How do YOU edit ?

Steve Grisetti wrote on 12/30/2004, 11:19 AM

Well, the first thing I would assume is that nobody in the world (except maybe the bride and groom) are going to sit through a 45 minute, continuous, non-stop video. In fact, I usually assume that, whatever I shoot, I'm only going to use about 1/6 of it. Maybe less.

The basic principle about video (C-SPAN excepted) is that it's ABOUT something -- not just a record of events.

An entire wedding can be condensed into about 5 or 6 minutes of good video. (That's why they're so truncated on TV shows.) Groom at the altar; Bride enters; Dad hads off Bride to Groom; Exchange vows; Light a candle; stomp on a glass and/or kiss; Presentation the couple; Run down the aisle. And, if you did a really great job of shooting the wedding, you've also got lots of cut-away reaction shots of the members of the wedding party, moms and dads, the little sister of the bride who's got a crush on the groom, etc.

I know that sounds awful unsentimental -- and you can save all the footage you cut for the Special Features section of your DVD if you'd like. But think about it: What good is a video if no one wants to sit through it? And, believe me, what you watch on video seems to take twice and long and move three times more slowly than it did when you were recording it.

So, rather than putting on your video on the timeline and then trying to think of what you want to cut, take some time to sit back with a pen and paper and write your "script." Just working from memory, sketch out the highlights and the beginning, middle and end. Work intuitively rather than by watching the video and trying to decide what goes and what stays.

Think about what the minimum is you need to tell The Story -- then ask yourself if trimming a little more will make it more interesting.

Don't think of your video as a precious record of the event that you have to preserve every moment of. Think of it as an exciting event, and your challenge is to convey what it looked like, felt like and sounded like to be there. Then pull only what you need to the timeline -- knowing that the rest will still be there, on your master tape, if anyone really wants to sit through every pause, every cough, every long-winded speech (that will seem much, much longer in your living room).

Be ruthless in your editing. Remember, people watch for stories, movement and defining key moments, not talking heads and long shots of people standing around.

Better to give them too little and have the asking for more than to give them too much and have them doze off before you even get to the vows.

ChristerTX wrote on 12/30/2004, 12:16 PM

Great suggestions!

wildbill001 wrote on 12/30/2004, 2:40 PM

Let me clarify ( I hope ). I'm looking for more "nuts-n-bolts" about how you edit. For example, take that 45min of video and place it on the timeline. Now what do you do? Which tool(s) do you use(and how do you use them) to remove the first 5 min of video that shows the floor? Which tooll(s) do you use to pull out the 2-3min of video where the rings are being placed on each hand so that you can move that to the front of the timeline? That sort of thing

What was suggested is great and indeed valuable information, but I've already gotten past that point. I'm struggling with how to get MS to do what I want.

Bill

gogiants wrote on 12/30/2004, 9:59 PM

For what it's worth, I tend to preview all my clips and rename them so that if I ever (read: this happens every time) have to come back to the clips months later then I know what I have to work with.

Once the actual editing starts then I tend to drop the clip on the timeline and then trim the clip, then put it in the rough position where it will go in the flow I have in my head. In your case, if you have one long clip, then you can drop the whole thing on and start splitting out the bad parts. If you haven't thought of this yet, just remember that you're not actually altering the underlying source media file. You can split, edit, delete, put multiple copies of the same file on the timeline, etc. and the actual file doesn't change. Plus, you have pretty much unlimited undo, so go crazy.

Might not help much for the wedding video scenario, but the best book I've seen out there is the "Little Digital Video Book" by Michael Rubin. Google or Amazon it and you'll find it. Lots of practical advice on logging tapes, working with timecodes, etc. Plus it has a very sensible approach to making short family videos; I found that most other books assume that you want to "make your own Hollywood movie" which of course is a joke!

Steve Grisetti wrote on 12/31/2004, 6:34 AM

And I still recommend deciding what footage to use first and then dragging that to the timeline rather than putting your footage on the timeline and then deciding what to cut away. From a psychological point of view, it just works better. Otherwise you tend to keep way too much.

Your best tool for this is your Trimmer. Right-click on your clip in the Media Pool and choose Open in Trimmer. Your clip will open in the Trimmer window where you can set in and out points and move only what you want to the timeline.

If that's too daunting (since you seem to have one VERY long clip), you may want to put the entire clip onthe timeline and highlight your "scenes" and Make Movie (Render selected portion only) as AVIs so that you've only got short clips to juggle around instead of one massive ham to slice.

Elmo27376 wrote on 12/31/2004, 7:59 AM

As I see your qieston it is this. "I have a 30 minute continuous video and I want to edit it. How do I go about getting it to a manageable condition to edit?"

