Clips Described by Their Properties
In addition to the clip types described above, clips can be further characterized by
the following:
 Relationships to other clips: Master, affiliate, and independent clips
 Connection status to media files: Offline and online clips
 Location in a project: Browser and sequence clips
These clip characteristics can describe any type of clip. For example, clips, subclips,
merged clips, and multiclips can all be offline clips.
Clips Defined by Their Relationship to Other Clips
A master clip is the first instance of a clip imported or captured in Final Cut Pro. Master
clips exist exclusively in the Browser, and they are used to manage multiple instances
of the same footage used throughout your project. This is how it works: each time you
edit a clip into a sequence, Final Cut Pro creates a new instance of that clip. This new
sequence clip is not completely unique and self-sufficient, but actually gets most of its
properties from the master clip it came from. This clip is called an affiliate clip because
it shares properties with its master clip. Because master and affiliate clips share a single
set of properties, changing a property in one place changes it everywhere. For
instance, if you want to change a clip name, it doesn’t matter whether you change the
name in the master clip or any of its affiliate clips. Since they all share the same Name
property, all the clips now have the new name.
Most properties are shared between master and affiliate clips, but there are a few
exceptions. The properties of affiliate clips that aren’t shared (such as In and Out points)
make them useful for editing, while the shared properties (such as Name and Source)
maintain a relationship with the master clip for easier media management. For
example, In and Out points can be different in every affiliate clip so that trimming one
clip doesn’t affect the duration of all the other affiliated ones.
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Part I
Media and Project Management
The following properties are not shared between master and affiliate clips:
 Comment A–B
 In point
 Out point
 Duration
 Description
 Film Safe
 Composite mode
 Reverse Alpha
 Thumbnail
An independent clip is a sequence clip that has no master clip, so it doesn’t share
properties with any other clips. You can make a sequence clip independent at any time,
although you usually shouldn’t unless you have a specific reason to do so. Independent
clips are not updated by a master clip, so you can’t manage your media as efficiently.
Clips Defined by Media File Connection
An offline clip is any clip whose media file cannot be located, or whose Source property
is empty. When you first log clips, they are offline clips because they have no associated
media files. If the modification date of a clip’s media file changes in the Finder, or if you
delete a clip’s media file, the clip becomes an offline clip until you reconnect it.
Clips Defined by Location in Project
A Browser clip is any clip which appears in the Browser. These are typically master clips,
although they can also be affiliate clips.
A sequence clip is one or more clip items in a sequence. These are typically affiliate
clips whose master clips reside in the Browser. In some cases, sequence clips are
independent, meaning they have no master clips or other affiliated clips. You can
distinguish a sequence clip from a Browser clip when you open it in the Viewer. The
row of dots (sprocket holes) that appears in the scrubber bar of the Viewer indicates
that the clip is a sequence clip.