I’m rendering a timeline at work right now, and I have plenty of late nights coming in the near future, so I figured this is a good time to post a quick tip since I’ve failed miserably at keeping my blog up to date.

This tip has to do with cutting a clip that’s already laid out in your timeline. So this is useful if you have to shorten your project or make changes for a client or anything really.

If you’ve used FCP for more than a couple hours, you’ve probably already discovered the blade tool, which is probably the most common tool used for cutting clips. Generally the editor will select the blade tool by clicking on it in the tool bar or by pressing the letter “B” (remember the letter B). From there, he or she will simply drag the cursor over the playhead, and if snapping is turned on, a precise cut will made after a single click of the mouse. Then of course you delete the portion of the clip you don’t want anymore. Doesn’t sound too complicated, but here’s faster way…

In your menu bar at the top if the screen go to Tools > Keyboard Layout > Customize. This should bring up the window to customize your keyboard shortcuts. In the search bar at the top right corner, type “Add Edit.” Add Edit is a function that places a cut wherever your playhead is located in the timeline. By default the command is set to Control + V. 

Control + V is kind of weird if you’re looking for efficiency, so we’re going to change it to “B,” which like I said, activates the blade tool, so it makes sense that we will change it to make the cut immediately. To change the shortcut to “B” all you have to do is click on the shortcut in the right hand column and then press the letter “B.” It’s that simple! And now you will literally be cutting at the speed of light…or electricity, but that’s fast too!

All you have to do now is press “B” once you have used the arrow keys to move the playhead to where you want to cut. There are 2 things to note though. Number 1: If you have multiple layers of video on top of one another, this command will cut all the layers at once, including your audio tracks. To avoid this, FIRST highlight the clip you want to cut, THEN press “B.” Number 2: Be aware that this will make you SO FAST that your boss or client will continue to demand even MORE from you in a shorter amount of time. So use with caution, lol.

Back to work…