This document provides an introduction and overview of time saving editing tips and techniques for Final Cut Pro X. It covers the layout of the interface including the library, browser, viewer and timeline. It describes the various tools and sections of the toolbar. It provides shortcuts for common editing tasks like setting in and out points, sending clips to the timeline, and trimming clips. It also includes instructions for cutting audio, adding cutaways, transitions, titles and exporting finished videos. Finally, it proposes a creative exercise to edit clips together with music to tell the story of "The Last Jaffa Cake."

1. INTRODUCTION TO
FINAL CUT PRO X
TIME SAVING EDITING TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

2. FINAL CUT PRO X
FINAL CUT PRO X IS APPLE’S LATEST AND MOST ADVANCED
PROFESSIONAL EDITING SOFTWARE PACKAGE.
IMPORTANT!
YOU DO NOT NEED TO SAVE YOUR WORK IN
FINAL CUT PRO X!!!
FINAL CUT SAVES EVERY LITTLE CHANGE YOU MAKE IN
YOUR PROJECT,
EVEN IF IT CRASHES, ALL OF YOUR WORK WILL BE SAVED.
SO RELAX, AND TRY TO GET USED TO NOT SAVING…

3. THE LAYOUT
LIBRARY, BROWSER, VIEWER AND TIMELINE
LIBRARY
BROWSER
VIEWER
TIMELINE

4. THE TOOLBAR
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT
• IMPORT FILES
• FAVOURITE CLIP
• REMOVE FAVOURITE RATING
• REJECT SELECTION
• KEYWORDS
• MOVE TO TIMELINE OPTIONS
• TOOLS
• RENDER PROGRESS / TIMECODE / AUDIO LEVEL METER
• MAGIC WAND (ENHANCEMENTS MENU)
• RETIME OPTIONS

5. THE TOOLBAR CONTINUED…
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT
• SHOW/HIDE EFFECTS BROWSER
• SHOW/HIDE PHOTOS BROWSER
• SHOW/HIDE MUSIC AND SOUND BROWSER
• SHOW/HIDE TRANSITIONS BROWSER
• SHOW/HIDE TITLES BROWSER
• SHOW/HIDE GENERATORS BROWSER
• SHOW/HIDE THEMES BROWSER
• SHOW/HIDE INSPECTOR
• SHOW SHARE DESTINATIONS

6. OPEN UP FINAL CUT PRO X
• RIGHT CLICK IN THE LIBRARIES SESSION AND CREATE A
NEW EVENT
• CLICK ON THE BROWSER AND IMPORT BRUNO
• CLICK THE FILM STRIP TO ADJUST THE CLIP SIZE
• ADJUST THUMBNAIL DURATION WITH SLIDER
• SET THE IN POINT USING THE ‘I’ KEY
• SET THE OUT POINT USING THE ‘O’ KEY
• OR DRAG A SELECTION USING ALT + DRAG
• USE THE ‘E’ KEY TO SEND THE CLIP TO THE TIMELINE
• TURN SKIMMING ON AND OFF
• ADJUST THE TIMELINE VIEW SETTINGS BY CLICKING THE
FILMSTRIP
• ADJUST THE VIEWER SETTINGS BY CLICKING THE SWITCH

7. SOME HANDY SHORTCUTS
• ‘I’ - SETS IN POINT
• ‘O’ SETS OUT POINT
• ‘E’ - SENDS CLIP TO MAIN TIMELINE
• ‘Q’ - SENDS CLIP TO SECONDARY TIMELINE
• ‘A’ - POINTER
• ‘B’ - BLADE
• ‘P’ - POSITION
• ‘CTRL+S’ - EXPAND AUDIO/VIDEO
• ‘SHIFT+Z’ - FITS ENTIRE SEQUENCE IN THE TIMELINE
• ‘COMMAND+T’ ADDS TRANSITIONS

8. OTHER HANDY TIPS
• HOLDING DOWN THE ‘COMMAND’ BUTTON LETS YOU
MAKE FINER AUDIO ADJUSTMENTS
• UP ARROW/DOWN ARROW MOVES THE PLAYHEAD ONE
SHOT AT A TIME
• RIGHT ARROW/LEFT ARROW MOVES THE PLAYHEAD
ONE FRAME AT A TIME
• HOLDING SHIFT WITH THE RIGHT/LEFT ARROWS
MOVES THE PLAYHEAD TEN FRAMES FORWARD/BACK
• ‘CTRL+D’ LETS YOU ENTER THE LENGTH OF CLIP YOU
WANT IN ‘SECONDS’

9. CUT OUT THE AUDIBLE ‘SMACKS’
• ADJUST THE VIEW OF THE TIMELINE SO THAT YOU CAN
SEE THE VIDEO AND THE AUDIO WAVEFORMS
• USE THE BLADE TOOL ‘B’ TO CUT OUT ANY AUDIO THAT
YOU DON’T WANT
• FINISH YOUR ‘RADIO CUT’ BY MAKING SURE THE AUDIO
SOUNDS SMOOTH FROM START TO FINISH
• ADJUST VOLUME LEVELS AND USE FADES IF NECESSARY

10. ADD IN SOME ‘CUT AWAYS’
• CHOOSE SOME SUITABLE ‘CUT AWAYS’ TO COVER OVER
THE ‘JUMP EDITS’
• CHOOSE ‘VIDEO ONLY’ FROM THE DROP DOWN MENU IN
THE TOOLBAR
• USE ‘IN’ AND ‘OUT’ POINTS TO HIGHLIGHT THE SECTION
OF THE CLIP YOU WANT TO USE
• USE THE SHORT CUT ‘Q’ TO ADD THE CUTAWAYS TO THE
TIMELINE.

11. ADD TRANSITIONS AND TITLES
• ADD TRANSITIONS TO CLIPS BY SELECTING TWO OR
MORE CLIPS AND PRESSING ‘COMMAND + T’
• ADD TITLES BY CLICKING ON THE ’T’ IN THE TOOLBAR
• ADJUST THE DURATION OF YOUR TRANSITIONS AND
TITLES
• ADD EFFECTS TO THE CUTAWAYS USING THE EFFECTS
BROWSER

12. EXPORTING / SHARING
• TO EXPORT YOUR VIDEO, CLICK THE SHARE ICON ON THE
FAR RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THE TOOLBAR
• CHOOSE ‘EXPORT FILE’ FROM THE LIST OF OPTIONS.
• CHECK THE SETTINGS TO MAKE SURE THEY ARE WHAT
YOU WANT.
• USE THE VIDEO CODEC H.264 TO HELP REDUCE FILE SIZE
WHILE KEEPING THE QUALITY
• CLICK ‘NEXT’, CHOOSE WHERE YOU WANT TO SAVE YOUR
FILE THEN EXPORT IT.

13. JAFFA CAKE TASK
• EDIT THE CLIPS TOGETHER WITH THE MUSIC TO CREATE
A SHORT FILM ABOUT ‘THE LAST JAFFA CAKE’
• THINK ABOUT THE STORY
• THINK ABOUT THE LENGTH OF YOUR SHOTS
• REMEMBER LONG SHOTS AND SHORT SHOTS CAN
CHANGE THE PACE OF YOUR EDITS
• THINK ABOUT BUILDING SUSPENSE
• BE CREATIVE!