips.
Different situations call for different edit types. Traditional editing technique often involves inserting a master shot and then going back and overwriting bits and pieces of it with other shots until your whole scene is assembled. In other cases, you may want to insert a clip between two existing ones, or you may want to append a new clip to the end of the movie.
FCP offers five ways to add a clip to a project: inserting, appending, overwriting, connecting, and replacing . The Replace function (which works entirely differently from the Replace Edit function in previous versions of FCP) can be employed in four ways, bringing the total number of editing options up to eight.
Each of these edits can be performed in multiple ways including clicking on-screen buttons, pressing keyboard shortcuts, choosing menu items, and using drag and drop.
The following are the three most common edit types you’ll use for assembling your clips:
• Appending adds the selected clip to the end of the active storyline.
• Inserting adds the selected clip to the active storyline, beginning at the playhead (or skimmer) position and pushing any existing clips downstream (to the right) to make room for the new clip.
• Overwriting adds the selected clip to the active storyline, beginning at the playhead (or skimmer) position and deleting any existing frames for the duration of the source clip.
The first time you add a clip to your project, you can perform an append, insert, or overwrite edit and get identical results: The clip will be added to the beginning of the project.
Appending adds the selected clip to the end of the active storyline. Appending a clip always makes your project longer.
1. In the Event Browser, select the clip you want to add to the project.
2. Play the clip, and press I to set the In point and press O to set the Out point to identify the specific range of the source clip you want to use .
3. Click the Append Edit button in the toolbar, or press E .
The clip is appended to the end of the storyline .
Insert edits add the selected clip to the active storyline, beginning at the playhead (or skimmer) position and pushing any existing clips downstream (to the right) to make room for the new clip.
You can also use three-point editing to perform an insert edit. For more on three-point editing, see “Three-Point Editing” later in this chapter.
Inserting clips always makes your project longer.
1. In the Event Browser, select the clip you want to edit into the project.
2. Play the clip, and press I to set the In point and press O to set the Out point to identify the specific range of the clip you want to use .
3. In the Timeline, position the playhead where you want the clip to be inserted .
4. Click the Insert Edit button in the toolbar, or press W .
The clip is inserted in the storyline at the designated location .
Alternatively, you can drag the clip to the Timeline and drop it between any two clips in the storyline .
The existing clips will move out of the way to make room for the new clip.
Overwriting adds the selected clip to the active storyline, beginning at the playhead (or skimmer) position and deleting any existing frames for the duration of the source clip.
You can also use three-point editing to perform an overwrite edit. For more on three-point editing, see “Three-Point Editing” later in this chapter.
1. In the Event Browser, select the clip you want to edit into the project.
2. Play the clip, and press I to set the In point and press O to set the Out point to identify the specific range of the clip you want to use.
3. In the Timeline, position the playhead at the first frame you want the clip to be overwritten .
4. Choose Edit > Overwrite, or press D .
The clip is overwritten in the storyline beginning at the designated location.
You can also overwrite a clip by pressing P to select the Position tool and then dragging the selection from the Event Browser to the Timeline and dropping it anywhere in the Timeline.
Connect edits add a selected clip to a project by attaching it to the primary storyline beginning at the playhead (or skimmer) position. Rather than deleting the underlying clips, as with an overwrite edit, a connect edit composites the clip above the storyline.
You can also use three-point editing to perform a connect edit. For more on three-point editing, see “Three-Point Editing” later in this chapter.
1. In the Event Browser, select the clip you want to edit into the project.
2. Play the clip, and press I to set the In point and press O to set the Out point to identify the specific range of the clip you want to use.
3. In the Timeline, position the playhead where you want the clip to be connected .
4. Click the Connect Edit button in the toolbar, or press Q .
The clip is added to the Timeline .
The clip is connected to the storyline at the designated location.
Alternatively, you can drag the clip to the Timeline and drop it in the area above the storyline and to the position in time where you want the clip to be connected.
Replace edits add a selected clip to a project by exchanging it with a clip that currently exists in the project (the target clip). The target clip is always completely removed (unlike an overwrite edit, where only the section beneath the source clip is removed).
When performing a replace edit, you must choose from one of the following options: Replace, Replace from Start, Replace from End, and Replace and Add to Audition. That last option will be covered in Chapter 10, “Auditioning Clips.” The other three are described next.
Replacing a clip may or may not change the overall duration of the project depending on the situation.
The following are types of replace edits:
• Replace: The target clip is entirely replaced by the source clip selection. If the source clip is shorter than the target clip, the overall sequence will be shortened. If the source clip is longer, the overall sequence will be lengthened .
