Apple Final Cut Pro 5 - Manual (Page 611)

276 Part II Rough Editing
 Cutting: Like switching, cutting changes the active angle of a multiclip, but an edit is
added to the multiclip at the moment you change the active angle. You can see the
results of cutting in the Timeline. When you cut from one angle to another, the result
is two multiclips in the Timeline: one before the cut point and one after.
Before the cut, the active
multiclip angle is 1.
A cut is added at the
point where the active
angle changes.
After the cut, the active
angle of the new
multiclip is 4.