FINAL CUT PRO EDITING

A QUICKSTART GUIDE

Simon Sharp www.simonsharppost.co.uk post-production & training

SOME KEY TERMINOLOGY

People use editing terminology somewhat differently. This explains how they are used in these lessons to avoid confusion. That said, many of the phrases used here are standard Final Cut Pro terminology. If you don't like the terminology, then change it in your own head once you FULLY understand what is being referred to.
Project A generic term which could apply to a feature film or a 30 second commercial or a 20 episode documentary and everything in between. It is also a technical term used by Final Cut. When Final Cut Pro opens and you press SAVE (APPLE + S) you will create a new 'project'. This project can contain many elements but will mainly have clips and sequences in it. Browser The area that you bring your un-edited footage into. Very similar to a Finder in in Mac Osx. Just like the finder wind you can create new folders. In FCP they are called 'Bins' in reference to the old days of film editing where the editor would have many 'bins' full of film strips. A browser can contain many different types of material. It will mainly contain 'clips' and 'sequences' though (see below). The browser does not actually 'contain' any media. It simply references the files on your hard disk. If you delete something in the browser it still remains on your hard disk. Viewer The area where you preview footage before editing it into your sequence or where you modify clips that have already been edited into the timeline; for instance to add filters and effects to them. Timeline The area where your edited program is represented. It is shown by graphic 'blocks'. Each block represents a 'clip'. You can have several 'sequences' open in your timeline. Footage The raw material as it has come from your camera or other media producing device. Before editing. Clip A clip is where the editor has made a conscious decision about what to include. 30 seconds selected from 2 hours of footage is a clip. Marking an IN and OUT point around 30 seconds of footage also means you have selected a 'clip'. (see basic formula for editing if you don't know what IN and OUT points are)

Segment
Once a clip has been edited down to the timeline it appears as a graphic 'block'. This is sometimes referred to as a 'segment' Sequence 'Sequences' are shown as blue and yellow squares in the browser window. A sequence is a series of clips you have edited together. Footage is selected and becomes a clip. Clips are edited together and become a sequence - or at least that's the easiest way to think of it for now.You mainly view your sequences in the timeline so you can work on them. However you can also drag them into the viewer.

Frame Standard film has 24 'frames' per second. PAL video has 25. Each frame is nothing more and nothing less than a still image. Put 24 or 25 of them after each other every second and you have a moving image. Not to be confused with 'frame size' Canvas The area where you actually see what your sequence looks like. The timeline and canvas are closely linked. In fact they are 2 different ways of looking your sequence. The timeline displays your sequence as graphic blocks or chunks which you can manipulate and move around. The canvas displays it as actual pictures. In reality your sequence is neither - it is a text file describing how the media on your hard disk is being used. Playhead The vertical bar with yellow triangles at each end which you will find in the timeline. You can also find a much smaller playhead in both the viewer and canvas windows. Try moving all 3. You will notice that when you move the playhead in the timeline the playhead in the canvas also moves. This is because the timeline and canvas are different representations of the same thing. Its use is to navigate quickly in either viewer or timeline/canvas. 'select' Will generally mean pointing your mouse at something and clicking on it with the arrow tool (A) in operation. 'edit-down' A general term here used to refer to the general process of getting footage from the browser and into the timeline/canvas - whatever method you use. track/s (video track or audio track) not a music track. A technical term in FCP that refers to what video or audio you are working on. Some also refer to these as 'layers'. Will be covered in detail.

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1. BASIC EDITING FORMULA

1. SELECT THE CLIP YOU WANT TO USE Double click a clip in the browser to load it into the viewer. Drag or click the played around to find the rough area you want to use use J K L keys to fast forward or rewind through the material to find more precisely what you want to select. use ARROW KEYS to get exactly to where you want your selection to start mark your IN point by pressing I carry on playing the clip until it gets to where you think it should end. let the clip play for another second THEN press O to mark your out point.

2. EDIT YOUR CLIP INTO THE SEQUENCE.

Drag the clip across to the canvas window and let go. This will use the default OVERWRITE method. overwrite literally 'writes over' whatever is already in the sequence. INSERT will slot your clip into the sequence and shift everything else up. Repeat the process for a second clip

3. CUT OUT WHAT YOU DON'T WANT

in the timeline Mark and in and an out point around the part you don't want. press DELETE to simply remove leaving a blank space. You can then move the next clip up or edit a new clip into the space using OVERWRITE edit. press SHIFT + DELETE to remove and close up the gap.

