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# How to Edit with Kino

## Introduction

Basic editing in Kino (using the Edit mode) is mainly a subtractive process. This means you add clips and then subtract the parts you do not want. This works well for many users who just want to trim the fat from their home videos or television recordings. In contrast, an advanced form of editing, Trim's 3-point insert editing, lets you choose a part of a clip before adding it to the project. This additive form of editing is more appropriate for making a more heavily edited or composed project.

Kino does not let one make a selection prior to making an edit like a word processor or many other desktop applications. This capability will likely be available when Kino adds a proper multitrack timeline user interface. Rather, Kino extensively uses the concept of a "Scene" and the Storyboard view. Kino automatically creates a new scene when you add a clip and for any timecode discontinuity it detects within the loaded clip. Then, any edit operation that deletes one or more frames creates a new Scene. Also, one can make a new scene using the split command. Conversely, one groups two scenes together into one scene using the join command. Therefore, if you want to work in a selection- like mode use split to mark the beginning and end. Then, execute an editing command that applies to the entire scene.

## Point and click editing

Start editing by opening a clip by choosing Open from the File menu or toolbar or by dragging a clip from your file manager (e.g. Nautilus or Konquerer) and dropping it onto the Kino window (but not on the Storyboard view!). Add additional clips by choosing Insert Before or Insert After from the File menu or toolbar or by dropping files from the file manager.

Use the transport controls to review the footage and locate parts to keep or remove. Use the Split command to divide a scene into good and bad parts. Next, make sure the current frame is in the scene you want to remove by clicking the scene in the Storyboard. Choose Cut to remove the scene. Repeat as necessary.

Reordering scenes is a simple as clicking or drag and drop. Click a scene in Storyboard, Cut, click a new place in the Storyboard, and Paste. Also, you can drag and drop within the Storyboard; however, you must look for a thin line that indicates the drop target position! Drop does not work when the target shows a dotted rectangle around a cell.

You can learn to use some of the keyboard commands or the Trim mode to fine tune your editing process.

## Editing for vi geeks

Kino provides keyboard control that is similar to the UNIX vi editor.

Kino follows the general translation rules:

- A character becomes a frame
- A word becomes a second
- A line becomes a scene
- A file becomes a movie

To extend the analogy further, kino has two modes of operations: Normal and Ex mode. By default, the Normal mode is operational; Ex mode is accessed by the use of the ':' key. Unlike normal vi ex mode that requires Enter to close the command, Kino generally does not. Only ':n' for seeking to a frame requires Enter to stop seeking.

Start editing by optionally launching Kino with a filename on the command line. Add additional clips using :r, :a, or :A. Then, edit using the vi commands.

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