You've now reached the stage where you need to make some important creative decisions about the timing of each edit point, known as edit decision points . A good montage, as has been said earlier in this project, is all about timing, and to complete this task, you will use the trim tool and the speed/duration tool to fine-tune your rough running order into something a little more polished. You will also make use of the shortcut keys J, K, and L that you have used in previous tasks.
Using the Timeline, you will fine-tune your rough assembly edit:
Select the Timeline by pressing Shift + 3 on the keyboard.
Play back the sequence by hitting the L key. Play the sequence back several times to get a feel for the timing; ignore any gaps in the playback at this point in the task. Once you have an idea of how you want to improve your edit, stop the play back by hitting the K key and move onto the next step.
You will have probably spotted gaps in the playback shown as a black screen. This is caused by the duration of a clip being insufficient to fill the gap between the beat markers. First of all, find a place where both files on either side of the gap are image files.
Place the Timeline indicator over the clip on the left-hand side, and then click on that clip. Open the trim editor by hitting T on the Keyboard and use Ctrl + right arrow (Windows) or command + right arrow (Mac) to expand the duration of the image up the Timeline by one frame at a time until it hits up against the next clip in the running order. Use Shift + Ctrl + right arrow (Windows), or Shift + command + right arrow arrow (Mac) to jump five frames at a time up the Timeline.
Curing the gaps caused by video subclips is not as simple because, as mentioned earlier in this project, video subclips have a definitive length that lack sufficient media handles, and they cannot be altered in the same way you altered the images in the last steps. However, it can be done using other tools. First, identify a gap that has a video file on the left-hand side of that gap.
Click on the clip to the left-hand side of the gap, then select the rate stretch tool by pressing X on the keyboard. Place the Timeline indicator over the end of the video clip, and it will appear as a red bracket with left and right facing arrows.
With the mouse button held down, drag the clip up the Timeline until it hits up against the next clip.
Tip
When you've finished with the Rate Stretch tool, don't forget to return the mouse pointer to the Selection tool by pressing V on the keyboard.
Be careful when using the Rate Stretch tool, as extending a clip too far will cause it to slow down with noticeable jerkiness during playback. This often stands out and will make your edit look terrible. Short stretches should be fine, but check the playback carefully.
If you don't want to alter the speed of a clip, then you can re-edit the subclip's overall duration (thus giving it sufficient media handles for the transition to work with) by selecting a subclip in the Project panel (not on the Timeline, that won't work) and pressing Shift + 0 on the keyboard to open the Edit Subclip window.
Place the cursor under the End: field value, so that it appears as a double-headed cursor, and drag it to the right-hand side to extend the duration of that subclip. Press Enter to close this window.
Press Shift + 3 to return the focus to the Timeline, and click on the clip to select it. Make sure the Timeline indicator is over the gap, and then press T to open the trim editor.
Now use Ctrl + right arrow (Windows) or command + right arrow (Mac) to expand the duration of the video clip up the timeline one frame at a time until it hits up against the next clip in the running order. Use Shift + Ctrl + right arrow (Windows) or Shift + command+ right arrow (Mac) to jump five frames at a time up the Timeline.
Repeat the various techniques listed earlier to close all the gaps on the Timeline.
If after playback you can see some poor timing, for example, the marker you placed earlier in this project is not quite on the beat, or you would prefer the cut to be a few frames before the beat, then you can alter this simply using the Trim tool. First identify a clip on the Timeline you want to alter.
Use the + (plus) key on the keyboard to zoom in on that part of the Timeline.
Move the Timeline indicator to exactly where you want the new edit point to land, and press M on the keyboard to create a new marker at this point.
Select one of the clips below the marker, and press T on the keyboard to open the Trim tool.
If the new marker is up the Timeline (to the right-hand side of the original edit point), press Ctrl + left arrow or command + left arrow until the edit point matches the new marker. If the new marker is down the Timeline (to the left-hand side of the original edit point), press Ctrl + right arrow or command + right arrow until the edit point matches the new marker.
Repeat this process with each edit point that needs this type of fine-tuning.
In this section, you have learned some of the more intermediate techniques for editing the In and Out points of clips on the Timeline. Most important is the use of the Trim tool and the use of the arrow keys to control those edit points. Once again you have learnt how to do without the mouse and how to create accurate edit points. We will return to the Trim tool later in this book and look into more of its powerful features.
The keyboard shortcuts covered in this task are as follows:
Ctrl + left/right arrow or command + left/right arrow: This shortcut alters the duration of a clip 1 frame at a time in the Trim tool
Shift + Ctrl + left/right arrow (Windows) or Shift + command + left/right arrow(Mac): This shortcut alters the duration of a clip by five frames at a time in the Trim tool
Shift + 0: This shortcut opens the subclip editor (when this has been set by the user)
Use of the Rate Stretch tool, as detailed earlier, effectively creates a slow motion clip on your Timeline or a fast forward clip if used in the other direction. A rate stretch on a video clip creating a playing speed of 75 percent or above is not usually detectable by an audience, so long as there is no audio in that video file. Slower than 75 percent and the effect is more noticeable. Slower than 50 percent and the clip becomes somewhat less watchable.
When using the Rate Stretch tool, you will hear a change in the audio; higher pitched when the speed is increased, deeper when the speed is decreased. To cancel out this problem on a clip that has been rate stretched, right-click on the clip and select Speed/Duration from the context menu. In the Clip Speed/Duration window, select Maintain Audio Pitch, and your audio will retain its original speed value. However, if the speed change is extreme, lip synchronization will be completely out, so it's only advised to use this option with speed changes between 75 percent and 99 percent.