• Replace from Start: The target clip is replaced with the source clip. The first frame of the source clip is aligned with the first frame in the target clip, and the rest of the footage is added to fill the remaining duration of the target clip . If there are not enough frames after the source In point to fill the remaining duration, FCP will display a warning, and the resulting clip will be only as long as is possible based on the source footage.
• Replace from End: The target clip is replaced with the source clip. The last frame of the source clip is aligned with the last frame in the target clip, and the rest of the footage is backtimed to fill the remaining duration of the target clip . For more about backtiming, see the “Backtiming Edits” section of this chapter.
If there are not enough frames before the source Out point to fill the remaining duration, FCP will display a warning, and the resulting clip will be only as long as is possible based on the source footage.
Note there are additional options in the Replace drop menu regarding auditions. For more information, see “Creating Auditions in the Timeline” in Chapter 10.
1. In the Event Browser, select the clip you want to edit into the project.
2. Play the clip, and press I to set the In point and press O to set the Out point to identify the specific range of the clip you want to use.
3. Drag the clip to the Timeline over an existing clip (making the clip turn white), and drop it.
The Replace options drop menu appears .
4. Choose the type of replace edit you want to make.
The target clip is replaced by the source clip in the manner you chose .
You can also select a clip in the Timeline and press Shift-R to replace it with the currently selected clip in the Event Browser or press Option-R to invoke a Replace from Start command.
You can use additional tools and techniques to further customize and control how your edits are performed.
In most of the edits described so far, the In point in the source footage is aligned with the playhead (or skimmer) position in the Timeline. However, sometimes it’s more important to align the end of the clip with the Timeline playhead position.
In such cases, rather than performing a regular edit, you can perform a backtimed edit. In a backtimed edit, it is the Out point of the source clip that is aligned with the playhead (or skimmer).
1. In the Event Browser, select the range of the clip you want to edit into the project .
2. In the Timeline, position the playhead at the last frame where you want the clip to be overwritten .
3. Press Shift-D .
The clip is overwritten in the storyline ending at the designated location with the last frame lined up with the playhead (or skimmer) position.
1. In the Event Browser, select the range of the clip you want to edit into the project .
2. In the Timeline, position the playhead at the last frame you want the clip to be connected .
3. Press Shift-Q.
The clip is attached to the storyline at the designated location with the last frame lined up with the playhead (or skimmer) position .
Table 7.1 lists shortcuts for append, insert, overwrite, connect, replace, and backtimed edits.
By default, FCP will edit all your tracks (video and audio) into a project whenever you make an edit, but oftentimes you want to edit just the audio or just the video tracks from the source clip.
For example, you may be adding a shot where the picture was great but the audio was no good, or you may be stealing the dialogue from one angle to be used for another.
FCP allows you to limit edits to video-only or audio-only. This limit affects all types of edits.
You cannot specify individual tracks during the edit process as you could in previous editions of FCP. However, you can choose which tracks are active for any specific shot in the Info window for that shot.
1. Click the Source Media button in the toolbar, and choose Video Only or press Option-2 .
2. In the Event Browser, select the range of the clip you want to edit .
3. Perform any one of the edits described in the previous section .
1. Click the Source Media button in the toolbar, and choose Audio Only or press Option-3 .
2. In the Event Browser, select the range of the clip you want to edit .
3. Perform any one of the edits described in the previous section .
1. Click the Source Media button in the toolbar, and choose All or press Option-1 .
2. In the Event Browser, select the range of the clip you want to edit .
3. Perform any one of the edits described in the previous section .
Often you want to use specific frames in the project to determine where an edit should occur. For example, you may want to ensure that a cutaway covers a section where the microphone dipped into the frame. Or you may want to replace a wide shot with a close-up and control precisely where in the sequence the new shot should begin and end.
FCP allows such edits by permitting you to identify a range in the project (using In and Out points) and limit the edit to occur only inside that range.
Note that when you press I to set an In point in the Timeline, FCP automatically adds a corresponding Out point at the end of the clip under the playhead. If you set an Out point first, it will automatically add a corresponding In point. Just ignore them and manually set your own specific Out or In points exactly where you want them! The Current Frame indicator can display the duration of your selected range .
When you set a range in the Timeline, you can run into a potentially confusing situation where you have a certain duration selected in the project and a selection in the source clip of a different duration . In such cases, the Out point of the source clip is never used to determine the position or duration of the edit.
If the selected source clip is longer than the selected range in the Timeline, the extra frames will not be included in the edit.
For a normal edit, that means the frames at the end of the clip will be ignored. For a backtimed edit, it means the frames at the beginning of the clip will be ignored.
If the selected source clip is shorter than the selected range in the Timeline, additional frames from the source clip will be included in the edit (even though they were outside the marked selection).
