Davinci Resolve Day 1: Basic Editing

Objectives

  • Basic Interface and Tabs
  • Import and Organize
  • Basic Editing Tools
  • Save and Deliver

Practice Files: Davinci Day 1 Files

Outline

Starting Up Davinci

  • Have students open a new project and give it a name
  • Davinci is an optimal workflow program, the order of the tabs is the order in which many types of projects our created and then delivered, and are meant to be used in order with some overlapping capability
  • The Media tab is the place to start

The Media Tab

  • The Media tab lets you reorganize video clips by metadata, rename them, color code them, and organize them into separate “bins” which are basically folders
  • The top right window is the media viewer where the bottom panel shows are your imported footage and the top left is where organize based on metadata or in bins
  • To Import: Cmd “I” or File>Import
  • Have students import “Audio” and “Video” files

The Cut Tab

  • The cut tab is great for cutting your videos and putting them together in a simple interface that only gives you the tools you need.
  • To insert a clip into the timeline, you can double click on it and you’ll see it in the top left viewer.
  • You can scroll through the footage (using your mouse, the left and right arrow buttons for moving frame to frame, or you can use your spacebar to play the video) and add an In point or an Out point using I and O on your keyboard. Then you can use the handles on the bottom of your video in the viewer to edit those points
    • This is important because it allows you to cut your videos to exactly the part you want before they’re even in your timeline
  • Click and drag from the center of the cut video to drag it into your timeline
  • You have 2 timelines in the cut tab. The top one shows you all the videos in your timeline and makes it easy to cut them, the bottom shows a more detailed/expanded version
    • You can add or cut videos in either one, they will do the same thing.
  • Cutting tools:
    • The scissors icon on the top left will split clips where your playhead is
    • If you hover between clips, you will see three icons:
      • The right pointing arrow will trim your video on the right and move everything following it
      • The middle one won’t mess with the videos around your cut, just the two clips in the middle
      • The left pointing arrow will trim your video on the left and move everything following it
  • Have the students drag in just the first few of the Taco videos and cut them with the cut tab

The Edit Tab

  • Selecting the “Edit” tab will move all your imported media to the panel on the top left for easy access. The bottom panel is now the timeline
  • Review using the In and Out points, you can use them here as well as the Cut Tab
  • When a clip is selected the panel in the top right will show you data and effects on that particular clip. This tab has 3 panels, the Mixer for basic effects, the Metadata for clip info, and Inspector for keyframe effects
  • The bar directly above the timeline is a toolbar. For ease of editing make sure the magnet symbol in selected which allows clips to snap to their edges
  • The razorblade is used for chopping up footage and deleting or reorganizing sections
  • This toolbar also contains a zoom slider to change the size of your clips in your timeline
  • To trim clips, hover your curser over the border of a clip, click and drag. This essentially only changes the In and Out points of a clip
  • Drag in the audio to the audio tracks, you can expand these as well and cut them
  • Have students use these editing tools to drag in the rest of the Taco videos and put them together, and add the Sound Effects

Basic Effects and Transitions

  • Now we have our video and audio in, we can add some basic transitions and effects.
    • Click on the white bookmark-y icon at the top corner of a clip and drag it out to create a fade effect
    • This works on both video and audio, creates a smooth and even fade
  • At the top, next to your media pool button is the effect button
    • here is bunch more present effects you can add to your project
    • Video Transitions
      • Blur Dissolve (blurry dissolve between two clips)
      • Cross Dissolve (changes the transparency to dissolve between two clips)
      • Dip to color
    • Audio Transitions
      • Cross Fading, stick with 0db
    • Titles
      • Drag a new title on top of the video, as another layer
      • Then double click to edit them, Inspector on the side will change words, font, etc
  • Have the students add several effects to both the video and audio, and add a title to the end

The Deliver Tab

  • The Deliver tab is for exporting
  • Name the video and select Destination
  • Set format H.264
  • Add to Que
  • Multiple versions of the Export can be added to que and then exported from there
  • The Deliver tab has a timeline bar but no edits can be made in the Deliver Tab