Creating Titles/Graphics At Any Duration Longer Than 2 Minutes

Moviola's Resource Center: 

  Tips, Tutorials, Articles & More »

When you import graphics, create titles or use other generators from within Final Cut, you may have noticed that by default, these items are limited to a two minute duration. No matter how you try and extend an in or out point, you seem to be limited to this duration. Once the title/graphic is in the Timeline, there appears to be no way to extend it longer if desired.

If we need a "bug" logo to go over a two hour program, or need a title roll for three minutes, then we can use a little trick to make these items any duration you need- up to twelve hours in length!

1. Open an imported graphic or FCP generator into the Viewer.

2. Before adding the element into the Timeline, we'll need to create longer "handles" first. Click into the Duration field an type in a number above two minutes.

In the next screen shot, notice how the Duration field and the scrubber bar now shows the new longer duration (in this case, a duration of two hours was entered).

Even if you're unsure of the actual duration you'll end up needing, start by typing in a long duration to give you the extra handles. Then modify the duration or change the in and out points to something smaller to start. In the following screen shot, the title was created with a longer duration, then shortened (in this case to three minutes).

Notice that the additional handles that were added are still there, and once the clip is added to the sequence, the clip can always be extended out to the originally extended length.

The important thing about creating these longer handles is to type in the longer duration before adding the clip to the sequence.

Also, in the previous screen shot, the shorter duration was created by just typing in a new number into the duration field. This results in FCP changing the out point. So although you have a lot of handles on the end of the clip, the beginning of the generator has no handles. If you later need to extend the head of the shot in the sequence, you won't have any handles. Instead, to shorten the clip, giving you handles on both sides, set an in point later in the clip manually. Then type in a shorter duration into the Duration field or enter a new out point manually.