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As you gaze at the video clips in your clip browser, you can see a thumbnail image for each clip. This thumbnail usually shows the first frame of the clip. Although the thumbnail may suggest the clip's basic content, you don't really know exactly what the clip contains until you preview the whole thing. You can easily preview a clip: Just click your chosen clip in the browser and then click the Play button in the playback controls of your software's preview window.
As the clip plays, the playhead under the preview window moves. You can move to any portion of a clip by clicking and dragging the play head with the mouse. Figure 1 shows Pinnacle Studio's preview window and playback controls.
As you preview clips and identify portions that you want to use in your movies, you find that you really need precise, frame-by-frame control of the play head. The best way to get that precision is to use keyboard buttons instead of the mouse. Table 1 lists important keyboard controls for three popular video-editing programs. If you're using different editing software, check the manufacturer's documentation for keyboard controls.
Table 1: Keyboard Controls for Video Playback
Command
| Apple iMovie
| Microsoft Windows Movie Maker
| Pinnacle Studio
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Play/Stop
| Spacebar
| Spacebar
| Spacebar or K
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Fast forward
| Command+]
| Ctrl+Alt+ -->
| L
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Rewind
| Command+[
| Ctrl+Q
| J
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One frame forward
| -->
| Alt+ -->
| X
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One frame back
| <--
| Alt+<--
| Y
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Figure 1: Use playback controls and the play head to preview clips.
Some controls are fairly standardized across many video-editing applications. In fact, the spacebar also controls the Play/Stop/Pause function in professional-grade video editors, such as Adobe Premiere Pro and Apple Final Cut Pro HD.
 | If you don't like using the keyboard to move to just the right frame, you may want to invest in a multimedia controller. Some models connect to your computer's USB port and feature a knob and dial that you can use to precisely control video playback. You can use the multimedia controller so much more easily than the mouse or keyboard — you'll wonder how you ever got by without one! |
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