Final Cut Pro X Editing basics

NM3230

ORGANIZATION
-

File New
Project
-your edit version
(called sequences in other editing platforms)
Event
-the different scenes from the dailies you have shot (or general footage)
-FCP automatically creates a folder with the current date, expecting dailies
Library
-can contain multiple events

TIMELINE
-

FCP X uses a magnetic timeline all clips are magnetic by default

Uses a primary storyline

You can move through your footage via

(i)

Playhead

(ii)

Skimmer

ORGANIZATION
-

Favorites

Reject selection

Keywords

A smart collection can be created around useful Keywords

E.g. A roll /interviews, B roll / cutaways, etc

You can create new smart collections to organize your video/audio

ORGANIZATION
-

Favorites

Reject selection

Keywords

A smart collection can be created around useful Keywords

E.g. A roll /interviews, B roll / cutaways, etc

You can create new smart collections to organize your video/audio

CLIP APPEARANCE
-

Change clip appearance to include both waveform and picture ideally

FOOTAGE AND PROJECT TIMELINE

Import Media (Video / Audio/ Photographs)
-import media button on left bar
-or drag and drop (file will appear in Event folder according to date)
Importing Audio
-or use music icon on right bar (connected to iTunes)

FOOTAGE AND PROJECT TIMELINE

Importing Footage
I sets In Point
O sets Out Point
Playing footage
J play backwards
Space Bar start/ stop playing footage
K pause
L play fowards
Moving within selection
Shift-I brings playhead to front of selection
Shift-O brings playhead to back of
selection

FOOTAGE AND PROJECT TIMELINE

Bringing Footage into Timeline
Q Connects to Primary Storyline (B-roll)
good for interviews
W Inserts at Playhead
E Inserts at End
Other commands
Command + Z Undo
Command + Shift + Z - Redo

SYNCING VIDEO WITH AUDIO

-Create an event / folder where you can place your A audio source and your video
-Preferably your video is shot with the camera mic, so that FCP X can perform the
synchronization
-Select both clips, and then right click synchronize clips
-you can deselect the camera mic audio from the video clip in the inspector window
-tweak with your clapperboard/clap sync
-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s7o-038pik

FOOTAGE AND PROJECT TIMELINE

Other tips
N snapping
(snaps playhead to closest shot, will turn yellow when snapped)
S Turn skimming on/off
Shift S keep skimming on , but turn the skimming noise off
(if the scrubbing sound when skimming is annoying)
Command-4 showing/hiding Inspector screen
(to access more control/ to show detail e.g. Transitions, titles)

ZOOM
-for fine tuning
-either use trackpad if youre on a laptop
-or use the zoom slider
(bottom left of screen)

BLADE / SPLICING
-after splicing, you can shift the shots in the timeline appropriately
-Shift-Command-B to blade all

JOIN BLADED CLIPS

-after having separated it with blade tool
-select clips to be joined first

RE-TIMING SHOT AFTER BLADE / SPLICING

-after splicing, you can speed up/slow down the spliced shots
-select shot, then
modify
retime

TRIMMING
Ripple trim/edit
-trims to left or right of the shot
Roll trim/edit
-you can also trim the two sides of a shot
simultaneously while maintaining shot
length
Others
-you can also use trim start (of skim bar),
trim end, trim to playhead

PRECISION EDITOR
-to fine tune trimming, open Precision Editor
-double click edit point, or control-E
-shows footage on either side to trim
-only works on the primary storyline
-does not trim only audio clips
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoazZ1bFYi4

MOVING CLIPS AROUND USING SELECTION AND

POSITION TOOLS
-to prevent magnetic timeline, use position
tool (P)
-this leaves an empty slug when you move
your shot

MARKERS
-key (M)
-used to mark important cuts in video or
audio (e.g. For synchronizing beats)
-if you are using snap (N) then it will snap to
the marker
-highlight the clip first before marking
-remove markers by right clicking on them,
then deleting them

EFFECTS
-lay over various effects for video and audio
-drag and drop the effect you want over the video/audio clip
-play around with this to get a feel of whats available

TRANSITIONS
-most popular transitions
(i)

Cross dissolve (Command-T)

(ii)

Fade to color (black)

TITLES
-more popular effects : fade
-click on inspector (command -4) to customize titles
-lay over video if needed

COLOR CORRECTION
-Best to correct the entire initial scene first instead of individual shots post-edit
-Balance color
-tells FCP to do what it wishes
-Match color
-good for 2 camera shoots, to match lighting
-does not work for shots that are lit differently
-Color Board
-allows you to change saturation and hue

PHOTOGRAPHS
-when using photographs as B roll
-use the crop button to adjust the photo to the desired size
-you can also use the Ken Burns effect to create a slow track-in movement

FREEZE FRAME
-freeze frame a moment by moving
playhead to the moment you want to
freeze
-then edit add freeze frame
-you can adjust length later

AUDIO METER
-

Bring up audio meter (long vertical

bar on right) by clicking on smaller
audio meter beside time code

Absolute dB this cannot exceed 0dB

Absolute dB this cannot exceed 0dB

Relative dB (in selection) this is relative to what

was recorded, it can exceed 0 dB, so long as
Absolute dB does not go above 0

AUDIO
Detaching audio from video clip

-detach audio from video with preexisting footage

Right click on clip, detach audio
Changing volume (dB)
-Hover cursor over the audio clip till you
see the dB reading come up
-you can then shift it up or down
Fade audio in/out at end of audio clip
-watch out for small ball where you can
shift left or right to indicate when volume
fades in/out

AUDIO
Varying audio level within selection
-create in and out points on primary
storyline track, then vary dB
OR
-create keyframes in audio track
-click on option + left mouse button
*Audio must NOT exceed 0 dB during final
export

DISABLE SELECTIONS
-V key
-probably one of the more useful hotkeys
-allows you to enable/disable video and audio
segments so you should test the edit with
different options
-disabled segments indicated with darker color

EXPORTING YOUR VIDEO

-File Share Master file (default)

EXPORTING YOUR VIDEO

-Export highest quality master file

EXPORTING YOUR VIDEO

-Export mp4 for class screening

Other FCP X commands

Shift-Z
-Zoom to fit
-General overview of Timeline
-be careful not to hit command-Z which is redo..
/ (slash)
-play selected segment
-select segment first, and then hit /
Command-6
-Go to color board
Shift Delete
-FCP X uses magnetic timeline and closes gaps immediately
-but to prevent this, hit shift- delete
Option-W
-Add slug (black) to your timeline

Other FCP X commands

Join clips
-after having separated it with blade tool
-select clips to be joined first

General FCP X commands

Importing Footage
I sets In Point
O sets Out Point

Space Bar plays footage

Bringing Footage into Timeline
Q Connects to Primary Storyline (B-roll)
W Inserts at Playhead
E Inserts at End
Other Commands
Command + Z Undo
Command + Shift + Z Redo
Editing
B Blade (cut / splice)

Delete key deletes selected clip

A Arrow (normal cursor)

Shift + F Show Clip in Browser

Z Zoom (click where to zoom into timeline)

Control + Shift + S Detach Audio

V Disable clip

Period (.) Nudge one unit to the right

M Mark

Comma (,) Nudge one unit to the left

Thank you.