AVP EDITING INTRO 1

IT IS VERY

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

AND VERY, VERY

STRONGLY SUGGESTED

THAT YOU TAKES NOTES

AND PAY ATTENTION!

IT IS VERY

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

AND VERY, VERY

STRONGLY SUGGESTED

THAT YOU TAKES NOTES

AND PAY ATTENTION!

YOU WILL SEE

THIS MATERIAL

AGAIN!

YOU WILL SEE

THIS MATERIAL

AGAIN!

Because most of us watch so

much television and see so

many movies, we tend to have

fairly high standards when we

watch anything on video. We

now expect the following

features in almost everything

we watch…

1. A title at the beginning

2. A set of "shots" cut

together in a nice way to

tell a story

A shot is a specific subject

filmed from a specific angle.

For example, if you are telling the

story of a kid’s birthday party,

different shots from the event

might include…

a shot of the cake

a shot of the presents before they

are opened

a shot of the all the kids at the party

sitting at the table

a shot of the kid blowing out the

candles a shot of the kid unwrapping a

present

3. A fairly high number of

shots

If you watch any regular TV show, you

will see that it is rare for the camera

angle to stay the same for more that

10 or 15 seconds. The director will cut

between different angles to keep

things interesting or to make different

points.

For example, the screen might show a

man's face while he's talking for five

seconds, and then switch to a shot of

his hands holding a tissue (while the

sound track continues uninterrupted

with him talking) to show the emotion.

4. Interesting transitions

between the shots

For example, some shots might fade

into others, some might spin into

others, and some cut very simply from

one to another in a quick chain.

5. A decent soundtrack, often

involving narration and/or

background music

6. Perhaps static shots (like a

chart or graph) mixed in

with the normal video

7. Titles or legends on some

of the shots to identify

people, places and things

8. Slow motion or fast motion

to change the tempo

Even if you are trying to

present something as simple

as your family trip to the zoo, it

is nice to include as many of

these features as possible in

your rendition of it.

The more features you add,

the more professional your

work looks and the more

attractive it is to your

audience.

The trick is to make it look and

sound natural, to try to keep it

simple, to know when enough

is enough, and when less is

more.

So what exactly is editing?

Editing is commonly defined

as collecting, preparing, and

arranging materials for

publication.

It may also mean to revise or

correct and eliminate or omit.

Those definitions are just as

valid in the world of film and

video.

The term editing, when

talking about video or film is

often used in two slightly

different ways.

Sometimes it refers to the

process of selecting and

re-recording just the good

footage, eliminating the bad.

Sometimes the term is used

for the whole

post-production process,

including titling, effects, etc.

OK, so what is it?

Editing (in video or film) is the

process of collecting,

arranging, and bringing

materials together to tell a

story using pictures and

sounds.

The word materials should be

understood as video footage,

photographs, illustrations,

animations, title graphics,

sound, music, or anything else

you can incorporate into the

finished product.

For lack of a better word, you

can use the word show to

describe the finished product.

This is because when you're

done, the first thing you'll want

to do is show the results of your

hard work to someone else.

The ultimate goal of editing

is to tell stories.

Writers use words and

sentences to craft stories;

editors use pictures and

sounds.

Joining shots together is

fundamental to editing.

At its most basic video or

film editing is changing from

one picture or scene to

another.

In one of the oddities that

persists in the film and

video industry, the simplest

way to join two shots

together is to cut from one

shot to another.

It's called a cut because film

editors once had to cut and

splice together strands of

film to join two shots.

Why is it called a cut?

There are a number of different

ways to do video editing. You

can buy a complete solution

from a company like Avid or

Final Cut at the high end, and at

the low end you can use your

camera and a VCR to cut things

together.

You will see this material

again!

You will see this material

again!

LEARN IT!

KNOW IT!

LIVE IT!

LOVE IT!

LEARN IT!

KNOW IT!

LIVE IT!

LOVE IT!