Best use of trimmer when editing a long clip?

[Graham Bernard]

Great question! – I’m a bit of a thug when it comes to the Trimmer.

I start with an Empty Timeline – this clears my mind – it’s a Zen thing . . .

However, I place the 2, 5 , 10 or even 45 minute clip in the Trimmer. I now just Drag across the footage I want – that makes a selection – and Either make a Sub Clip from it OR – for most occasions – just Drag that selection directly to the Timeline. This way it keeps my attention and ideas flowing . . Ommmmmmmhhh!

In and Out? Don’t bother.

Grazie

[Bob Peterson]

I don’t use the trimmer to trim. I simply put the clip on the time line, and work on it there. I simply collapse, or roll, the clip back to my first starting point. Then I snip the clip between my first ending point and my second starting point. I can then roll the ends from the snip point to the first ending point and to the second starting point. If I subsequently want to extend the “sub clips”, I can simply roll the ends out as far as necessary. No trimmer is necessary, and I can copy and paste just as I would with trimmer clips.

[Steve Rhoden]

And so too i thought and edit like that Bob for a long
time, didnt use the trimmer at all, thinking it was not a
necessary feature… BUT oh no, the trimmer is very necessary.
When the huge one hour and above projects with endless clips,
cutaways and different camera angle shots comes in and the
vegas timeline is loaded and choking, Then, one will truly
understand how precious the trimmer is.

Steve Rhoden
(Cow Leader)
Film Editor & Compositor.
Filmex Creative Media.
1-876-832-4956

[Matt Crowley]

Another option is to place markers on the trimmer using the M key at points of interest (eg before and after a new pose/position) as you play through the clip in the trimmer. Then go back and double-click between pairs of markers to select that segment, and just drag to the timeline. These markers are associated with the media, so if you open that file/media in the trimmer again you’ll see all the markers.

I generally scrub through clips in the trimmer to quickly find whatever I’m looking for, then either mark the IN point and keep scrubbing to find the OUT point, or scrub to the start of the desired section and shift+click further along the clip to set the out point. You can adjust the IN and OUT points by dragging the edges of the selection.

[Phil Seymour]

I tend to go with Bob’s approach… dump the clip on the timeline, slice at in and out points of each section you want and delete the unwanted bits. I fully agree with Steve’s point too, but its horses for courses and in your case I don’t think it would have the complexity of Steve’s projects.
If you did have a busy timeline, you could dump the clip at the end and do your surgery there, and pull the selections back into place.
The wonderful thing about Vegas is it is so malleable. I had to give a colleague some help with Premier the other day and walked away shuddering.

Windows 7 Pro64, 16GB RAM, SSD boot drive, GTX 570 Graphics, Vegas Pro 11 and VP10 just in case

[Steve Rhoden]

lol…lol…lol…lol “walked away shuddering” …lol…lol
That is priceless.

Steve Rhoden
(Cow Leader)
Film Editor & Compositor.
Filmex Creative Media.
1-876-832-4956

[Todd Boyle]

All my videos are an hour or more — I shoot lectures and other public events.

I just toss the footage on the timeline. First I build an intro screen and slam it up there. Then I drag the starting point of the video track to what I am keeping. I play it at 150% speed and when there’s stuff to cut, I select it and hit the delete button. Every few minutes I throw in a title bar with a semi-transparent gray behind it.

This works for me. Ho hum. Routine boring and painless.

Usually you get 40 viewers, sometimes 40,000.

Todd https://www.youtube.com/toddboyle#g/u

[Colin Morris]

I’ll throw in my shuddering 2 cents: I start by putting the clip in the trimmer creating regions all the way through. I can then either select the regions and drop them on the timeline or…. drop the whole clip on the timeline from the project media window-the regions show up and I split and delete from the timeline. I always use the trimmer because it usually looks much better than playing the clip from the timeline/preview window-especially if you use an external monitor.

[Steve Rhoden]

Thats true Colin.
As i mentioned earlier, i usually just drag a clip to the end
of the timeline and cut it there and then drag into the project.
But with a crowded timeline and you dont want to loose track
of where you are on the timeline, dropping the next video
into the trimmer and trim from there then drag to the timeline
is convenient.

Steve Rhoden
(Cow Leader)
Film Editor & Compositor.
Filmex Creative Media.
1-876-832-4956

[Phil Peacock]

Thanks for everyone’s input here. Various options and ideas. It’s just nice to know that, as Steve said, when the timeline is very complicated and cluttered, one can always retreat to the trimmer! I do like the idea of creating ‘zones’ (? – my word)in the clip in the trimmer and importing all before deleting alternate zones on the timeline. This at least allows for a quick scrub through one’s footage. Don’t always need to resort to the trimmer but nice to know it’s there!
Cheers.