This article explains how scene boundaries impact visual and audio layers, how to add, move, and delete scene boundaries, and when to extend layers across a scene boundary. These actions are essential for video editing and adjusting your content in Descript.

What are scene boundaries?

Scene boundaries, represented by forward slashes / in your script, control when all visual layers in a scene appear, end, or change. Boundaries represent the starting point of a scene. As you edit your script and adjust your scenes and composition, Descript will trim your visuals so they remain within their scenes, so you won’t have to adjust individual elements.

Adding scene boundaries

From the Script Editor

You can place your cursor in your script where you want to add a new scene and type /.

From the timeline

Click anywhere in the timeline where you want to add a new scene and type /. you can also right-click near the time stamps, where a layer is not being displayed, then select Add scene at playhead.

Moving a scene boundary

Click and drag the / scene boundary in your script and move to its new location.

Deleting a Scene Boundary

Removing a scene boundary will delete any visual layers that are anchored to that specific scene boundary. This makes it easier to remove full scenes in most cases. Any layers that are not anchored to the scene boundary will remain in place and will be moved to the previous scene, extending to the next scene boundary. To delete a scene boundary:

1. Click on a scene boundary in your script.
2. Press Delete (Mac) or Backspace (Windows).

Extending layers beyond scene boundaries

In some situations, you will need to extend a layer across scene boundaries, such as having captions or music play across multiple scenes. You can learn more about extending layers over multiple scenes.