cinemasetfreeCuts, versions and export
A cut is a scene, its clips in order, and the settings the sequence conforms to. Versions branch from a parent, so history is a tree rather than a stack.
What a cut holds
| Setting | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Scene | The scene this cut assembles. One scene per cut. |
| Version | Which iteration. Increments as you save. |
| Name | Yours: “tighter open”, “without the insert”. Worth using once there are more than two. |
| Status | Draft, or finished. |
| Parent cut | The version this branched from, so history is a tree rather than a stack. |
| Frame rate | Stored as an exact fraction. What the exported sequence is set to. |
| Resolution | The sequence’s width and height. |
| Start timecode | Where the sequence starts. Conventionally 01:00:00:00 rather than zero, which is what most conform tools expect. |
| Drop frame | Whether timecode is drop-frame. Matters at 29.97 and 59.94. |
| Notes | What you were trying in this version. |
Getting out
Premiere exports an FCP7 XML (xmeml) project; Final Cut exports FCPXML. Both carry the cut itself: the clips, in order, with their timings and their source timecode. The assembly opens in the application as a real sequence rather than a bin of files.
That source timecode, and the reel aliases on each take, are what let the receiving application relink to the camera originals. It’s the reason those fields exist on a take.
For a wider set of formats (Avid AAF and ALE, CMX3600 EDL, OpenTimelineIO, and a lossless native bundle) see CinemaCutter’s interchange.