THE SHORT ANSWER
Here's the approach.
Keywords can describe whole clips or selected ranges. Applying one creates a Keyword Collection in the Libraries sidebar; that collection points to the tagged material, so you can find it without moving or duplicating the source footage.
Related tutorial.
Full tutorialThis is a supplemental tutorial. Its compatibility with Final Cut Pro 10.8 has not been confirmed. Use the written steps and version-specific sources for the controls.
By Ripple Training. YouTube oEmbed confirmed the title, creator and thumbnail. The software version shown in this video has not been verified. No watched-content review, answer timestamps, transcript, duration or upload date is asserted. Playback was not tested.
Step by step.
Final Cut Pro 10.8- 01
Choose the material
Select a range or one or more clips in the browser.
- 02
Apply the keyword
Open the keyword editor with Command-K. Enter a descriptive word or phrase and press Return. Repeat for additional keywords.
- 03
Find the tagged material
Select the matching Keyword Collection in the Libraries sidebar to show its clips and ranges.
- 04
Speed up repeated tagging
Expand Keyword Shortcuts in the editor, assign a phrase to a numbered field, and use Control plus that number from 1 through 9 on a new selection.
Sources & version notes
Written for Final Cut Pro 10.8. Menu names and available features can differ in other versions.
Version reference: Final Cut Pro 10.8Written answer checked against the linked official documentation for Final Cut Pro 10.8. Related videos have metadata verification only; they are supplemental resources, with no verified answer-specific timestamps or software-version compatibility assertion.