Apple Final Cut Pro 7 - Manual (Page 1606)

Learning to Read an EDL
An EDL contains the same basic clip information as a Final Cut Pro sequence, but the
presentation is very different. Because EDLs originated with linear, tape-to-tape editing
systems, each event is described in terms of a source tape and a record (or master) tape.
Note: This section describes components of an EDL using the CMX 3600 EDL format.
Other formats may vary slightly.
In an EDL, each clip in your sequence is represented by a line of text called an event, which
has a unique event number. A clip in an EDL is defined by a source reel name and two
pairs of timecode In and Out points. The first pair of timecode numbers describes the
source tape (or clip) In and Out points. The second pair describes the timecode location
where that clip should be placed onto a master tape (or Timeline).
Event 2 Event 1 Event 3 Event 4 Event 5
EDL title
Drop frame mode
of source tapes
Drop frame mode
of master tape
Tip: To better understand how an EDL describes edit information from your sequence,
try exporting a simple sequence with just a few cuts to an EDL, and then compare your
Final Cut Pro sequence to the EDL.
Elements of an EDL
The elements of an EDL are described in the following sections.
1606 Chapter 96 Importing and Exporting EDLs