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Trim Tools

In the Segment Mode Editing module, we refined the Scene of Mr. Poole working on his craft project by rearranging Shots in the Sequence. This  resulted in a coherent visual narrative. Now, it’s time to learn how to use “Trim” tools to fine-tune the transitions in the Sequence. As mentioned at the beginning of the Segment Mode Editing module, we wouldn’t normally be refining transitions at this stage in the editing process, but we want you to learn how to use these tools at this point in the training program.

Video Transcript:

Before proceeding with the edit, I once again want to save my current Sequence as a reference. To do so:

  1. I right-click on my Assemble 2 – Craft Making Sequence in the project panel and select ‘Duplicate’. 
  2. I re-name the copy “Assemble 3 – Craft Making.”
  3. I double-click on the new Sequence to open it.
  4. Finally, I close the Assemble 2 – Craft Making Sequence in the Timeline by clicking the ‘x’ next to its name.  

Let’s review our Sequence to see what needs trimming. 

The first issue that I notice is that Mr. Poole’s movement between the first and second Shots is not aligned. In the “outgoing” Shot on the left he has looked down and started a new activity at the front of the table.  In the “incoming” Shot on the right, his upper body is moving forward and he is making a big action of turning many pages of the telephone book. Let’s learn how we can use the Trim tool to change where the incoming Shot starts.

To enter Trim mode:

  1. In the Sequence, I hover the cursor near the transition between the first and second Shots and notice that a red arrow appears. 
  2. When I hover over the left side of the transition, the outgoing side, the red arrow points to the left, or up the Sequence.
  3. When I hover over the right side of the transition, the incoming side, the red arrow points to the right, or down, the Sequence. 
  4. Double-clicking with this red arrow on either the outgoing or incoming Shot – activates a red Trim roller, known as the “Rolling Trim” tool.

When entering Trim mode, the Program monitor switches to “Trim View.” Within the Trim View, the right screen displays the first frame of the incoming Shot – in this case, the Medium Full Shot (MFS) of Mr. Poole beginning to work on his craft making project. The left screen shows the last frame of the outgoing Shot, the Medium Close Shot (MCS) of Mr. Poole through the front window. This split view allows us to see in real time any changes we make to the transition. The best way to make changes is to use the JKL keys which function in the same way in Trim mode as they do in Three-point Editing.

  1. With the Rolling Trim tool active at the beginning of the second Shot, I press the K and L keys simultaneously which causes the Trim roller to move in slow motion to the right, removing, or “trimming,” material from the Shot. I release both keys and press the K key to stop. I see the changes to the Shot in the right screen of Trim View and there’s now a gap in the Sequence where the material was removed.
  2. If I press the K and J keys simultaneously, the Trim roller moves in slow motion to the left, adding material to the Shot until it is back to where it began.
  3. To find an In-point that Matches the Action of the outgoing Shot, I move forward by holding down the K and L keys.   
  4. I move forward and backward, alternately pressing or punching the L and J keys while holding down the K key, until I find the point where he is looking down and beginning a new activity. For me this is at Timecode 00:00:35:24, as indicated by the numbers at the bottom of the Trim View screen.
  5. I release the K key. 
  6. The Rolling Trim tool left a gap in the Sequence. To remove this gap, I hover over it with my cursor, right-click, and select ‘Ripple Delete’. This action closes the gap and ripples the entire Sequence to the left, up the Timeline.
  7. I click in the Timebar near the end of the first Shot and press Play to review the changes. 

Now there’s more fluid continuity in the movement between the Shots, which helps to mask the transition.

Go ahead and follow the steps above to trim the incoming side of the second Shot. When finished, come back here to continue.

Video Transcript:

Let’s review our Sequence for other needed changes. The transition between the second and third Shots could be smoother. Notice that the action of creasing the fold repeats in both Shots. I want to use my Trim tools to get rid of this repeat from the incoming Shot and then Cut on the Action.

  1. To get into Trim mode I hover the cursor over the right, incoming, side of the transition between the second and third Shots. 
  2. When the red arrow appears pointing to the right, I double-click. 
  3. To get rid of the repeated action of creasing the page, I use my JKL keys to move forward in the Shot. 
  4. To review the changes I made, I press the Spacebar, which plays the transition in a loop.

As with our first Trim, this edit created a gap in the Sequence, which prevents me from easily and efficiently seeing the impact of the changes I made to the transition. Fortunately, there’s an alternative Trim tool, called “Ripple Trim,” that does not leave gaps in the Sequence.

  1. Pressing Spacebar again stops the playback.
  2. I’ll Undo the previous action by pressing Ctrl-Z until the Shot returns to its original position. 

I’m still in Trim mode. Notice in the Trim View, that when I move the cursor over to the left screen, the icon appears with the red arrow pointing to the left. Similarly, when I move the cursor over the right screen, the red arrow in the icon points right. If I move the cursor between the two screens, I see an icon with double-rollers, arrows pointing both left and right.

  1. To activate Ripple Trim I click when I see the double-roller icon between the two screens.

Now when I move the cursor over the left or right screens, the Trim arrows appear yellow. Yellow is for Ripple Trim and red is for Rolling Trim.

  1. Since I want to shorten the incoming Shot on the right, I click on the right screen. The Trim roller in the Sequence also turns yellow.
  2. Once again I play forward in the Shot to remove the repeated action of creasing the page.
  3. I press the Spacebar to review the Trim.