If there is not enough footage after the In point in the source clip to fill the selected range in the Timeline, FCP will warn you that the resulting edit will be shorter than expected .
If you proceed, all the frames from the marked In point to the last frame of the media in the source clip will be edited into the project.
1. In the Timeline, identify the area you want to affect by playing the project and pressing I to mark an In point and pressing O to mark an Out point .
2. In the Event Browser, select the clip you want to edit, and mark an In point where you want the edit to begin .
3. Perform an insert, overwrite, or connect edit to add the clip to the project .
The clip is edited into the project, beginning at the In point marked in the Event Browser and extending until the Out point marked in the Timeline.
For more information about specific edit types, see “Which Edit Type Should You Use?” later in this chapter.
You can also perform a backtimed edit using three-point editing. In that case, the Out point in the Event Browser would be observed, and the In point would be ignored. For more about backtiming, see “Backtiming Edits” earlier in this chapter.
Someone once described the process of editing as the job of “removing the bad bits,” and, indeed, often the choice of what to remove is just as important as what to add. In this way, editing is often compared to sculpting: The goal is to chip away at the overall mass to reveal the movie hiding within it, just as a sculptor chips away at a mass of marble to uncover the figure within it.
FCP has two primary ways to remove footage from a project: deleting clips and replacing clips with gaps.
The default function for removing footage is Delete. It was called Ripple Delete in previous versions of FCP (and Extract in Avid parlance). Delete removes the selected range and closes the gap so no black frames are left behind.
1. Select the range you want to delete in the Timeline by doing one of the following:
• Click a clip to select the entire clip.
• Use the I and O keys to mark a selection.
• Choose the Range Select tool from the Tools pop-up menu in the toolbar (or press R), and drag in the Timeline to select a range .
2. Choose Edit > Delete, or press Delete.
The footage is deleted, and the gap is closed .
To select more than one item with the Select tool, press Command and click additional objects; alternatively, press Shift and click additional objects to create a contiguous selection.
Replace with Gap removes the selection and leaves a gap in its place. This function was simply called Lift in previous versions of FCP and was the default behavior when you pressed the Delete key.
1. Select the range you want to delete in the Timeline by doing one of the following:
• Click a clip to select the entire clip.
• Use the I and O keys to mark a selection.
• Choose the Range Select tool from the Tools pop-up menu in the toolbar (or press R), and drag in the Timeline to select a range .
2. Choose Edit > Replace with Gap, or press Shift-Delete (or Forward-Delete).
The footage is removed, and a gap is left in its place .
One of the most discussed aspects of FCP X is the cleverly named Magnetic Timeline. This is an innovative feature that allows you to move complex clip selections around in the Timeline without overwriting any objects.
Clips that are connected to a shot on the primary storyline automatically move when you move the primary clip.
The software automatically moves neighboring objects out of the way so everything can fit together nicely, overlapping all the objects .
By default, the FCP Timeline is designed to never create gaps (which would play back as black flashes between edits) and to never allow you to accidentally overwrite any existing footage.
When you move objects, they automatically align themselves to the edges of existing objects. So, for example, if you move a clip anywhere past the last clip in the project, when you release your mouse, the clip will automatically move itself snugly up against the end of that last clip.
Similarly, if you move a clip over an existing clip (or gap), that existing object will automatically move out of the way to make room for your new clip.
To deliberately overwrite an object, you must use the Position tool (see the upcoming “Positioning Clips” section).
If you deliberately want to leave a gap between two clips, you can either insert a gap or insert a placeholder.
Insert a gap when you want actual black frames to play, such as you might after a fade-to-black effect or in a place where you want audio to be heard over a blank screen. Use a placeholder when you want to leave room for a missing shot that you intend to drop in later.
Gaps and placeholders are generators—that is, content automatically generated by the software. A gap is simply black video, and placeholders display customizable generic images to represent a specific type of shot, such as a close-up of a man and a woman in a city on a cloudy night .
When inserted from the Edit menu, gaps and placeholders default to a duration of three seconds. After you’ve added either to your project, you can use any of the editing tools to change the duration as needed.
If you use the replace edit to substitute the actual footage for a gap or placeholder, the new shot’s duration will override the placeholder’s, so it may not be critical to ensure the placeholder has the “correct” duration at the time you add it.
1. In the Timeline, position the playhead (or skimmer) where you want the gap inserted .
2. Choose Edit > Insert Gap, or press Option-W.
A three-second gap object is added to the project .
1. In the Timeline, position the playhead (or skimmer) where you want the gap inserted .
2. Choose Edit > Insert Placeholder, or press Command-Option-W.
A three-second placeholder is added to the project .
