(In reply to Ralph from comment #0)
> This has the effect of pausing the playback of the clip and allowing
> effects to be made to the paused video.
I don't understand this "feature"
 
> At present it requires several steps to do, the most difficult being to
> actually navigate to the first or last frame of a clip in the timeline and
> extract it, without the effects of surrounding video tracks.
You can use ALT+left or right arrow key to jump to the next item (clip edge, cut, marker, etc.) or HOME and END to jump to the start or end of the selected clip.
 
> A single right click -> extract first/last frame to project would be
> amazingly helpful.
It might be for you but not necessarily for many others ;-)

Let's see whether there are others supporting this feature.

(In reply to Bernd from comment #1)
> (In reply to Ralph from comment #0)
> > This has the effect of pausing the playback of the clip and allowing
> > effects to be made to the paused video.
> I don't understand this "feature"

Let's say you want a grid of images in the output video, and the images are still, but then you apply an effect to each one in turn to enlarge it to full screen, and once it is full screen it starts playing (i.e. the timeline switches from the static captured first frame of the input video to the input video itself). When the fullscreen input video has finished playing, it switches to the last frame of the input video being displayed fullscreen which is of course static, and at this point the fullscreen image can be minimised back to its place in the grid.

Would a test project help? If so, are there are a couple of demo video clips that come bundled with kdenlive that I could use?

> You can use ALT+left or right arrow key to jump to the next item (clip edge,
> cut, marker, etc.) or HOME and END to jump to the start or end of the
> selected clip.

Thanks, I didn't know this.

Just to elaborate, if the clip that you wish to extract the frame from is one of several video tracks and transitions that you already have in place, extracting the original frame without any effects or side-effects of other video tracks is hard because you must:

1) Disable effects on the clip in question.
2) Disable all other video tracks that affect the visuals of the clip in question.
3) Move to the start and end of the clip and extract-frame-to-project.
4) Drag and drop the extracted frame to the start or end of the clip.
5) Re-enable all other video tracks and effects.

If would be nice to do this all in one go with a right click -> "extract first/last frame to timeline" option. 

As you say, if it's just me that needs it either I should program it and put in a push request or you should ignore me. :-(

(In reply to Ralph from comment #3)
> Let's say you want a grid of images in the output video, and the images are still,
> but then you apply an effect to each one in turn to enlarge it to full screen, and
> once it is full screen it starts playing (i.e. the timeline switches from the static
> captured first frame of the input video to the input video itself). When the fullscreen
> input video has finished playing, it switches to the last frame of the input video
> being displayed fullscreen which is of course static, and at this point the fullscreen
> image can be minimised back to its place in the grid.
Ok, thanks for the explanation. Now I know exactly what you want to achieve.

> Just to elaborate, if the clip that you wish to extract the frame from is
> one of several video tracks and transitions that you already have in place,
> extracting the original frame without any effects or side-effects of other
> video tracks is hard because you must:
> 
> 1) Disable effects on the clip in question.
> 2) Disable all other video tracks that affect the visuals of the clip in
> question.
> 3) Move to the start and end of the clip and extract-frame-to-project.
> 4) Drag and drop the extracted frame to the start or end of the clip.
> 5) Re-enable all other video tracks and effects.
No-one said video editing is easy or can be done with just a few clicks of a button ;-)
That's why you don't just start by adding a few clips, dragging them to the timeline, and playing around with effects and transitions. There is a script or an idea in your head that you need to execute in any video editor in order to get to the goal in the most effective and efficient way. And effects are normally applied at a later stage of the editing process. It's like putting wallpaper up or painting the baseboards, but you need the frame and the drywall and boards first.
 
> If would be nice to do this all in one go with a right click -> "extract
> first/last frame to timeline" option. 
I agree this would be a time saver for you and perhaps a few others. But how do you treat the different objectives users may have? Some want just the frame of the original clip w/o any effects or compositions, others want the frame as it is displayed in the project monitor, others want the frame with the effects but w/o overlays, and so on. In order to cover any possible scenario we would need an elaborate UI that is probably too expensive to develop.

> As you say, if it's just me that needs it either I should program it and put
> in a push request or you should ignore me. :-(
If you can code, you can scratch that itch of yours and make a proposal. That's pretty much how FOSS works. Of course, you could also donate a large enough sum to have this contracted out ;-)

And this is not about ignoring you. Feature requests like this have resulted in great features that were added over time. Perhaps not as quickly as the OP has wished for but they made it into the software. Again, thanks for your suggestion. Let's see what comes of it.