Editing Lesson

Editing Sequences

During last week's camera lesson we filmed a sequence using various camera angles. In today's lesson we edited those sequences and learned about the editing process and the rules/tips relating to editing. We used the editing programme Premiere Pro CC to edit our sequences.

There are many rules that you must take into consideration when editing. One of them is that you should always mean every click. This is a very important concept as once you click the mouse you have made a conscious decision which sometimes is irreversible and so you must make sure that you are constantly focusing and you are aware of what you are doing. This concept can also be used when selecting footage to watch back. When the footage is listed under the heading of a  particular bin, in order to select the clip you must click on the icon by the name of the clip. If you click on the name or on the grey space next to the icon then the computer will assume that you want to import more footage. So you must always be very specific as to where you want to click and what you want to select.

Another rule that you must take into consideration is that you should always make duplicates of your shots so that if any of your shots were lost or accidentally deleted them you have back ups of all of the shots- this can save you a lot of time in the long run. Another very important rule is that you should constantly be saving your work to ensure nothing is lost or accidentally deleted. Saving your work will again ensure that all of your footage is safe and not at risk of being lost.

Another tip that we were given in the editing lesson is that when you duplicate your shots you should always work and make changes to the duplicated version not the original versions so that if you wanted to go back to the original shot then you have a copy of it which has not been edited at all. We were also told about how to make a log file which is a separate file for the duplicated versions of the clips which have been edited so that you can keep them separate from the original clips.

After learning the rules of editing we proceeded and began editing our sequences. We were shown how to create a new file, which is called a bin in the editing process and after creating a new bin, we watched back all of the clips to remind ourselves of the various clips that we had filmed. Following on from this we began coming up with ideas as to how to edit them together to create a sequence and in which order we would want the clips to appear.

We were told that you should always ensure that your first clip starts just as the action of the scene occurs. You don't want to waste time with an empty scene and wait a few seconds before the action happens. The action should always start was soon as the audience press 'play'. We had to watch the first clip multiple times to ensure that we had got this step correct.

We were then told about cutting and how to cut down the clip and create a sequence of clips. We watched each clip individually and then we had to decide when we wanted to cut it so that it would fit in with the other clips and look synchronised. Once we had found the start point of our clip we  pressed the 'i' button on the keyboard and then once we had established where we wanted the end of the clip to be we pressed the 'o' button on the keyboard. This cut the clip and allowed us to use just the bits that we wanted. We also had to ensure that the start of one of the clips would match up with the end of the previous clip. We then had to click on the screen showing the video clip that we had just cut and drag it down into the video and audio box with the bars of footage.

 

One of the other things we were told about was how you should always put your first clip in the middle of the video and audio box and then layer the other clips around that one so that it looks like layered bars of footage. Another thing to bear in mind is that you should alway ensure that you first clip starts at 00:00 so that there is no delay before the footage starts playing and you do this by lining up the bar of footage with the time frame given at the top.

At first I was quite nervous about the editing process as it all seemed a bit daunting. But then our teacher told us how if we didn't try to use the computer and get to grips with the editing process then we would never overcome that fear and it would hold us back. So I decided that I would just have a go with editing and try to understand how it works. In the end it was actually not as intimidating and difficult as it appeared and so I was really pleased that I had done it and that I had successfully edited my first sequence. I am looking forward to being shown how to put effects onto the footage such as adjusting the colours. I'm also looking forward to being shown how make my sequences look more professional.