Apple Final Cut Pro 6 User Manual
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Offline Editing
Editing with low-resolution copies of your media files allows you to fit more media on
your scratch disks and improve playback and real-time effects performance (especially
when using slower hard disks, such as in portable computers). This phase can last from
a few days to several years, depending on the scope of the project, the amount of
footage, and so on.
Edit Decision List or Other Project Interchange File
When the edit is complete, you can export all of your edit decisions for use on another
editing system. Older editing systems use a relatively simple text format called an EDL,
while newer interchange formats, such as OMF, AAF, and the Final Cut Pro XML
Interchange Format describe many more details of your original sequence.
Online Editing
Online editing starts with a project interchange file, or EDL, which describes which
media you need to recapture at full-resolution. Online editing actually has very little to
do with editing in the traditional sense. Timing, storytelling, and fine-tuning your edits
should be complete in the offline editing phase. Online editing focuses on image
quality, color correction, maintaining broadcast video specifications, detailed effects
work, titles, audio levels, and so on. Compared to the offline editing phase, an online
edit session goes very quickly (anywhere from a day to a week), and generally requires
more expensive equipment.
Important:
Accurate timecode and reel names are critical for keeping track of where
footage is located on each tape, so you can recapture footage at any resolution. Make
sure you log clips and label tapes carefully.
How Audio Is Handled in the Offline/Online Editing Process
The offline/online workflow tends to focus on video, but how is audio handled? Audio
has much lower data requirements than video, so audio is almost always captured at its
native sampling rate and bit depth, even for offline editing. This means the audio is
ready for a final audio mix without recapturing.
During the offline editing phase, audio clips are synchronized with video, placed in the
sequence, and basic level adjustments are made. Once editing is finished and the
picture is locked, audio is mixed in the audio mixing and sweetening phase. You can mix
your audio in Final Cut Pro, or transfer your audio files and audio edit decisions to an
audio post-production application.