The Edit Session
The Edit Session: Putting It All Together
- Non-linear (film style) editing
- Non-linear editing is best for highly structured, short-format projects. When professionally done, tightly edited tapes of highlights usually take about one hour to edit 1 minute of the final segment. The more time you spend editing, the better your video can be, but don’t over do it
- Non-linear editing is like writing an essay with a computer
- Video segments called “clips” are digitized to a hard disk
- Any shot can be accessed instantly and at random and can be shortened, lengthened, juxtaposed, moved or removed
- Video and audio changes can easily be cut and pasted
- Rough Edit
- On this first pass, edit the original material by choosing the best clips. No transitions or audio mixing are added yet; the story structure is simply assembled in order to make sure the intended story comes through clearly
- Tight Edit
- Make a second pass adding transitions between scenes and a third pass cleaning up the sound and adding music, if any
- Before final mastering, add titles to identify people, places, and things; to help tell the story, or to give credit. Titles are rendered. Bars and tone can be added to the beginning for future reference
- Final Mastering
- The final step is to playback the program on the computer and record it onto your preferred medium (hard drive, Blu-Ray, DVD, MiniDV)
- Linear (traditional) editing
- Traditional, or linear, editing involves copying video and audio from tape to tape
- This process is like writing an essay with a typewriter: changes are difficult to make once edited
- It is necessary to move back and forth through hundreds of feet of tape to reach a shot
- It is necessary to make a copy of a shot in order to make a dissolve
- You must have a very clear idea of the exact order of shots and narration before the session begins to minimize the time required to complete the edit
- This process is best for longer format projects (over 30 minutes) which have little restructuring
- Basic assembly takes one hour per 1-3 minutes of final program, including graphics
- Labels
- Labeling is important in that it determines information that will be printed on media for future informational purposes
- Title
- Subtitle
- Department
- Producer/client
- Editor
- Length
- Audio instructions