Apple Final Cut Express 4 - Manual (Page 40)

40 Part I An Introduction to Final Cut Express
What Are Clips?
Once you have media files on your hard disk, you need a way of working with them in
Final Cut Express. A clip is the most fundamental object in Final Cut Express. Clips
represent your media, but they are not the media files themselves. A clip points to, or
connects to, a video, audio, or graphics media file on your hard disk. (For more
information on the relationship between media files and clips, see “
About the
Connection Between Clips and Media Files ” on page 47.)
Clips allow you to easily cut, trim, rearrange, and sort your media without manipulating
it directly. You manage and organize your clips in the Browser. The three kinds of clips
you’ll see most often are video, audio, and graphics clips, but there are other kinds of
clips that can be stored within a project, such as a generator clip (a clip whose media is
generated within Final Cut Express). You can also subdivide a clip into separate pieces,
called subclips, to further organize your footage.
Clip Clip Clip
Media files on your hard disk
Project