Did you know that the QuickTime Player application provided with your Mac computer will do more
than just play back video?
This program can be useful when you want to quickly trim a film clip, for example footage
shot with a GoPro.
Perhaps you've filmed a long sequence and want to extract only a small portion to use
in a video you are producing or to send to someone.
You could import the entire thing into a movie-editing program and trim it there, but it's easier
and faster to do this with QuickTime.
Or maybe you've not yet mastered iMovie or GoPro Studio and need something a bit simpler
to make some basic edits.
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Hi. This is Karen McKee, The Scientist Videographer.
In this tutorial, I'm going to show you how to use QuickTime to easily trim, combine,
and sequence GoPro video clips.
I'll be using some GoPro footage to illustrate, but QuickTime works with any video you may
have captured with a camcorder, digital camera, or your phone.
So let's start at the beginning.
First, open your video file with QuickTime.
You can double-click most video files, and they will automatically open in QuickTime
if this is your default video player.
You also can open the video file from within QuickTime.
To trim the file, select Edit, then Trim in the menu bar.
This opens a trimming bar that shows all the frames in the clip.
To trim, just drag the end bars to the start and end of the section you wish to keep.
To review the selected section, just click the play button.
When satisfied with your selection, click Trim, and everything outside the selected
area will be deleted.
Notice that the file name has changed to untitled, which means this edited file has been created
and left your original footage intact.
At least that's the case with my version of QuickTime.
If so, then all you need do is rename this edited clip by selecting save, which brings
up a dialog box and an untitled file name.
If this doesn't happen with your file, then you need to click File, then Duplicate to
create a second copy of the edited file, which will be saved under a new name.
Then go back to the original file and undo the edit or close the file without saving
changes to recover your original footage.
Rename the edited file and save. Your original footage should remain intact.
If you need to extract multiple clips from a file or rearrange segments of footage, then
another option is to use the split tool.
Start by moving the playhead to the point where you wish to split the footage.
Go to the dropdown menu under Edit and select Split Clip.
Now you see a gap between the two segments where the original clip was split.
To make additional splits, repeat the process.
Use the keyboard shortcut Command Y to perform this operation faster.
Now we have six segments that can be rearranged.
Perhaps I want to use only three of these segments and change their sequence.
To delete a section, just select it and then tap the delete button on your keyboard.
To move a clip, just drag and drop it into a new position. Continue rearranging the same
way.
Click Done when finished editing the clip.
QuickTime will also let you combine video files, and there are two ways to do this.
Open the first file you want to combine in QuickTime.
Then drag and drop the file to be added onto the QuickTime window.
The second file is then added at the end of the first clip.
Or, you can go to the dropdown menu and select Add Clip to End. This opens your file directory
where you can locate the video file to add.
Once you have all clips in the new file, you can then rearrange them or trim them as I
showed earlier.
You can also add an audio file, for example, music or sound effects or a voiceover.
Just drag and drop the audio file onto the player window.
Now you see the audio track below the video track. You can trim the audio track along
with the video track, but
to make more complicated edits, you'll have to use movie-editing software.
However, if you don't need to adjust the volume or other settings, then this is an easy way
to add an audio track to your GoPro footage.
Of course, you can also create movie and sound recordings and also record your computer screen
with QuickTime.
But I'm going to cover that in another video.
In the meantime, here's a bonus tip.
You can use QuickTime to change the orientation of your footage.
For example, you may have accidentally shot footage upside down with your GoPro because
you forgot to change the settings to reverse the image while filming.
In QuickTime, you can easily flip the footage vertically. Go to Edit, then select Flip Vertical.
Now your footage is right-side up.
Well, that's a brief rundown of how to use QuickTime to do simple edits on your GoPro
footage.
As I said at the beginning, QuickTime is provided free with the Mac operating system, but there
is also a version for Windows.
If you found this tutorial helpful, please hit the like button or leave a comment below.
For more tips and tutorials visit my website or read my ebook, The Scientist Videographer.
Thanks for watching.
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