Editing Hints?

Kimberly wrote on 10/15/2010, 7:21 AM

Hello All:

First some background:
I make vacation videos six months of the year and offer them for sale to my guests. My videos are okay and my sales are good, but I am always wanting to make a better product for my guests and for my personal satisfaction.

Now the question:
I'll ask this question, but I already have the feeling there is no easy answer.

Other than film school or OJT, where does a video enthusiast learn editing and camera skills? I've found some good ideas on YouTube. I've looked at books on indy film making that were far over my head. I have the DSE book and video on SVMS which is an excellent resource on how to use Vegas. Yet I feel like I'm missing something.

I realize that TV and feature film level camera work and editing is a profession, and you just don't read a book or go to a seminar and, voila, you too can make great videos.

Maybe this is a dumb question because I am hoping to condense years of training and experience into a few classes or books? Nevertheless I am hoping for any tips, books, tutorials, seminars, etc. that will give me some creative and technical ideas to improve my product.

Thanks for reading!

Kim

Comments

richard-amirault wrote on 10/15/2010, 11:13 AM

Well, I'm certainly not a "professional" .. but .. I think for us to answer how you can improve .. we need to know/see where you are now.

Can you post a sample video so we can see what you are doing?

Kimberly wrote on 10/15/2010, 7:16 PM

Good point on seeing a sample. Here is my old shark video on YouTube:

This video is a little unusual in that there are no people in it. In this particular video I was having housing problems so no zoom or any other functions, althought I don't use zoom much anyway.

Generally my videos go like this:

Fade up from black.
Display Name of Site
Give credit on Music
Mute all audio and play music.
Crossfade from clip to clip.
Show people seeing and doing stuff for about 3 minutes.
Fade to black.

So I make about 8 of these segments and stick 'em together with an intro and finale piece and use DVD-A to make a DVD.

The overall product ranges from okay to good to very good depending on water and what kind of action I get. But feel like the video is a bit blah and amateurish and I would like to improve.

gogiants wrote on 10/18/2010, 11:25 PM

OK, total amateur commenting here, but just some quick thoughts on gut reaction to the shark video...

- Footage looked good and compelling... interesting shots
- Might consider making the cuts and segments shorter.. for instance, the intro shot was held for too long for me to hold interest
- The footage of the sharks eating was the most gripping... maybe find ways to do quick cuts between different angles or segments on that, and generally making that more of the focus in terms of time allotment
- Maybe use some synch between the music and the action on the screen to hold interest, e.g. time cuts between shots to the music

Just a few quick thoughts!

Kimberly wrote on 10/19/2010, 6:53 AM

Thanks GoGiants,

So maybe an element of "instant reply" on the most gripping parts, sort of like they do in football when they show the same shot but with different treatment? In my case I have just one camera, but I could add a slow-mo with a Ken Burns effect when the shark is chomping down in the face of the camera?

And yes, I agree I need to make certain shots shorter. I've always leaned toward longer shots because I didn't want to be one of those amatuers who shows each shot for 1 second before flitting off to the next shot, but now I think I've gone overboard in the other direction.

I've been trying to pay more attention to TV to try to get some ideas on camera angles. My set-up is very plain and low budget, but you gotta work with what you have!

Thanks again for the ideas.

Kim

gogiants wrote on 10/19/2010, 9:41 AM

On the "instant replay" idea, one idea is to cut up the clips and don't necessarily show them in chronological order... that way you are cutting to different sections of the clip, and the viewer is a bit more engaged than they would be with the clip just running for 20-30 seconds.

The video really is pretty good, and you're lucky to have good subject matter!

One book I can highly recommend is "The Little Digital Video Book" by Michael Rubin. Some of it is outdated (unless you're using a Mini-DV tape camcorder) but the book is well worth it for one thing: roughly half of the book covers how to make good short videos with a mix of shots just using one camera. I think you'd find it really useful!

Kimberly wrote on 10/19/2010, 7:37 PM

Thanks GoGiants!

I just ordered the book at B&N (along with Access 2007 so I could get the free shipping).

I love any tips or books I can get as it usually leads to an improvement in my product.

Regards,

Kim