Dragging to the Timeline


So far, you have worked with clips to select, move, copy, and paste them within the Timeline. You've also practiced some drag-and-drop editing basics. This is really in preparation for editing directly to the Timeline, sort of like warming up your fingers by doing scales on a piano before playing a piece. Now that you're warmed up, it's time to play a pieceor rather, build a sequence. The sequence you build will include some vacation shots of people and scenery. You will first lay down some scenery shots as Overwrite edits and then insert some people shots in-between.

Making Overwrite Edits

Let's make some Overwrite edits to build the sequence using drag-and-drop editing.

1.

Open the island twirl clip from the Browser and use the current edit points.

2.

Drag the clip from the Viewer to the Timeline as an Overwrite edit and snap it up against the end of the first edit, paying attention to the pointer to select the correct type of edit.

Tip

If you release the clip in the Timeline before placing it where you want it to go, you can drag the clip into place in a separate step as you did earlier in this lesson, but be careful that you don't overwrite part of the first clip.

3.

Open the mountain surf clip, and drop it in as the third Overwrite edit at the end of the previous clip.

4.

Open the rockscape surf clip, mark the last six seconds of the clip, and drop it in as the fourth Overwrite edit at the end.

Tip

Don't forget to save (Cmd-S) frequently throughout your editing sessions.

Overwriting an Existing Edit

So far, you have been making Overwrite edits end to end, laying one clip down where the previous edit left off. Occasionally you may find that the previous edit is too long, and you want to overwrite the tail end of it with a new source clip. You can back the playhead into the previous clip where you want to start overwriting with new clip material and press F10 or use the Edit Overlay to make this edit. But you can also drag a clip and slide it on top of the previous one, dropping it wherever you want.

1.

Drag the rockscape surf clip you just dropped in the Timeline to the left into the mountain surf clip, but don't let go.

The left window of the Canvas two-up display updates to reflect the last frame you will see should you drop the clip at that position.

2.

Using the offset information box as a guide, drag the clip 10 frames to the left, and drop the clip there.

Tip

If the clip keeps snapping to the Out point, press N to turn snapping off as you make the adjustment, and then press it again afterward to turn snapping back on. You can turn snapping off and on as you drag.

3.

Now move the rockscape surf clip to the right.

When you drag and drop a clip over another one in the Timeline, you overwrite the original clip with the current one wherever they overlap. It's as though you deleted that unwanted portion of the mountain surf clip in the Timeline.

4.

Make sure that snapping is on, and snap the last clip back to the end of the sequence.

Making Audio Edits

When you drag and drop a clip directly to the Timeline, you drag from the image area of a clip in the Viewer to the Timeline. But when you open a music clip, there is no video display. Instead, you drag from a Drag Hand icon as though that were the clip's image.

1.

In the Browser, click the triangle to display the contents of the Music bin.

2.

Open the Latin.aif music track into the Viewer.

3.

Move your pointer over the Drag Hand icon (which looks like a hand on a speaker).

The mouse pointer becomes a Hand tool you can use to drag the clip to the Timeline.

4.

With the Hand tool, drag the Drag Hand icon directly to the Timeline to the A1 and A2 audio tracks. Drop it at the head of the sequence as an Overwrite edit.

5.

Play the sequence.

Inserting Between Clips

With Insert editing in the Timeline, you want to place the tip of the pointer just above the thin gray line in the track. The visual clue of having done this successfully is the sideways insert arrow along with the hollow clip representation.

1.

For this exercise, make sure that snapping is active. Also, lock the A1 and A2 tracks to keep the music track from being affected.

2.

Open the kayakers tracking clip in the Viewer, and mark a 3-second duration wherever you like. (Type 3. in the Duration field once the In point is set.)

3.

Drag this clip into the Timeline as an Insert edit in between the horseshoe island and island twirl clips, but don't release the mouse.

In the Timeline, you should see the forward insert arrow and hollow clip representation. In the Canvas window, you see the last frame of the previous clip and the next frame, which is the first frame of the following clip.

4.

Release the kayakers tracking clip.

The sequence opens up to allow for the new Insert edit.

5.

Open the boy surf casts clip, and mark an In point at 2:07 and an Out point at 5:25.

6.

Drag and drop the clip as an Insert edit between the island twirl and mountain surf clips.

Note

As your sequence expands, you may need to slide the Zoom slider at the bottom of the Timeline to view the rest of your sequence or use the Option-+ and Option- shortcuts.

7.

Open the frolicking in ocean clip and mark a three-second duration from 4:02.

8.

Drag and drop this clip as an Insert edit between the mountain surf and rockscape surf clips.

9.

Click in the Timeline, and press Shift-Z to see the entire sequence.

10.

Press Cmd-S to save these edits.

Inserting Within a Clip

So far, you have inserted a clip between two other existing clips in the sequence. You can also insert a clip right in the middle of another clip. For example, you might decide to break up the action of a long clip by inserting a different image for a few seconds in the middle. The long clip will be split into two parts, and the second part will be pushed down the length of the newly inserted clip. In either situation, no frames are ever lost in Insert editing.

1.

Open the kid underwater clip and mark the first two seconds.

2.

Drag it into the horseshoe island clip as an Insert edit (with the forward arrow and hollow clip appearing), and slide it left and right, but don't release the mouse.

In the Canvas, you see the frame before the new clip's position and the frame after it. They look very much the same because one follows the other in the current clip.

3.

Drop the clip into the middle of the horseshoe island clip and play these clips.

Note

Unlike what happens with Overwrite editing, inserting the new clip at this point does not erase or cover up any of the original clip. It literally splits it into two parts and pushes the second part down to make room for the new clip.

4.

Press Cmd-Z to undo this last step.

Project Tasks

1.

Create a new sequence, and lay down the people shots first as Overwrite edits.

2.

Place the scenery shots between them as Insert edits.




Apple Pro Training Series Final Cut Express HD
Apple Pro Training Series: Final Cut Express HD
ISBN: 0321335333
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 174
Authors: Diana Weynand

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