Final Cut Pro HD | H•O•T Hands-On Training [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

1.

Open Chapter 06 Lesson. This is a slightly modified version of what you were working on in the last chapter.

2.

Duplicate Seq Snowboard start by Ctrl+clicking the sequence title and choosing Duplicate from the shortcut menu.

The reason for duplicating a sequence is that it allows you to make changes to a sequence without running the risk of messing up the work you've already done.

3.

Name this newly duplicated sequence " Seq Trimmed 30". Again, note the use of the leading space in the name to make sure it sorts to the top of the Browser.

The video in this sequence currently runs over 55 seconds. Your goal is to get it down to exactly 30 seconds, ready for broadcast. To do this, you need to trim all your edits.

4.

Click the Arrow tool (or press A), grab the In of the first clip, Gray sky red sun, and drag it to the right to timecode 1:00:02:24 in the Timeline. Notice how the yellow tooltip shows you in real time how much you are trimming? When you reach 2:24, stop dragging and let go of the mouse.

5.

The advantage of using the Arrow tool is that it is easy. Just grab the edge of a clip where the cursor turns to a double-pointing arrow and click and drag. The disadvantage to using the Arrow tool is that it always leaves gaps. So, to get rid of this gap, click in the gap to select it and press Shift+Delete. The gap is removed and all downstream clips are moved up (to the left).

Good. You are now 2:24 closer to reaching your goal of a 30-second commercial.

Next, the end of the Gray sky red sun clip runs too long. This time, instead of using the Arrow tool to trim it, you'll use the Razor Blade tool to cut the cllip.

6.

Drag the playhead until the snowboarder seems about to be swallowed by the plume of snow (timecode 01:00:03:04 in the Timeline).

There are actually two different timecodes associated with this shot: the timecode of the shot in the Timeline (01:00:03:04), and the timecode of the original shot (which you can't see at this point).

7.

However, seeing the timecode of the source tape is often helpful in trimming. To turn the display of the source timecode on, go to the Canvas window, click the third pop-up menu, and choose Show Timecode Overlays. Be sure Show Overlays is also turned on.

The numbers at the bottom of the screen show the timecode of the source video and audio clips at the position of the playhead in the Timeline. In this case, the playhead is at timecode 1:00:59:26 of the source clip located on track V1. This timecode on the clip is called "Source Timecode."

8.

Click the Razor Blade tool (or press B) to select the single-bladed tool.

9.

Click the Razor Blade where the playhead runs over the clip. The clip is cut, but the excess footage still remains on the Timeline.

10.

Select the Arrow tool (or press A), click the excess footage to the right of the playhead to select it, then delete it by pressing Shift+Delete to remove the clip and close the gap.

11.

When you delete the excess footage, the playhead displays the first frame of the second clip. To make sure you cut the first clip at the correct spot, press the left arrow key to back up one frame. Your Canvas should look similar to this screen shot at timecode 1:00:59:25.

The Razor Blade always cuts just before the frame the Razor Blade tool clicks on, which, in this case, is the frame under the playhead. In other words, if you click the Razor Blade on frame 26, the cut occurs between frame 25 and frame 26.

12.

To see the results of your changes so far, click once in the Timeline and press Shift+Z. This fits the entire sequence into the Timeline window. I use this keyboard shortcut constantly.

13.

That ends this exploration of trimming using the general-purpose tools of the Arrow and the Razor Blade. Save your work, but leave this exercise openyou'll need it next.

NOTE | The Red Bow Tie

When you first cut a clip, a small red bow tie appears. This icon indicates a Through edita cut in a clip where there is no change in the timecode, no change in the video, and no change in the audio. In other words, to the Viewer, this edit point is invisible.

In this chapter, you are using the Razor Blade tool to cut and remove unwanted portions of a clip. In later chapters, you'll use the Razor Blade tool to cut a clip so you can apply an effect to one part of a clip, without affecting other parts.

If seeing little red bow ties in your Timeline drives you nuts, you can turn off their display (but not their existence) by clicking the small, right-pointing arrow at the bottom of the Timeline and deselecting Show Through Edits.

By the way, to delete a Through edit, thereby reconnecting the entire clip, just select the Through edit, and press Delete.

NOTE | What Is Snapping?

Have you noticed when you move the playhead or a clip, it wants to "jump" to the end or beginning of a clip whenever it gets close? This is due to snapping.

Whenever the playhead, or a clip, gets within 15 frames of the edge of another clip, snapping jumps the two of them together.

Snapping is a truly wonderful feature when you are building and organizing clips on the Timeline, because it helps you align clips so that the end of one clip touches the next, with no flash of black. Snapping also quickly positions the playhead to the beginning or end of a clip.

However, for trimming, snapping is a pain in the neck. Why? Because almost all the trims you make are just a few frames here, a few frames there. And snapping keeps interfering.

Fortunately, there are three quick ways to toggle snapping on or off:

Click the Snapping button in the top-right corner of the Timeline. Green is "on," and gray is "off."

Press N. This is my favorite, because using this keyboard shortcut allows you to turn snapping on, or off, in the middle of dragging a clip. The menu and button don't allow this flexibility.

Snapping, by the way, works for both audio and video clips on all tracks. With snapping turned on, whenever a clip or the playhead gets within 15 frames of any edit point of any clip on any track, snapping jumps them so they align.

You'll see examples of how to use snapping throughout the rest of this book, just not in the rest of this chapter.