Editing Techniques
Above is an annotated screenshot of Final Cut Pro. Final Cut Pro is an industry standard editing software and the software of choice at our college. When you first open a new project in Final Cut Pro you will be prompted to import media. Once you have selected the files that you wish to use, they appear in the Media Library. Here you can watch through the clips, edit their in and out points and favourite the best clips rather than filling up your timeline. The Preview Window allows you to watch any clips whether they be on the Timeline or in the Media Library. Once you have selected the correct clips from the Media Library, you can drag them into the Timeline. This is where most of your editing will be done and it is helpful to make sure your clips are in order first. If you need to you can add multiple tracks (Blue is video, green is audio and purple is title) to the timeline in order to increase the depth of your edit. When you are happy with the clips you have selected you can start editing them. If you click on the Tool Selector, a dropdown menu appears with a number of basic editing tools such as a trim tool and a blade tool. These allow you to change the length of your clips and split them into several diferent clips. Each tool also has a corresponding keyboard shortcut; A for arrow, B for blade and T for Trim. For more complex edits there is the Effects Window where you can find everything from transitions to colour grading. This is useful once you are experienced in the software and wish to and some depth to your edits. Through this you can also make somme extremely creative effects such as a luma fade if you are making something like a music video or travel video. The software takes a bit of getting used to but once youve practised then it doesn't take too long to start developing your own style of editing.