Archives for the 'Editing' Category
The Power of Editing
Anybody can push a few keys on a keyboard and edit footage. Not many can really edit, however. Editing is not simply gluing together shots in sequential order, laying down a music track and calling it finished. Editing is an art form that many take for granted. The edit is the most important part of a film. Sure, you wrote it and shot it and the footage looks wonderful, but that’s all you have — footage. Hours of shots are useless until they are edited together in a meaningful manner that will not only stay true to the original vision, but also affect the audience in a positive way.
There are many ways to edit a movie. Different styles and pacing provide the viewer with different feelings. It is very important that you, the filmmaker, know how you want to affect your audience and that you do so effectively through the pacing of the film. Below are various trailers for popular films that have been recut by fans. You will notice that the films you thought you knew suddenly become something completely different. All this is accomplished in the editing room.
More examples after the break.
Jump Cuts
As always, learn the rules before you learn to break them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jump_cut
Final Cut Pro keyboard shortcuts
Chances are if you’re in film school, you’re probably editing with Final Cut Pro. If you really want to master the program and save a lot of time, you should learn the keyboard shortcuts that are built into the program. Below is an example:
To download a pdf of all the shortcuts, click here.
Shoot for the Edit
A tip that I always pass along to my friends/aspiring film makers is to ’shoot for the edit’. What this basically means is that you should film as much footage as you can from as many different angles as you can and then let the magic happen when you edit the movie together.
For example, let’s use a home movie. How many times have you seen a very boring home video where it’s an hour of footage that could easily be edited down to 15 minutes? That person, unknowingly, shot for the edit — except they didn’t edit it. That hour long footage gives that person a ton of footage to choose from to put together a short, tight piece that will impress and interest more people than an hour of boring, two minute shots of a monument.
Also, make sure that one of your shots is a wide shot, that has the entire scene and actors in view. This wide shot will be then cut with mid-shots and closeups. And last but not least, remember to film a few seconds before the scene starts and a few seconds after the scene ends. These extra seconds give the editor extra footage to work with to make cuts better.
But remember, your footage is the most important. If your shots are garbage, no amount of editing will make them better. Garbage in, garbage out.
-
Search
-
