Editing workshops

On Fridays Fergus hosts editing workshops at the Rochester UCA campus. Here we learn how to make editing easier faster and more fluid through the use of command keys instead of the mouse. For example creating "L" edits, this is where you use the ripple tool to overlap part of an image but keep it's audio, leaving the effect of de-intensifying/ making the subject of the shot less important.

We also learnt about the tool panel (pictured below). The first thing I learned about was using the ripple tool, this means moving an edit point and causing the rest of the timeline to move the same amount to compensate. Fergus showed us that to do this you just select the ripple edit tool from the tool panel, position the mouse at the edit point in the timeline and drag left or right.

Both the Ripple edit and the Rolling edit look similar but perform very different roles. A rolling edit means moving an edit point without affecting the rest of the timeline. The first (outgoing) clip is made shorter while the second (incoming) clip is made longer by the same amount, or vice versa.

I have not used the Rate Stretch tool yet but after researching what it did I now can think of many instances in which I could have used it. The Rate stretch allows you can change a clip's speed to fit a duration by selecting the Rate Stretch tool and dragging either edge of a clip in a Timeline panel.

A Slip Edit means adjusting the in and out points of a clip simultaneously by the same amount in the same direction. The duration of the clip stays the sameTo use the slip tool select the Slip tool from the tool panel (shortcut is Y) and click on the clip in the Sequence. Now drag the cursor left or right to roll the clip forward or backward.

I remember the slip edit as the edit that slips underneath the footage. By this I mean whichever footage you have hold of with your mouse will be slid underneath the other two pieces of footage (these other two will remain unchanged. In the diagram below the green section would be the footage using the slip edit.

To perform a Slip edit, select the Slip edit tool from the tool panel. Position the mouse over the clip in the timeline, click and drag left or right.

The Slide tool does the exact opposite, in this case the green section would slide over the top thus cutting footage from the end of the blue clip and the start of the red clip.

The pen tool I have only ever used for audio, I am not sure if it has other functions, if so I'm sure I'll find them out as I progress through the course. I use the pen to adjust the volume or gain of a clip, by simply selecting the desired clip, enlarging the view and then clicking on the clip will display small dots that you can drag up or down to make it louder or quieter.

The last two tools are pretty self explanatory, the hand tool is used to drag the viewable area in the timeline left and right. The zoom tool is well, used to zoom into and out of the frame.