multicam editing goes ALL black... not just the angles

I have looked around at forums enough to know that my issue is not a misunderstanding of angle start times. I get that the start times differ so some of the angles will be black at first. My issue is quite different. One possibility might be a slight misunderstanding of how the editing process works. First let me explain how I think everything is supposed to work:

1) As I understand it, I take multiple clips of the same event and combine them into a new multicam clip. I am using audio to sync.

2) Then I have a multicam clip that I can customize the levels on and tweak to my heart's desire. However, as I understand it, the multicam clip is not where the selection of angles that will be seen in the final rendering is made. That takes place in a project.

3) Create a new project or select a preexisting one. Once I do this I drag the multicam clip into the project. I get all of my settings just right to show the different angles and the audio and what not... and then the problem arises.

4) All black in the editing window. Now the angles are viewable when I go back to the clip, but in the project it looks wrong. I don't have the ability to choose audio or angles at all. Here is what it looks like:

As you can see on the left, I have the project selected. On the timeline everything looks exactly the same way every tutorial looks. But I can not seem to find the editing thumbnail feature. There are event the green and blue miniature thumbnails at the bottom of the multicam window.

But when I select the multicam clip in the library (as I have done below) everything looks fine:

In the above screenshot I have the multicam clip selected in the library. I am not able to cut clips and edit for the rendering. All I can do is play with levels and coloring and such.

At first I thought this was because I had a large project I was trying to edit, and maybe it was bogging down the whole program. But then I made this very small and simple project, and I am getting the same results. I am sure there is some little button or setting somewhere that I am unable to locate, but I haven't a clue where to find it. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!