Dynamic trimming with the trim monitor in Video by Zaweba
Open the trim monitor in Video by Zaweba to see both sides of a cut, play the trim live with J, K and L, and make split edits across several tracks.
Some cuts can only be judged in motion. A still frame on either side of an edit tells you where the cut is, but not whether it feels right, and that feeling depends on the beat of a line, a turn of the head or a breath. The trim monitor in Video by Zaweba is built for those cuts, and dynamic trimming lets you set them while the footage plays.
Opening the trim monitor
Choose View > Trim monitor, or press Ctrl+Shift+T. It shows both sides of the selected cut at once: the last frame of the outgoing shot and the first frame of the incoming one, each with its source timecode. You see exactly what you are cutting from and to.
Below the pictures are the controls. There are buttons for plus or minus one frame and for a large trim. You choose which side of the cut you are working on: Out side, Roll or In side. Out side changes only the outgoing shot, In side only the incoming one, and Roll moves the cut point between them. A Ripple switch decides whether the change moves the rest of the timeline or not.
These are the same ideas as the ripple and rolling edits on the timeline, laid out so you can make them with clicks and keys while looking at the frames that matter.
Dynamic trimming
This is the part worth learning. With an edit point selected in the trim monitor, press L to play the trim forwards or J to play it backwards. Press the same key again to go faster. As the footage plays, the cut moves with it. When you reach the frame you want, press K. The trim is committed as one undo step.
If you change your mind partway, press Esc and the trim is thrown away, leaving the cut where it was.
Dynamic trimming suits dialogue especially well. Play the outgoing line, and press K the moment the speaker finishes. Your hands react to the sound in a way that is hard to match by stepping through frames, and the cut ends up where a viewer expects it.
Split edits across tracks
A split edit is one where the picture and sound cut at different moments. You hear the next speaker before you see them (often called a J cut), or the sound of a scene carries on over the first shot of the next (an L cut). They make dialogue feel natural and are used constantly in interviews and drama.
In the trim monitor you can Ctrl+click edges on several tracks to select them together, then trim them by different amounts. This is an asymmetrical trim. For example, select the outgoing picture's edge and the incoming sound's edge, and roll them in opposite directions. The picture and sound cuts move apart and you have a split edit, while everything stays in sync because the trims are made together.
How it relates to the trim settings
The size of the large trim and what happens when a trim runs past the end of the media are set in Edit > Trim settings. That is also where you choose whether the trim monitor opens on its own when you pick an edit point. If you trim a lot, turning that on means one click on a cut puts you straight into the monitor.
A way to work
Build a rough assembly with three-point edits first, without fussing over exact frames. Then go through cut by cut with the trim monitor open. For each cut, decide which side is wrong. Play it dynamically, press K on the right moment, and move on. If a cut is close, use the single frame buttons instead.
When you reach dialogue, look for places where a split edit would help, especially reaction shots. Seeing the listener a moment before the speaker finishes often makes a conversation feel more alive.
Things to watch
Keep an eye on the Ripple switch. With it on, trimming one side pushes or pulls the rest of the film, which is what you want for tightening but not when later shots are cut to music. With it off, the trim works within the existing length.
Remember that Esc discards a dynamic trim, which is useful but easy to press by habit. And if the trim stops before you expect, it has probably reached the end of the recorded media.
Once these keys are in your fingers, trimming in Video by Zaweba becomes a matter of watching and reacting, which is what good cutting has always been.
