Using markers and chapters in Video by Zaweba
Add markers with M in Video by Zaweba, give them colours, lengths, comments and chapter kinds, filter them in the Markers tab and export the list as CSV.
A marker is a note pinned to a moment in time. It sounds modest, but markers end up holding a surprising amount of an edit together: the beats of the music, the places the client wants changed, the chapters of a long video and the shots still to replace. Video by Zaweba gives markers enough detail to do all of those jobs.
Adding a marker
Press M. A marker appears at the playhead, shown as a flag on the ruler. That is all it takes, and it works while the footage is playing, so you can tap M in time with music to mark each beat, or tap it whenever you hear something you want to come back to.
Markers can also be placed on clips rather than on the timeline itself. A marker on a clip moves with that clip, which is what you want for something tied to the footage, like the moment a door slams. Markers on the timeline stay put while clips move beneath them, which suits things tied to the structure of the film, such as a music change.
What a marker holds
Each marker has a colour, from a choice of eight. It can have a length, so instead of a single point it covers a range, shown on the ruler as a band. It can carry a comment, and it has a kind: comment or chapter.
Colours are where markers become a system. Decide what each colour means on a project and stick to it. For instance, one colour for client notes, one for music beats, one for shots to replace and one for chapters. A glance at the ruler then tells you where the outstanding work is.
Lengths are useful for marking a stretch rather than a moment: a section that needs a better take, a part of a song that should be cut down, or an advert break.
Chapters
Setting a marker's kind to chapter marks the start of a section of the film. Long videos split into chapters are easier to navigate, and it is a natural way to plan a tutorial, a lecture recording or a family film with distinct parts. Using a chapter marker for each section and a comment marker for everything else keeps the two jobs apart.
The Markers tab
The Markers tab lists every marker. You can find markers by name or comment, filter by colour, and edit the selected marker's details. Filtering by colour is the quick way to see, say, only the client notes, and work through them one by one.
From the same tab you can export the list as a CSV file. That opens in any spreadsheet program and is a tidy way to share a list of notes, timings or chapter points with someone who is not editing. It also makes a good record of what was changed and when.
Ctrl+Shift+M jumps to the next marker, and Ctrl+Alt+M jumps to the previous one. When you are working through a list of notes, this is the fastest way to go from one to the next: jump, fix, jump again.
Ways people use them
For a music video, play the track and tap M on every beat, then cut to the flags. For a client review, mark each comment as you watch together, with the note in the marker's comment field, then work through them using the colour filter and the jump keys. For a long recording, drop chapter markers at each new topic and export the list for the description or a contents page.
Keeping markers meaningful
Putting markers on the timeline when they belong on a clip is the usual one. If you later move the clip, the marker stays behind and points at the wrong thing. Ask whether the note is about the footage or about the film's structure.
The other is using colours at random. Markers in Video by Zaweba are only as useful as the meaning you give them, so settle the colours on the first day and keep to them.
