Editing Words & Getting The Professional Look

Kcharles wrote on 8/1/2010, 10:11 AM
look.

I am using Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9

There are alot of words in my short film that I would like to edit out. Which audio function should I use to silence out words?

Also, I was curious to know which video effects on Movie Studio 9 have the most impact on the professional look of a film. There are so many video effect that I cannot figure out which ones are essential to use. I know Color Correction is one of them. Which other video effects can enhance the overall professional look of my film?

Comments

Ken42 wrote on 8/1/2010, 11:13 AM
To silence words, insert an audio envelope. Right-click on the soundtrack name and select Insert/remove envelope. Check the volume envelope box.

This places a thick blue line in the centre of the track. It can be moved up and down to increase/decrease he volume

You then need to right-click the blue line to add a point. You will need to do this four times to edit out a word or phrase.

Move the points to the start and end of the phrase you want to silence. Drag the blue line between the central points downwards to the bottom of the track. You will see the number of decibels you are reducing the voulme by.

The two central points can be directly below the start and finish points.

You will need to expand the timeline to get the points in the correct place.

Video effects can be used to change the look of the film or to correct errors in shooting, or to match takes taken a few minutes apart in changing light. A 'Professional' look is a matter of opinion.

I find Colour Curves is an effective tool especially when backlight comes into play duing a shot - eg panning up a building.

Chienworks wrote on 8/1/2010, 11:20 AM
Some might even say that almost any effect will detract from a professional look.

All the effects modify the look of the video in different ways. What is necessary is to understand what each one does and when it is useful. Then you must determine what your video is lacking and choose the effect that will provide it. This will be different in almost every situation. There's certainly no "one size fits all" solution.
Kcharles wrote on 8/1/2010, 12:24 PM
Ken Thanks a million for the advice! You are right on point. I am already getting the hang of it. I will also try playing with the Color Curve, and see how that effect effects my film. Thanks again mate!
Ken42 wrote on 8/2/2010, 1:50 AM
I forgot to mention that you will end up with a 'gap' in the soundtrack. Usually there is some kind of background noise, not total silence, so the amended clip will sound strange.

To overcome this you need to extract some background noise from the clip in question (or a similar clip) and insert it into the gap. To do this, trim a copy of the clip to the required length, ungroup the audio, and then paste it into another audio track.



Chienworks wrote on 8/2/2010, 10:46 AM
If you go with route of pasting bits of background sound to fill in the gap, you can probably avoid using the audio envelope at all.

Find a section of background noise long enough to cover the longer words, highlight it, and copy it. Turn off auto-ripple. Find a word that needs to be replaced and paste the background noise you copied right on top of the same audio track. As long as the original track extends both backward and forward past the little bit you pasted, the little bit will replace what's underneath it. Trim the little bit to the right length. It will automatically have micro-fades at the beginning and end to help blend it it but you can adjust these if you need to. Keep pasting & trimming over each bad word. It's a lot faster than manipulating the envelope, and if you're already filling in with the background noise anyway it saves that step completely.
MSmart wrote on 8/2/2010, 4:06 PM
I do something similar to remove coughs from the plays I shoot. I always video two performances. I render the unused performance audio to a wave file and put it below the "good" track. I mark all the places that need fixing and find the appropriate section in the wave file. Split the wave file at the in/out points and just drag it up ontop of the "good" audio track where the cough is. Drag as needed to sync audio if the cough is where dialog is. Just don't forget to mute the wave file track before rendering the finished project.

Why is it that people have to cough right at the most important part of the scene? I just don't get it. And don't get me started about babies crying or children talking.
Kcharles wrote on 8/10/2010, 7:12 PM
I feel a bit overwhelmed by the editing processing. I really would like to enlist a dedicated editor in my area who knows VMS 9. I am having trouble finding someone in my area. Would you be interested at all? I would give you full credit. Please let me know.