5 Awesome FCP Tips to Blow Your Mind

I'm Dylan John, let's cut out the fluff and dive right into these 5 tips.

1. Give your inspector room to breathe

When you've stretched your timeline out big, your inspector gets compressed and adjusting a clip with lots of effects becomes a nightmare. Just double-tap the top of the inspector window and it expands full-height to the bottom of your screen, tons more room to work. Double-tap again to send it back. We usually only edit on one section of the timeline anyway, so it's no big deal, and it saves you constantly pulling the inspector down and pushing it back up.

2. Replace a clip the right way

Got a clip sandwiched between transitions with media on top and sound below, and it just doesn't fit? Instead of fighting it with gap clips, drag your new clip over the original and let go. A menu pops up: Replace swaps the whole clip in, but since the clips probably aren't the same length, that'll shift things. To keep everything in sync, choose Replace from Start or Replace from End instead, it replaces from the first or last frame you selected, cutting off any excess or extending to fit. (Want to swap in a clip that's already on your timeline with effects? Move your transitions aside, drag the clip over the original, trim with option bracket, and hit Option Command Down to blast it into the primary storyline, then slide the transitions back into place.)

3. Clear those leftover selected ranges

Annoyed by all those selected ranges stuck on your clips in the library? To clear one, select the clip and press Option X. To clear every clip at once, hit Command A to select all, then Option X. Done.

4. Lock the grave-key override on

You probably know holding the grave key (the tilde) lets you move a clip freely even with sound effects, titles, and other clips attached, basically canceling the magnetic timeline. But holding it the whole time is annoying. Instead, hit the grave key and then Command, and override connections stays on until you hit the grave key again, no more holding it down. I learned that one from my buddies Matthew O'Brien and Brad. And adding to tip 2: you can also drag your replacement clip next to the original, click the original, hit the grave key, and press delete, everything attached stays put and you can trim from there.

5. Play your timeline in slow motion

You might know J plays your timeline in reverse, K pauses, and L plays forward. But hold down K and then hold L (or J) and your timeline plays in slow motion, great for checking how a transition or your framing looks. Press J or L multiple times to fast reverse or fast forward, and K to pause.