Once you've captured your video clips from your camera, or imported existing clip files into FreeDV, you're ready to arrange them into your own custom-made video story.
This chapter explains how to review and edit your clips. For information on adding titles (words) to your story, seeChapter 4. To add transitions (such as fades and wipes), see Chapter 5. And to add sound effects or music, refer to Chapter 6.
To craft your video story, you should first review each clip in the Cutting Room. Here you can adjust the length of each clip, arrange clips in the desired sequence, and preview your story as you work.
In the Library window, click the clip you want to work with.
The first frame of the clip appears automatically in the Clip Player of the Cutting Room window. (If you don't see anything in the Library window, it means you still need to capture or import your clips. SeeChapter 2 for information.)
Click the Play Clip Selection button at the bottom of the Cutting Room window, or press C on your keyboard.
The clip will play through from beginning to end.
To stop the clip at any point, click the Play Clip Selection button or press C while the clip is playing. Note, anytime you click the Play Clip Selection button the clip stops playing and goes back to the beginning.
To adjust audio volume, seeChapter 6.
NOTE: If Display to the Camera During Playback is selected in Camera Options, you may only see your clip on your camcorder's LCD or an attached TV monitor while scrubbing. If you are editing without an attached camcorder or TV monitor, you may choose to de-select the Display to the Camera option in the Camera tab of the Options dialog. Turning off this option may improve playback quality in the Cutting Room Clip Player.
You may view any part of your clip by "scrubbing" through it:
Drag the Clip Time marker (the vertical red bar at the bottom of the Cutting Room window) forward or backwards.
Scrubbing lets you see the part of the clip you're interested in, stopping or starting when and where you like.
Once you've familiarized yourself with a clip, you're ready to select a portion of it for inclusion in your video story. You do this by setting the Start and End Cuts (where you want the clip to begin and end) using the scissors.
NOTE: At times, you may want to include an entire clip in your story, without shortening it. In this case, you can simply add the entire clip directly to the story, as described in the next section.
TIP! In general, you should try to keep your clips on the short side (about three to five seconds long), to keep your viewers' interest. But don't shorten them too much; you want to give your viewers enough time to get the flavor of each video segment. The small Clip Duration window (bottom left of the Cutting Room window) shows you the current length of the clip.
Drag the Start Cut marker (the scissors on the left of the Clip Time marker) to the precise point where you want your edited clip to begin. You can drag it backwards and forward until you've hit on the exact spot you want.
- Drag the End Cut marker (scissors on the right of the Clip Time marker) to the point where you want the edited clip to end.
Notice that the Clip Duration time has decreased to indicate the length of selection.
You can now put the clip directly to your story by clicking the Add Clip button or continue editing as many clips as you like.
Once you've adjusted the clip's Start Cut and End Cut, you can add the clip into the Story --that is, you're ready to place it in the sequence of all the clips that will make up your finished story.
With your edited clip in the Clip Player of the Cutting Room window, click the Add Clip button (the arrow between the Clip and Story Players). The clip appears as a green section in the Story window.
- Drag an edited clip from the Clip Player into the Story Player or Story Window.
- Drag an unedited clip directly from the Library Window into the Story Player window or Story Window.
If you intend to use the video from a clip with video, it must be added to the Video Track (the track with the movie camera icon at its leftmost end). If you wish to use just the audio portion of a clip, or a clip with no video, it must be dragged into the Music and Narration Tracks (the tracks with the musical note icon at their leftmost ends).
Add as many clips as you like to the Story. At any point, you can review the story using either the Story Player of the Cutting Room window, or the Story window.
The Story Player works much the same as the Clip Player; the only difference is that your entire video story is accessible, instead of just a single clip. The current Story time is shown in the Story window at the bottom right of the Story Player.
NOTE: The Story window has a zoom-in and zoom-out button in the lower left corner to allow you to see a greater or fewer number of clips in the Story Window.
Click the Play Story button in the Story Player to play or stop the story. Or press the spacebar to stop and start the story.
- Drag the Story Time marker in the Story Player to scrub through the entire story, just as you can scrub through clips in the Clip Player.
At this point, the clips in your story are "spliced" together. If you find that the transition between one clip and another is rather abrupt, you can add transition effects such as fades and wipes. For more information, seeChapter 5.
The Story window provides a streamlined representation of your story. It shows you:
- the order your clips will play in the story
- the length of each clip
- the length of any secondary audio tracks, and how they're organized (see Chapter 6 for information about working with sound and music)
You can quickly view, reorganize, insert, or delete clips from your story by using your mouse in conjunction with the Story window, as described in the following sections.
You canscrub through your story by dragging the red Story Time marker, just as you do in the Cutting Room window. As you scrub in the Story window, the Story Time marker in the Story Player moves, and you see your story in the Story Player.
NOTE: If Display to the Camera During Playback is selected in Camera Options, you may only see your story on your camcorder's LCD or an attached TV monitor, while scrubbing. If you are editing without an attached camcorder or TV monitor, you may choose to de-select the Display to the Camera option in the Camera tab of the Options dialog. Turning off this option may improve playback quality in the Cutting Room Story Player.
You adjust the volume of the original audio portion of all your clips by clicking the first speaker icon (near the top of the Story window, next to the camera icon). (You can also adjust the volume of individual clips or other sound effects you add; more on that inChapter 6.)
In the Story window, you can adjust the length of any clip in your story by changing the Start Cut and End Cut.
Adjacent clips in your story automatically fill in the Story to occupy any gaps you may have created by changing the Start Cut and End Cut.
As you edit in the Story window, the Clip Player (in the Cutting Room window) shows the changes you make to the selected clip.
In reviewing your story, you may decide that the clips should be arranged in a different order. To reorganize your clips:
Once you've reordered your clips, you can play or scrub through the story, and if you like, continue experimenting with the order of the clips until the arrangement suits you.
TIP! You can also use shift-select to select several clips at a time in the Story window. Use Cut and Paste from the Edit menu or simply drag to a new location.
You can quickly remove a clip you've included in your story by doing the following:
If you change your mind about a clip you've just deleted, choose Edit>Undo.
There may be times when you want to insert another video clip in the middle of one you've already added to your story.
In the Story window, move the red Story Time marker to the exact point you want to insert the new clip.
- Select the track containing the clip you want to split.
- Choose Edit>Split Clip.
- The selected clip will be split into two segments.
- Drag and drop a new clip from the Clip Player into the split you created, or add a clip to the story at the split point by placing the red Story Time marker at the cut and clicking the Add clip to Story button in the Cutting Room.
- If you like, scrub through or play the Story to see how well your inserted clip fits into the movie.
As with most Windows-based programs, FreeDV includes a Properties command. Just right-click any clip to view a tabbed dialog box that gives helpful information about that clip:
- General tab: The clip's name, size in kilobytes, creation date, original duration, horizontal x vertical dimension, and time scale. There is also a Comment text box where you can enter notes about the clip.
- Track info tab: The clip's file type, format, depth, and frame or sample rate is displayed.
- Files referenced tab: Files referenced by the clip.
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