… for Apple Final Cut Pro X

Tip #481: The Power of a Back-time Edit

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Back-time edits are used in situations where you care more about the end than the beginning.

A back-time edit is one where the Out of the clip in the Browser is matched to an Out in the timeline, then Final Cut calculates where to apply the In.

NOTE: A back-time edit doesn’t play a clip backwards, rather it determines the position of a clip based on the Out, rather than the In.

An example of using a back-time edit is sports, where you care more about the runner crossing the finish line than where they started running. To create a back-time edit:

• Set at least an Out in a clip in the Browser
• Set at least an Out in the Timeline, or use the Range tool to set both the In and Out.
• Type Shift + D to back-time edit the clip into the Timeline
• – or – type Shift + Q to back-time edit the clip on a higher layer.

NOTE: Setting an Out in the timeline always sets a range. When the edit is performed, the duration indicated by the range in the timeline determines the duration of the edit. The Browser In is ignored.

Experiment with this feature, you’ll discover all kinds of places where this can solve an editing challenge.