Apple Final Cut Express HD - Manual (Page 911)

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Elements of a
Final Cut Express HD Project
When you are organizing your project and media files, it can
be helpful to have a detailed understanding of each element
in a Final Cut Express HD project, such as clip types and
properties, bins, sequences, and so on.
This chapter covers the following:
 About Clips, Media Files, and Sequences (p. 911)
 About Icons and Project Elements in the Browser (p. 915)
 Clip Properties (p. 916)
About Clips, Media Files, and Sequences
Understanding the details of Final Cut Express HD project elements can help you
transfer clip and project information in and out of Final Cut Express HD during logging,
capturing, media management, and project interchange.
Media Files
A QuickTime media file contains a number of tracks, typically one video track and one or
more audio tracks. When you capture or import a media file into Final Cut Express HD, a
clip in the Browser is created which refers to the media file on disk. A clip has one or
more clip items, each of which corresponds to a track in the QuickTime media file. When
you open a Browser clip in the Viewer, each of these tracks appears as a separate tab,
such as video, audio channel 1, channel 2, and so on. Clips that refer exclusively to audio
files are called audio clips, and they are identified by a unique icon in the Browser.
Other common media file types you can use in Final Cut Express HD are AIFF and WAVE
files (for audio) and graphics file formats supported by QuickTime, such as JPEG,
Photoshop, and TIFF.
Important: Media files are not clips, so you should avoid referring to your media files
on your scratch disk as clips.