Final Cut Pro X - Make A Selection
Final Cut Pro X in CCTV's Training Room
http://www.cctvsalem.org/training
Part 4: Make a Selection
You just created a new Event, and then imported media into that event. Whether you brought in video clips, music, or graphics, just click on the name of the event, and all the media it contains will be listed right here, in the Event Browser.
Before we begin adding trimmed clips to a Project, let's take a look at a way to customize your event browser so that clips are easier to see.
These buttons provide two options for viewing clips: filmstrip view (shown above) and list view. In list view, click a clip to see a wide preview of it just above the list. It also lists the exact duration of each clip, and the date and time each clip was created.

For our examples, we'll use filmstrip view. In filmstrip view, use the thumnbnail slider to adjust the size of each clip's preview.
The slider adjusts how much time each thumbnail (the visible frames of video) in the filmstrip represents. Drag the slider left and right to make the filmstrips appear longer or shorter.
In this example, the slider has been set to "2 seconds", which means each thumbnail -- the visible frames of video in the filmstrip -- represents 2 seconds of video. Page 19 shows the same event, but the slider is set to "10 seconds", so the length of each filmstrip is much shorter. The thumbnail slider will be very useful when you start working with longer clips.
There's a feature you should know about right away, and it's called skimming. Press the S key on the keyboard to turn skimming on and off.

When skimming is on, you'll see a thin red line under your mouse cursor any time you hover it over a clip. This allows you to quickly move to a specific part of a clip. If you ever find that skimming is getting in your way, just press S again to toggle it off.
When you click a clip, a white line is placed in that position. This line is called the play head.
Hover the mouse over a video clip and slide the skimmer to the beginning, then press the space bar to begin playing from that point. Press the space bar again to pause.
There are alternate ways to play a clip, but they all start with deciding where to begin playing using the skimmer or the play head. You can hover the skimmer and press play, or you can click to position the play head, then move the mouse away and press play to start from there.
Ok, so we've already used the space bar to start and stop playing. This is going to be your standard go-to keyboard shortcut for playing and pausing in Final Cut.
You can also use the J, K, and L keys for a somewhat more sophisticated way to get around.
The L key plays the clip forward. Press it two or more times in a row to increase speed. The J key functions the same way, but in reverse: press it to play backward. The K key pauses the clip no matter which direction it's playing.
You can also move the play head one frame at a time using the left and right arrow keys.
All of the functions we've learned so far - playing clips, pausing, and moving back and forth - they all serve the same purpose, and that's to give you a chance to watch or listen to the clip so you can decide which part to add to the Project. And that IS editing, isn't it? Deciding which part of your source media you want to use in your project is the very essence of being an editor.
Trimming a clip means to set an In point and an Out point around the portion you want to use.
You may have noticed the yellow box that appears around a clip when you first click on it. This box is called the range selector. The simplest way to trim a clip is to adjust the edges of the range selector: just click and drag. As you drag each point, you'll see the selection you're making in the Viewer.
A more accurate way to trim a selection is to position the play head to a specific frame and use keystrokes to set both the In and Out points.

Use the J, K, and L keys, plus the left and right arrow keys, to position the play head precisely where you want the clip to begin. Press the I key on the keyboard to set the In point.
Do the same thing for the Out point: accurately position the play head, then press the O key to set an Out point.
Watch out for the skimmer with this method. Pressing I or O while the skimmer is actively skimming a clip will set in and out points wherever it happens to be positioned. Remember, you can always toggle the skimmer function off by pressing S on the keyboard.