3. If you have enabled the placeholder’s View Notes option, you can double-click the “enter notes here” text object in the Viewer, and type a note .
4. Customize the placeholder by opening the Info window, clicking the Generator pane, and modifying the Published Parameters settings .
A placeholder’s notes field for entering text is hidden by default. To display a placeholder’s notes field, select the placeholder and then check the View Notes checkbox on the Generator tab of the placeholder’s Inspector window.
You can easily change the order of existing objects in the Timeline’s primary storyline, rearranging scenes without changing any of the specific clips’ durations.
You can move one primary shot at a time or select multiple clips and move them all together. Any connected clips will automatically move along with their primary clips, maintaining their relative positions. As discussed earlier, should there be an overlap at the destination location, FCP will simply move the conflicting clips onto new tracks so all the objects can coexist peacefully.
1. Click the clip or clips you want to move .
2. Drag the object to a new position in the Timeline, and pause .
Once you pause at an insertion point, the other clips move out of the way to show what the new edit will look like once you release your mouse button .
3. When the insertion bar is at the desired position, release the mouse button .
The order of the clips is rearranged.
Although connected clips move around automatically when you drag the primary shots they’re attached to, you can also reposition the connected clips, separate from the primary shots. You can adjust the connection point (the frame where the connected clip begins) or even move the clip to connect it to a different primary clip.
1. Click the connected clip you want to move .
2. Drag the selected clips to a new position .
The clips are moved to the new location. Any existing connected clips that might overlap the moved clips will automatically move out of the way.
Often you will connect a clip rather than overwriting it because you’re not entirely sure if it’s the right shot or if it’s in the right position. Once you’ve committed to the clip’s placement, you may want to overwrite it into the primary storyline to simplify your Timeline view.
Conversely, you may find that a clip or group of clips in the primary storyline is mispositioned, or you want to remove a clip from the primary storyline because you’re no longer sure you want to use it.
FCP has some specific commands to address these situations.
1. Select the connected clip (or clips) in the Timeline .
2. Choose Edit > Overwrite to Primary Storyline, or press Command-Option-Down Arrow.
The connected clip is overwritten into the primary storyline .
1. Select the clip (or clips) in the primary storyline .
2. Choose Edit > Lift From Primary Story-line, or press Command-Option-Up Arrow.
The clip is removed from the primary storyline, leaving a gap .
Although there are advantages to the way FCP prevents you from ever overwriting clips, oftentimes overwriting is exactly what you want to do.
This allows you to add one clip in the middle of another while keeping everything in the primary storyline. You can also use this technique to cover up duplicate action at an edit point, or even to simply replace one clip with another that is already in the Timeline.
FCP calls this type of moving positioning since it allows you to chose a precise position for your new clip without the software shifting other clips around to make room for it. To position a clip, you must select the Position tool.
Positioning works only on clips in the primary storyline.
1. Choose the Position tool from the Tools pop-up menu in the toolbar, or press P .
2. Select the clip (or clips) in the Timeline you want to move .
3. Drag the clip to a new position in time .
The clip will overwrite whatever is in the destination location.
You can also use positioning to deliberately add a clip at a point beyond the end of the current project. If you drag a clip to a point past the last clip, FCP automatically adds a gap between the last clip and the newly positioned one .
When dragging objects in the Timeline, it’s important to be able to position them precisely so they go exactly where you intend. Often, you want to ensure that objects align with existing edit points, with other objects in the project, with markers, and so on. When you enable snapping, dragging a tool or an object near one of those common targets will cause your pointer to automatically align, or snap, to the target.
In addition to dragging objects, snapping affects the playhead and the skimmer, as well as tools such as the Select tool, the Position tool, the Trim tool, the Range Selection tool, and the Blade tool.
When snapping is enabled, the following objects act as snap points:
• Edit points
• Existing clip boundaries
• The playhead
• Markers
• Keyframes
Snapping is especially useful when using the Position tool, which allows you to move objects freely or when moving connected clips.
When snapping is enabled and you drag an object near a snap point, yellow vertical lines appear to indicate the precise snap point .
Although snapping can be of great benefit, preventing you from accidentally positioning an object near to, but not exactly on, your desired target, sometimes snapping can prevent you from placing your object where you want it to go. For example, if you are zoomed out or have a project with many small edits close together, snapping will force your drags to align with the various objects and prevent you from positioning with frame-accurate precision.
Fortunately, you can enable and disable snapping quickly, and you can even turn it on or off temporarily during a dragging operation (which is often when you realize you need to change it).
• Do one of the following:
• Choose View > Snapping .
• Press N.
• Click the Snapping button in the upper right of the Timeline .