Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
shot based on a variety of criteria, assessing everything from performances to technical issues. Through ratings,
you can single out the shots, or portions of a shot, that you intend to use and reject the rest. Deciding which
parts to use is up to you, the editor.
Developing a strategy
The media for each video project that you work on is generally imported into its own Event, but you'll most
likely be accessing that media via the various collections within the Event. Collections are a useful way to pare
down the media presented in the Event Browser to just the applicable files that you need to access at a given
time. You can create as many Collections as you wish, but it's easy to go overboard and clutter the Event
Library with too many collections. Take some time beforehand to develop a strategy on how to use collections
and what they should contain. A documentary project, for instance, could be comprised of interviews, B-roll,
archival footage, and still images with a Collection created for each one of these elements. For a film project,
collections could be used to organize the clips into characters, cutaways, scenes, and sequences. In the
Pranks
Event on the DVD, the clips are organized into six Collections, with each Collection consisting of a different se-
quence from the movie and placed inside a folder called
Sequences
. In this way, an editor working on a spe-
cific sequence can select the relevant collection in the Event Library and have just the clips from that sequence
presented in the Event Browser.
Working efficiently in the Event Browser is all about scaling the material down to the most pertinent media for
the job at hand. As powerful as Collections are, they aren't the only way to do this. Final Cut Pro employs many
methods, such as filters, ratings, and metadata, to get your material down to a more manageable form.
Selecting Favorites
Select the Bump in the Night Collection in the Event Library and view all the clips that make up this sequence.
As you examine the clips, think about what you like or dislike about each shot and look for possible ideas on
how these shots can be used to tell the story. In some cases, there will be more than one version of each shot,
such as with Scene 8 Slate 57. As you can see, the actress's performance in these two takes is quite different. A
good actor tweaks his or her performance with every take, giving the editor a variety of subtle nuances to work
with in the edit. These small, understated moments in a performance are gold to an editor, and you should be on
the lookout for them as you review your rushes.
Final Cut Pro makes it very easy for editors to quickly flag their preferred shots as they review the rushes. This
is done by rating a clip as a Favorite and can be applied to an entire clip or selected segments within a clip.
To rate a clip or selection as a Favorite, select the clip or selection in the Event Browser and press the green star
button on the Toolbar, choose Mark
⇒
Favorite, or just press F.
A green horizontal line marking the range of the Favorite area displays on the clip's thumbnail. Figure 4.10
shows a clip with three segments rated as Favorites, as depicted by the green lines over the clip's thumbnail. By
filtering the Event Browser to show only Favorites, the green sections of the clip display and the unmarked
areas are hidden from view (we tell you how to filter clips in the Event Browser later in the chapter).
Clicking on a line displays the rated area as a yellow selection range over the clip's thumbnail. Clips in the
Event Browser have a number of different-colored horizontal lines over their thumbnails, either running across
the entire clip or in small sections. Each color identifies the clip with a rating, a keyword, or a Collection. To
show or hide the horizontal lines on the clips thumbnails, choose View
⇒
Show/Hide Marked Ranges.
