Apple Final Cut Pro 5 - Manual (Page 1397)

46 Part I Media and Project Management
Independent Clips
Independent clips do not share properties with any other clips. They are neither master
clips or affiliate clips. Copying an independent clip creates another independent clip.
This can lead to complicated media management because each clip has its own
relationship to its media file. This means you have to reconnect each clip to its media
file individually, instead of reconnecting a single master clip which also reconnects all
of its affiliates. Recapturing media for independent clips, even if they originally referred
to the same media file, may create many redundant media files because the
independent clips are unaware of the fact that they all refer to the same media.
The Difference Between Independent and Master Clips
Independent clips never share properties with other clips, no matter how many times
you copy them. They are always located in sequences. Master clips share properties
with affiliate clips, and are always located in the Browser.
To make a sequence clip independent:
m In the Timeline, Control-click on an affiliate clip, then choose Make Independent Clip
from the shortcut menu.
The affiliate clip is now an independent clip. Any changes you make to this clip will not
affect the master clip, and the relationship to this clip’s media file is now managed
independently of other clips in the project.
Creating Master Clips for Independent Clips
If you have a sequence of independent clips, you can create new master clips for them
in the Browser. This turns each independent clip into an affiliate clip of its new master
clip. There are several reasons why you may have a sequence of independent clips:
 You imported a project from Final Cut Pro 3 or earlier. In this case, all the clips in your
project will be independent.
 You pasted a sequence from a different project into your current project. In this case,
the clips in the pasted sequence are all independent.
 You imported a Final Cut Pro XML interchange file without master clip information.
Important: In general, it’s a good idea to avoid using sequences with independent clips
because it makes future media management more complicated and inefficient.