The Ripple Trim tool does not leave a gap in the Sequence. This allows me to more easily see what’s happening with the transition. I’ve removed the repetition of the creasing from the incoming Shot. But now, in the outgoing Shot his hand is just starting to come back to the left whereas in the incoming Shot his hand is moving to the right. I need to trim the incoming Shot forward so that it’s Cutting on the Action of his hand moving to the left for the final swipe.   

  1. I press the Spacebar to stop playing the transition in loop.
  2. I use my JKL keys to find the frame in which his hand is in the action of swiping to the left. I’ll try 00:00:09:24.
  3. I press Spacebar again to review the Trim.

Now the transition works, meaning in this case that there’s smooth continuity in the action between the Shots. 

  1. To exit Trim mode, I click on any blank space in the Timeline.

Go ahead and follow the steps above to perform this Ripple Trim in your Sequence and then return here.

Video Transcript:

In reviewing my Sequence I see that the action between Shots three and four repeats. Let’s use Ripple Trim again to Match the Action between these two Shots.

To review the steps for activating the Ripple Trim tool:

  1. I hover my cursor over the transition and double click on a red arrow icon to activate the Rolling Trim tool. 
  2. To switch to the Ripple Trim tool, I click between the two Trim View screens. 

Both the outgoing and incoming Shots may need to be adjusted. I’ll start by adjusting the outgoing Shot where there’s too much hesitation. It causes a pause in the action.

  1. To trim the outgoing Shot I hover the cursor over the left Trim View screen and click to activate it. This places a yellow Trim roller on the outgoing Shot in the Sequence.
  2. I use the JKL keys to locate an earlier point in this Shot when he’s in the action of turning the page. I’ll try 00:00:12:22.

I now need to Match this Action with the movement and position of the hand in the incoming Shot.

  1. I hover my cursor over the right screen in Trim View and click on it. 

This activates Ripple Trim on the incoming Shot which is indicated in the Sequence by the yellow Trim roller on the right side of the transition. 

  1. Using the JKL keys, I look for the Matching Action. I’m going to try 00:00:32:12.
  2. I press the Spacebar to review the results.

I’ll leave it for now. A fresh perspective later on will help determine if the transition truly works – meaning that it goes unnoticed by the viewer.

  1. I click on any blank space in the Timeline to exit Trim mode.

Go ahead and follow the steps above to trim the transition between Shots three and four and then come back here to continue.

Video Transcript:

Let’s continue watching our Sequence. The next transition in our Scene, between Shots four and five, can be improved by making use of Eye Trace, as introduced in the previous module. To review: when we match the focal point in the frame across two Shots, we’re less likely to notice the cut and any discrepancies between the Shots. Let’s now learn how to use our Trim tools to make this Eye Trace edit.

Right now, the focal point in the outgoing Shot is of the hand moving off frame to the left. The focal point in the incoming Shot is of the face in the center of the frame. When we watch the current transition the eye shifts from the bottom left of the frame to the center of the frame. This calls attention to the edit, which we want to avoid. To fix this, we need to see if we can move the focal point of the outgoing Shot to the center of the frame.

  1. I hover my cursor over the transition and double click on a red arrow icon to activate the Rolling Trim tool. 
  2. To switch to the Ripple Trim tool, I click between the two Trim View screens. 
  3. To trim the outgoing Shot I hover the cursor over the left Trim View screen and click with the yellow arrow.
  4. I use my JKL keys to play forward in slow motion until the hand is in the center of the frame, at 00:00:39:15.
  5. I play the transition to review.

Now, with the face and the right hand in the center of the frame, the viewer’s eye moves more easily between the two Shots. Every little bit helps to distract the viewer from noticing transitions between incongruous Shots.

  1. I click on any blank space in the Timeline to exit Trim mode.

Let’s keep watching. The Shot of the house at the end goes beyond its Optimal Duration, meaning that it stays on the screen longer than necessary to communicate its story. This leaves the viewer looking for more information or waiting for something else to happen. To get an overall sense of the pacing, I want to play the Sequence from the beginning in full screen.     

  1. I activate the Program monitor by clicking on it.
  2. I press the Tilde (~) key to make it full screen.
  3. I play the Sequence from the beginning. 
  4. While the last Shot is playing I press Stop when I think I’ve had enough of the Shot – meaning, it’s told its story and reached its Optimal Duration.  
  5. I press the Tilde key again to return the Program monitor to its usual position.

I stopped at the Timebar position of 00:00:35:12, as seen by the blue numbers in the Program monitor and the Timeline.

  1. To remove what remains of the Shot, I hover the cursor over the end of the Shot.
  2. With the red Trim arrow pointed left, I click, press-and-hold the Shift key, and drag the roller to the left until it snaps-to the blue Playhead line. I release the mouse and then the Shift key.
  3. If your Shot doesn’t snap-to the blue Playhead line, make sure that the ‘Snap in Timeline’ button is enabled and blue.
  4. I need to get a sense of the pacing by playing the last few Shots in full screen. 

The Scene is much smoother after having refined the transitions with the Trim tools.

Go ahead and use what you have learned to make the edits I just demonstrated and then use all the editing tools you have learned to make any other changes to the Scene that you think are necessary.

As we’ve discussed, the goal of completing an Assemble Edit is to shape Scenes so they tell their stories effectively. We’ve refined this Scene more than we normally would at this stage of the editing process. In a future module, we will detail the typical editing process that we recommend.

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