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888Final Cut Pro User Guide
cutaway shot A shot that is related to the current subject and occurs in the same time
frame (for example, an interviewer’s reaction to what’s being said in an interview). Often,
a cutaway shot is used to eliminate an unwanted visual section of another shot. The audio
usually remains continuous during the cutaway, helping to make the edit less noticeable.
data rate The speed at which data can be transferred, often described in megabytes per
second (MB/sec.) or megabits per second (Mbps). The higher a video file’s data rate, the
higher quality it is, but the more system resources (processor speed, storage space, and
performance) it requires. Some codecs allow you to specify a maximum data rate for a
movie during capture.
decibel (dB) Unit of measurement for sound levels; a logarithmic scale used to describe
the loudness of sound as perceived by the human ear. (1 dB corresponds approximately to
the smallest volume change that the average human ear can perceive.) For digital audio,
dBFS is the standard decibel unit of sound level measurement.
destination A set of preconfigured export settings that you can use to share a project
or clip from Final Cut Pro. Destinations make it easy to export your movie for viewing on
Apple devices such as iPad and iPhone, add your movie to video-sharing websites, or burn
your movie to a disc. Final Cut Pro comes with a variety of destinations, and you can also
modify destinations and create new destinations. You add and modify destinations in the
Destinations pane of Final Cut Pro preferences.
Disk Utility An Apple app that performs disk-related tasks in macOS. It’s located in the
Utilities folder inside the Applications folder.
downmixing The process used to combine multiple audio channels into a single stereo (or
dual mono) pair. Also referred to as mixing down.
downstream Refers to clips to the right of the current clip in the timeline. When you
perform actions that ripple the project, downstream clips are affected; upstream clips are
not. See also ripple edit, upstream.
drop frame timecode NTSC timecode that skips ahead in time by two frame numbers each
minute, except every tenth minute, so that the timecode agrees with the actual elapsed
clock time. (Timecode numbers are skipped, but actual video frames are not skipped.) This
skipping corrects for NTSC’s actual frame rate of 29.97 fps, which causes non-drop frame
timecode to lag behind actual elapsed time by 3 seconds and 18 frames per hour. To avoid
confusion, drop frame timecode should be avoided in film-based productions. See also
non-drop frame timecode.
drop shadow An effect that creates an artificial shadow behind an image. Typically used
with graphics and text.
DV A standard-definition (SD) digital videotape recorder format that records an 8-bit,
5:1 compressed component video signal with 4:1:1 color sampling (PAL uses 4:2:0). DV
supports two tracks of audio with 16-bit, 48 kHz audio sampling, or four tracks of audio
with 12-bit, 32 kHz audio sampling.
DVCAM A standard-definition (SD) digital videotape recorder format that records an 8-bit,
5:1 compressed component video signal with 4:1:1 color sampling (PAL uses 4:2:0). DVCAM
supports two tracks of audio with 16-bit, 48 kHz audio sampling, or four tracks of audio
with 12-bit, 32 kHz audio sampling.