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4. MOVE THE ORDER OF CLIPS AROUND

METHOD 1 in the timeline select a clip by clicking it OR mark and in and out point around the part you want to move. NB!This does not have to be an entire segment. It can be anything. press APPLE + C to copy your selection. If you are sure that you do not want the segment/selection in its old position then you can now immediately press SHIFT + DELETE to get rid of the clip/selection move your PLAYHEAD to where you want to place your selection. mark an IN point. press APPLE V if you want to OVERWRITE what is already there press SHIFT V if you want to INSERT the clip there and shift everything else up. check what you have done by playing it back. if OK delete the clip where it was originally if you have not done so. METHOD 2 click a clip (has to be an entire clip- or several clips) start dragging it to its new position. hold down the ALT/OPTION key move clip into new position Let go of mouse button clip will move to new position and NOT overwrite anything else.

5. KEEP REPEATING THESE STEPS

keep repeating them over and over until you start to get bored. At this stage it means you are becoming more fluent with the controls. Now try to make your edit flow. This basic formula is the core of editing: - select what you think you might want and edit it in - Look at it again and cut out what you don't need upon reflection - move what you have around so its in the right order Of course there is much more- like adding audio and graphics but this is the core of it. Become fluent in the basics first.

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2. ESSENTIAL KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

APPLE + S - save. use regularly!!

(It is recommend to develop a habit of instinctively hitting this every few edits you make)

When an instruction reads APPLES + PEARS it means hold down APPLES first and then press PEARS.

NAVIGATION KEYS
NB!!These controls apply whether you are in the viewer, timeline or canvas
SPACE BAR - play/stop J K L - KEYS << [] >> rewind pause ffwd (J or L can be pressed up to 4 times to increase rewind or fast forward speed). If you find yourself 'racing away' at 4* speed just press K to stop. ARROW KEYS LEFT arrow key - move 1 frame backwards RIGHT arrow key - move 1 frame forwards UP arrow key - move to previous edit point DOWN arrow key - move next edit point SHIFT + LEFT arrow key - move 10 frame backwards SHIFT + RIGHT arrow key - move 10 frame forwards FN + left arrow key - move to beginning of edit FN + right arrow key - move to end of edit (HOME and PAGE key if not laptop) APPLE key and + (plus) key - zoom into viewer, timeline or canvas APPLE key and - (minus) key zoom out of viewer, timeline or canvas OTHER \ - plays a few seconds around wherever the playhead is positioned SHIFT + \ playS only between the in and out points you have marked.

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SELECTION KEYS
A - arrow tool. The standard default tool for pointing and selecting things. B - blade tool. A specialised tool for cutting up your clips in the timeline. Can be useful if you need to create an edit point where there is none. APPLE KEY + 4 highlight browser APPLY KEY +1 highlight viewer APPLE KEY+2 highlight canvas APPLE KEY+3 highlight timeline (doing this once highlights that window. pressing further times will toggle between making it appear and disappear- useful if you need to quickly see a part of the desktop) APPLE KEY + H - hides Final Cut Pro entirely. You must find the FCP icon in the dock to bring it back up APPLE KEY + TAB KEY - not an FCP shortcut but very useful. Brings up a box to toggle between your open applications. Especially useful for when you need to access the finder window or email documents relating to the edit.

EDITING KEYS
I - mark in point O - mark out point NB! if you want to change your in or out point you do not need to delete any point. Just move somewhere else and hit I or O again- your new in or out point will be updated. APPLE + C - copy a clip or a section of a clip (does not have to be the entire clip) APPLE + V - paste your selection into the timeline wherever your playhead is (or wherever you have marked an IN point IN point overrides playhead position) DELETE key - if you have selected a clip it will delete the entire clip. If you have NOT selected a clip and have marked IN and OUT points - it will just delete between in an out points. SHIFT + DELETE key performs as above but also deletes the gap left by the removed footage. B - selects the blade tool A - selects the arrow tool (this is what you will want to use most of the time) N - turns 'snapping' or 'magnetising' on or off (try editing with it turned on and off to observe differences)

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FURTHER TOOLS
DOUBLE CLICK ON A CLIP IN THE TIMELINE - sends the clip to the viewer where it can be modified in the MOTION tab or have FILTERS applied and configured. Covered further in other lessons. F - matches the frame your playhead is currently on in the timeline. The whole original clip will be loaded into the viewer. Hold ALT key then click on a clip- If the audio and video is linked this will select ONLY the video or audio that you click on. SHIFT + L - Link or unlink clips. If video and audio are linked together - for example interview footage shot. SHIFT + S - turn audio scrubbing on or off. This means that and you drag through your sequence or move through it 1 frame at a time you will hear your audio as you move. This is useful for when you need to edit to a precise sound or to quickly find a place in a piece of music. OPTION + W - turn clip overlays off/on. Overlays allow you to raise opacity on video, volume on audio and other parameters. Covered further in other lessons. ALT + ARROW keys. - select your clip or clips first. Then the arros keys will move the footage left/right up a track or donw a track.

