Abstract: A video composition apparatus and method select segments from image source material stored on at least one storage media and denote serially connected sequences of the segments to thereby form a composition sequence. The apparatus and method employ pictorial labels associated with each segment for ease of manipulating the segments to form the composition sequence. The labels are displayed on an ordered spatial array of display monitors to simulate the temporal relationship between the segments in what is typically a "snapshot" non-temporal display. The composition control function is highly user interactive and responds to user commands for selectively displaying segments from the source material on a pictorial display.