In point
Also known as: in, start point
The frame a clip begins on in an edit, chosen so the shot starts where something is already happening rather than where recording started.
Updated
What it means
Every clip in a sequence has two decisions, where it starts and where it ends. The in point is the first one and it does most of the work. An out point corrects; an in point commits.
Recording and action rarely begin together. A Chest mount starts recording before the run, so the usable part of the file begins somewhere in the middle of it.
A good in point starts late. Entering a shot after the movement has begun pulls a viewer in, while entering before it makes them wait. Waiting is what gets skipped.
How it works in practice
The practical rule is cutting into movement. Cutting on action gives the in point an obvious location, and the join disappears because the eye is already following something.
Markers set while reviewing are faster than scrubbing. Markers on the candidate frames turn selection and trimming into two separate passes rather than one slow one through the whole card.
Audio can decide it. Starting a clip on an Impact hit or a beat rather than on a visual cue frequently lands better, because sound registers first. The ear is ahead of the eye.
What to watch out for
Generous in points are how edits get long. A second of approach on every clip adds up to a noticeably slower sequence, and the Edit length grows without anything being added.
Cutting too late loses the setup. A trick that arrives with no indication of what preceded it is unreadable, so the in point is the latest frame that still explains the shot rather than the earliest that looks tidy.
Stabilisation changes where it can be. Video stabilization needs frames to settle, so the opening moments of a clip are frequently unusable and the in point moves later by necessity.
How RawClip handles it
In and out points are chosen from the action inside each clip rather than from where recording began, so shots start close to the moment that matters. Approach and setup are trimmed automatically, which is most of what makes a result shorter than the material.