The Master Guide / 11 Editing · The timeline and the cuts you send
The editable timeline
Every edited film comes with an editable timeline holding every asset. A rendered-only edit is not acceptable (decided).
Every edited film comes with an editable timeline holding every asset. A rendered-only edit is not acceptable (decided).
Picture tracks, bottom to top
Tracks | Holds | State |
Earlier takes, one track per level | Every earlier take of every shot. Just under the cut: usable takes, newest first. Lowest: problem takes, newest first | All switched off: out of playback and export, one click to swap |
The cut | The approved takes, gap-free from frame 0 to the film's end; full-frame graphics, end cards and packshots in story order | On |
Overlays | Transparent graphics (ProRes 4444 with alpha, its transparency channel); a new track wherever two overlap | On |
So each shot's approved take is the top picture layer, with every earlier take stacked beneath it at the same place (decided). Switching earlier takes off is safer than covering them: a shorter, transparent or reframed approved take would otherwise show them. An earlier take starts on its shot's slot, runs from its own logged in point, is trimmed to the slot if longer, and is left shorter, never stretched, if its media ends first.
Sound tracks, in this order
Track | Holds | State |
Shot sound | The approved takes' own sound, linked to the picture | On (off for a lip-synced shot) |
Alt sound | Earlier takes' sound, only for shots whose own sound is used | Off |
DIALOGUE | The placed copy of each on-screen line; a filmed line's cleaned location sound; the clean take itself where no placed copy is made | On |
VO | The locked voiceover (VO) on its beats | On |
DIALOGUE ALT 1 | The untouched dry take, beneath its placed copy at the same start (decided) | Off |
DIALOGUE ALT 2 … | Alternate dialogue takes; a filmed line's raw location sound | Off |
VO ALT | Alternate voiceover reads | Off |
MUSIC_A, its stems | The chosen option; its stems beneath, same start | On; stems off |
MUSIC_B … | The other options, one per track | Off |
SFX | Sound effects (SFX): designed effects and real one-shot recordings | On |
AMBIENCE | Room tone and beds, real ambience recordings included | On |
See Sound design and mix → The placed voice for how the placed copy is made.
At most one music option is audible at any frame.
A lip-synced shot's own sound is switched off, kept and linked: it is a re-encode that would double the dialogue. Its line plays as the placed copy on DIALOGUE, with the dry take on DIALOGUE ALT 1.
Files are referenced where they live, never copied, with plain ASCII names (no Arabic or accented letters).
Build it, then check it. Build the tracks this way, switch the earlier takes off and export the timeline as XML, the editable timeline file that Premiere and other editors open (steps below). Before it leaves, check that every take, music option, stem, alternate read and effect is in it: nothing may exist only in a render. The final timeline per version is in Graphics, captions, versions and delivery → The handover: XML and final-film page.
Do it yourself
Build and export the timeline (Premiere)
Build the tracks in the order the two tables set out.
Switch a clip off with Clip → Enable (Shift+E).
Export with File → Export → Final Cut Pro XML.
Sources
From editors' practice of handing over an editable project.