Synchronizing Audio and Video

As you look at the Timeline, you can see that the clips all end at different times. We'll want to adjust this so that the ends of the longer clips all stop at close to the same time. In addition, we'll want to adjust the clips so that the movie fades out at the end and so that the "big bang" of the Star Wars theme occurs just when the Star Wars logo first appears on the screen. That adjustment is known as syncing the audio and video.

Syncing the Audio Track

To adjust the soundtrack, first press the \ (backslash) key to view your entire project.

Drag the starwars.wav clip in the Audio 1 track until the head of the clip aligns with the head of the Snow Wars logo clip in the Video 3 track. This will give us the "boom" of the music just as the logo appears on the screen.

Drag the CTI to 50 seconds into the project (00;00;50;00 on the Timeline).

Timesaver

You can type 00;00;50;00 directly in the timecode area and the CTI will jump to exactly that point in the Timeline.

With only the starwars.wav clip selected, press the Split Clip button on the Monitor panel.

The "split" clip, the half of the original audio clip now on the right (beyond the 00;00;50;00 point), should automatically be selected. (If not, select it now).

Right-click on the clip and select Cut to delete it. (We only need the first 50 seconds of the Star Wars theme for our project.)

Tip

If necessary, press the \(backslash) key again to view your entire project.

Select the starwars.wav clip again and on the Properties panel, under the Volume control, click the purple Fade Out button.

Make Final Tweaks to the Starfield Clip and the Opening Text Clip

The starfield.jpg clip is too short for the length of our movie. To lengthen it, grab the tail end of the starfield clip and trim the clip out until it matches the length of the soundtrack clip (00;00;50;00 on the Timeline).

With that clip still selected, click the Fade Out button in the Opacity control in the Properties panel.

Select the Title 01 clip on the Video 2 track. (This is the title clip that has the text, "A short time ago, on vacation far far away....).

On the Properties panel for this clip, apply a Fade Out to its Opacity.

Finally, so that the scrolling text appears at the right time in relation to both the Snow Wars logo disappearing into space and synchronizing with the Star Wars theme, drag the Title 03 clip in the Video 4 track so that the head (start) of the clip lines up with the head of the Snow Wars logo clip.