In the Media Pool click Capture Video. In the Capture screen click Advanced Capture. (You will be doing a Batch Capture)

Click the Play icon or press the space bar to start the video.

Locate the beginning frame of the clip: Place the mouse cursor on the Shuttle button, (to the right of the transport controls) hold down the left button and move the button left or right to shuttle the tape backward or forward to find the beginning frame you want for the start of the clip.

Click on the Timecode Inicon to the right of the Timecode in box or press the i key.

Play the tape to the end of the clip, pause and click the Timecode Outicon to the right of the Timecode out box or press the o key.

Click the Log In/Out icon.

Repeat steps 3 through 7 for each clip.

When all the clips are logged click Batch Capture, just above the clip window. The Batch Capture list window will display.

Uncheck any clip you don’t want captured then click OK; the tape will rewind and capture will begin.

When the capture is complete the Capture Complete window will display; click Done.

I think this is what you are looking for and it really is a great help if you have a long continuous video because it breaks it up into wanted, managable clips.

If you want more complete info from the start let me know and I'll email the step by step instructions.

Ken

kdhodge@nc.rr.com

jimmyz wrote on 12/31/2004, 8:34 AM

Ken
That was the best description of batch capture I've seen. I had no idea what that was so my projects are always captured 100 percent to the hard drive.

Clarke wrote on 1/1/2005, 2:37 AM

I think it also helps with you got a Sony DV Camcorder (NOPE.. I am not advertising for Sony).

One thing GOOD or BAD about Sony is they try to offer an integrated package.
So I record using my DV camcorder and there ARE always breaks in between your recordings like needing to go the washroom etc...
The Video capture in VMS is able to detect those time breaks (when the time is not correct) and splits my files automatically.
So even when I download 30 minutes, I tend to end up with like 10 seperate files.

IanG wrote on 1/1/2005, 3:30 AM

That timecoding isn't specific to Sony cameras, they all do it.

>One thing GOOD or BAD about Sony is they try to offer an integrated package.

I'm sorry to be be picky about this, but for the benefit of anyone who's got a Sony handycam, and is thinking of buying MS, that's not realy true. As Chienworks pointed out a few days ago, the only connection between the companies producing Sony cameras and Sony software is the name.

Ian G.

MrSpeed wrote on 1/1/2005, 7:38 AM

Ifyou have a long clip you could drag it to the "text layer". You can then split the events and bring them down to the video and video overlay layes for the final move with transitions.

Remember to keep the master video in the text layer muted. When you're ready to do a final render either delete the 40 minute clip or render just a loop region.

I have the luxory now of capturing multiple 60 minute clips. Before that I would have to script it out and only capture the scenes I would be interested in.

Mr_Christopher wrote on 1/4/2005, 2:57 PM

Wild Bill, drop that 45 minute video on the time line and find the part you want to delete. Put the cursor at that point and hit the "s" key. That will split both the video and audio. Then highlight the portion you do not want and delete it. Then you'll need to move the rest of the video around on the timeline to adjust for the newly vacant area (the portion you just deleted).

If you deleted something from the middle of the video then just drag one piece to the other and overlap the two video pieces a bit so they will fade into one another, it makes a nice transition.

Also, the help files and instruction manual are more helpful than most I've seen.

If I can figure this out, anyone can :-) Though I had a "tutor" come and sit in fron of my computer for about an hour early on which helped greatly.

I think this is actually the most user friendly software there is (in this price range at least) yet it has so many features it can look a little intimdating at first.

ps. I do not use the media pool at all, what a hassle and a nightmare to navigate, at least for me that is. I open the folder in Windows Explorer that has the source files and drag and drop them directly to the time line. No more scrolling aroudn in that tiny little media pool window looking for files and what not. Once I figured that out I was off and running at full speed.

And I spent quite a bit of time expermimenting before I tried anything serious, just to get my feet wet and better learn how to edit and make transitions, etc.

Chris

wildbill001 wrote on 1/4/2005, 8:59 PM

Thanks forlks....This has been very helpful. I have tried just about all the techniques mentioned here (with the exception of the batch capture--I hope to try that this week).

The split command has become my friend 8-)
Selecting a time-range then rendering that loop only has made splitting up a long segment easier as well.

I have to say that I was a bit worried about my decision to purchase this software since I had not demo'd it. I went strictly by what I had read on this forum and others about the ease of use and power/features in Vegas. I couldn't quite justify the full pkg so I went with MS. It's looking like it was the best $100 I have spent on this journey so far.

Bill W