Getting friendly with your Software



Year One: Week 3.4Editing BasicsKnow your way around your Editing SuiteA few lessons ago?you took your camera out for a test drive and got familiar with all the buttons, batteries, and menus.Hopefully, you now have some footage stored on whatever media your camera uses.What do you do with it?You can show your friends the footage you shot on the camera's built-in screen, but, unless you shot your story in order and all in one take for each shot, this will not be the way you ultimately exhibit your film to the public. You need to edit your footage.Editing involves only using the exact sections of your best takes of each shot and assembling them in the proper order.Video clips get combined with sound files, music files, titles, graphics, and special effects and then everything is exported into a final single movie file.All the steps in this process are what collectively is referred to as editing.The image below shows one type of software.Getting friendly with your SoftwareRegardless of what software you decide to use, or what you have available to you in a lab, you still need to be responsible for getting to know the ins and outs of how it works.Most video editing programs will have similar features, and those will be the ones we will look at for this lesson.Do not be intimidated by the interface when you first open the program.There is no rule that says you have to learn everything all at once, and there are usually several ways to accomplish the same task.Use the help menu, rather than just blindly clicking on tabs and buttons.There will usually be four significant windows to be aware of along with a variety of palettes.These windows provide a place for you to accomplish one of four main functions -A place to hold all your assets: movie clips, sound files, titles, and graphicsA place to trim a particular clip or sound file to the exact portion desiredA place to assemble the trimmed clips in the desired orderA place to view the entire film project from beginning to endDifferent packages will label these windows in different ways but the functions remain the same.Let's begin with the place where you manage all your assets, which is sometimes called the project window.If your program allows you to arrange your assets in folders or 'bins', do so.Find out how to rename an asset, and get in the habit of naming everything.As a crew, you should decide on a naming convention and stick with it religiously.An asset name like?scene007_master_take05?is far superior to?Clip01?or some other default name the program applies.A film project acquires many assets very quickly, and there are few things more frustrating for a video editor than to waste precious time tracking assets down.Name everything.Find out how to save your puters are fussy and have a tendency to crash at the most inopportune times - so Save Early, Save Often.Open your video editing program and find out how to capture video and import your other assets.?Try to bring in a sound clip, a movie clip, and a graphic.Quick TipLearn the shortcuts for major operations like save, undo, cut, copy, and paste.?These are almost always universal across a variety of programs, and not just for video editors.?Ctrl-S or (Command-S on a Mac) to saveCtrl-X?to cutCtrl-C to copyCtrl-V to pasteand Ctrl-Z to undo?These should be so automatic you no longer need to even think about them.?Clicking on the Edit Menu and selecting an option from a pull-down menu takes extra seconds.Now you can work with a particular asset like a movie clip or a sound file and trim it down to the exact bit you want.You are working with a particular source file and telling the program exactly which section to use, without destroying the source file itself.This is the essence of non-destructive editing, the ability to reference a piece of an original file without destroying it in the process.Most programs will allow you to scrub through your footage and will display a video player for a video clip, or a waveform for a sound clip.Once you know which section you want to use, set the in and out points, which tells the computer to ignore all the other parts for now.Sub-plotWhen working with film, an editor literally cuts the film itself.?If they discover?later on that they made a mistake, the damage is done.?Non-destructive editing is a lot safer.Jump-cutGo ahead and drag an asset into your source window.?Find out how to set an in and an out point.The timeline window is where the magic happens.Clips and other assets are assembled in their proper sequence.They can be ordered and re-ordered as often as desired, which allows for huge flexibility and experimentation.This is the essence of non-linear editing, the ability to constantly change the order in which assets are played.Sub-plotIn the early days of video editing when 2 (or more) tape decks had to be wired together, the final film had to be edited in order.?The tape with the desired clip was put in the source deck, rewound to the desired position, and then played.?The other deck recorded from the source clip.?This was known as linear editing.?One mistake and the editor pretty much had to start over.?Be grateful you edit in the digital age.The desired piece of the source clip, as defined by the set in and out points, is dragged out of the source window and dropped into the timeline wherever the editor sees fit.Repeat this process over and over again and you have now accomplished what the majority of your editing time will be: asset to source window, set in point, set out point, drag to timeline.Repeat this process over and over again and you have now accomplished what the majority of your editing time will be: asset to source window, set in point, set out point, drag to timeline.Jump CutGive it a go.?Assemble several different pieces of clips and other assets in your timeline until you feel comfortable with the process.If your editing program is capable, you might notice there are multiple tracks for video and audio.There are two rules to keep in mind with using multiple tracks - video tracks stack and audio tracks mix. What does that mean?If an asset is in a video track that is above an asset in a lower track, the higher one will block out the one below it, unless it has a transparency ( sometimes known as opacity, or alpha channel ) set on it.An example of an asset with a transparency on it would be title, which blocks out ( or is superimposed ) over the footage beneath it, but is otherwise transparent wherever there are no words.Sound clips, on the other hand, mix together. One sound clip does not block out another one, but instead plays at the same time, all jumbled together.Making that jumble sound pleasing and interesting is what is known as sound mixing.Assessment AdviceOften an editor on an IB Film project will edit video and audio simultaneously, but this is not necessarily the case.An editor could edit just the video, while the sound designer mixes the audio tracks.Try out both to see which one might better fit your artistic sensibility.There is not much to this one.It is simply a place where you can see your finished edit in action.Hit that play button and watch the magic unfold. There is slightly more to it than this, but at its most basic, this is simply a video player.And there you have the basics of editing video.There are, of course, all sorts of fancy techniques to learn, but this will get you started.Have fun and do not be afraid to dig around in the help menu or other online tutorial sites to learn more if you need to. ?that is what they are there for!For now, we will hold off here and save other tips and tricks for future lessons.Non Linear (Digital) EditingReview the following tutorial to get an idea on how this important process works.Review -?Non Linear ( Digital ) EditingHello, my name is...In the first unit you were introduced to Pamoja's Essential Skills.This lesson we will employ communication skills by introducing yourself with a ten second video creation.With your editing software create a title slide with your first name, a medium shot of you, and your voice saying -"Hello, my name is ...".And tell us who you are, where you live, and what you love about film, what role you would love to play in it, that sort of thing - but only about 10 seconds worth.This is a good opportunity to experience what a time limit is like.Upload your video to your YouTube channel, and paste in?the video's URL link to this Discussion.Also, place this video in your film website portfolio under the Production page. ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download