Intermediate

40 mins

Teacher/Student led

+70 XP

What you need:
Chromebook/Laptop/PC
Clipchamp account (Microsoft or Google)

Editing Video with Clipchamp, Part 1: Import, Sequence and Trim

Students import three clips into Clipchamp, stack them on separate tracks and trim each to a set length, ending with a saved project that plays in order.

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1 Start
2 Timelines and Tracks
3 Hands-on: Import and Place Your Media
4 Hands-on: Trim to Length and Save
5 Make Sense
6 What You Covered

1 - Start ~4 mins

Illustration for Start Play the class two versions of the same three clips, cut in a different order. Ask what each version says happened.

Same footage, nothing added. The order did all the work.

Today you build the sequence. Next lesson you finish it and re-cut it to see the effect for yourself.

The clips for this lesson

Download all three before you start. Each opens in a new tab; use the download control in the player to save it.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+5 XP

2 - Timelines and Tracks ~5 mins

Illustration for Timelines and tracks A video editor shows your footage as a timeline: a strip running left to right, where left is the start and right is the end.

Word	What it means
Clip	One piece of footage or sound sitting on the timeline.
Track	One row of the timeline. Stacked rows play at the same time, which is how an overlay or a soundtrack works.
Trim	Making a clip shorter by dragging its edge in.
Playhead	The vertical line showing which moment you are looking at.

Why more than one track

Keeping the base video, the overlay and the sound on separate rows means you can change one without disturbing the others. That is the whole reason editors stack them.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+10 XP

3 - Hands-on: Import and Place Your Media ~13 mins

Open Clipchamp and sign in, then build the stack: base video, overlay above it, sound below.

+15 XP

4 - Hands-on: Trim to Length and Save ~13 mins

Now cut each clip to the length it needs. Drag the edge of a clip inwards to trim it; the timecode shows the length as you drag.

Clip	Trim to
Ring of Fire (base video)	6 seconds
Computerised Globe (overlay)	4 seconds
Special effects music	6 seconds, matching the base video

+15 XP

5 - Make Sense ~3 mins

You have a sequence: three pieces of media, stacked on separate tracks, each cut to a deliberate length.

Key point

Nothing here was invented. Every decision was about what to keep, how long to keep it, and what sits on top of what. That is editing.

What would change if the globe ran the full six seconds instead of four?

+10 XP

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