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3. EDITING VIDEO AND AUDIO SEPARATELY

SELECT YOU CLIP AND DECIDE WHERE TO PLACE IT. load up a sequence you edited using the basic formula. There should be a series of 'blocks' edited more or less roughly together depending on how much you have been practicing. We now want to add to your existing sequence some footage where we just use the video- no sound. We also want to add some music to play 'underneath' our existing sound and video. Find a shot where you only want to use the sound. Load a clip into the viewer and Mark an IN point where you want the clip to start. Now go to your time line and find a place you would like the shot to go. Mark an IN point there. play the sequence and find where you would like the shot to end. Mark and OUT point. ADD VIDEO WITHOUT AUDIO If you were to do a simple OVERWRITE now you would 'edit over' everything that is already in the sequence- including any audio. If we want only the video then we must 'stop' the audio coming in. Look at your timeline and locate the buttons that are labelled V1 A1 A2 A3. These represent your tracks. If you create a new sequence you should have 1 video track V1 and 4 audio tracks A1 - A4. Click anywhere on the A1 and A2 buttons in you edited sequence. You will notice that the left half of the button 'detaches' or splits from the right half. What this is telling you is that if you now drag into the timeline, do an INSERT or OVERWRITE edit this track will NOT 'edit down' to the timeline. Open a new sequence and try this. Try the same thing but 'deselect' or 'detach' the video V1 track instead. Once you've got familiar with what is happening go back to your existing sequence. Now edit down the clip you found, making sure the A1 and A2 tracks are 'detached'. and make sure to use OVERWRITE. You should see that only the video track has been edited downwith the audio underneath it remaining in-tact. Repeat this with several clips until you have become more fluent in doing this. The method you are using is the fundamentals of adding 'cutaways'.

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3. ADD MUSIC OR SOUND TO YOUR EDITED PROJECT

Find a piece of music. Any will do for now. If you have found it on an audio CD then you MUST copy it from the CD to your hard drive by opening up a window and dragging it across. If you do not do this the track will be unavailable in FCP once you eject the CD and things will get confusing. Drag the audio file into the browser window. Then double click on it to load into the viewer. The viewer will now present you with a different screen from what you are used to when working with video. What you are seeing is the 'audio waveform' of your audio track. This is a graphical representation of the sound. You can play the clip and move backwards and forwards exactly as you would a video clip. There are 2 main differences though: a.- if you use APPLE KEY and + (plus sign) you will zoom into the audio waveform. This is useful as you can see the audio waveform in quite some detail. Try it. In fact you can do exactly the same thing with video. Instead though you will just zoom into the still frame you are placed on. This can be useful if you need to scrutinise a detail within that still frame. b. You cannot just click on the audio waveform and drag it into the timeline or INSERT/OVERWRITE boxes/. You must click on the small speaker symbol located to the right of you viewer window. Play the music track to listen to it and experiment with how this new window works. Find a good starting point for the music track and mark an IN point. Find some kind of end point for the music can just be the end of the music track if it is short or you are not sure where to end. Mark an OUT Move to the start of your sequence in the timeline. APPLE+ 3 to select the timeline then FUNCTION key + left ARROW key or HOME. Mark an IN point. In your timeline you should see 4 audio tracks A1 -A4. You will notice that V1 has no left hand part of the button. This is because you are working with an audio track and this tells you there is no video to work with! Try loading a video clip into the viewer and you will see the left hand v1 part appear again. v1/V1 The left hand part of the button is written in lower case a1 whilst the right hand part of the button is written in upper case A1. Click on the lower case left hand button a1 and drag it down. You will find it easily slides up and down. Drag it down until it it opposite the track button labelled A3 and let go. Do the same for a2 and place it opposite A4. Go ahead and perform an OVERWRITE edit. Observe the results. You have just begun multiple track editing. Keep experimenting with these controls until you are comfortable with them.

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