Avid Xpress Pro Power!

Storyboard Editing

A very popular method of editing on nonlinear systems is to drag and drop clips into a Timeline directly from a bin. Avid Xpress Pro does allow you to perform this type of edit. Avid Xpress Pro calls this bin editing into the Timeline. I'm going to refer to this style of editing as storyboard editing . While it seems like a great method of editing, it's an editing option I rarely use but it can come in handy to perform a quick series of edits.

Preparing Clips for a Storyboard Edit

Storyboard editing allows you to perform numerous edits in one quick and easy move. Before you perform a storyboard edit you'll need to prepare your clips.

1. Switch your bin view into Frame View.

2. Move or reposition all your clips to an area in the bin that is available. If you need room, remember you can resize your frames .

3. Place your clips in an order the same as you would if you were creating a storyboard. Frames should be positioned from left to right and top to bottom (see Figure 6.4).

   Figure 6.4. Frames need to be placed in order from left to right and top to bottom.

4. An IN and OUT point must be established first. If an IN or OUT point has not been added to a clip, the entire clip will be used in the edit.

5. An IN and OUT point can only be added " on-the-fly ". Click on a clip and press any of the play buttons .

6. As the clip plays, add an IN and OUT point. If you're not comfortable with your decisions you can re-enter the points by playing the clip from the beginning or open the clip into the source screen and add your IN and OUT points there.

7. Mark an IN and OUT point on each clip you want to edit.

8. Place your Position Indicator in the Timeline where you want the edits to begin.

Performing a Storyboard Edit

Now you're prepared to perform the edit. If you want the edits to be an Overwrite, click on the Overwrite/Lift Segment Mode button. By default the system uses the Splice Edit Segment mode (see Figure 6.5).

Lasso or Shift-click (Macintosh OS) Ctrl-click (Windows) all the clips you would like to be in the edit. Drag the clips, as a bunch, to the Timeline (see Figure 6.6).

All the clips will be added to the Timeline in the same order they were in on the bin. This is a great way of starting off a sequence. You can add several edits all at once and then start trimming the edits as you go.

When you perform this type of edit, the tracks, which were selected per clip, will be the same tracks that will be edited in the Timeline. There's a quick method of selecting which track you'd like to use. While in Frame View, hold down the Option key (Macintosh OS) or the Alt key (Windows) as you click on each clip's name . You'll see that a pull-down menu appears allowing you to select which track you'd like to use. Select the track you'd like to use as the storyboard edit (see Figure 6.7).