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Editing Advice
Film editors need to be creative, methodical and well organised, with an eye for detail. They must be reliable and responsible, tactful and patient, confident and motivated. Film editors often work under pressure to meet strict deadlines, so they need to be adaptable.
Skills & knowledge Film editors need to have: * editing skills and up-to-date knowledge of editing technology * technical skills, including skill using computer editing systems and equipment, and converting taped footage to disk * the ability to creatively use pictures and music to tell a story * skill in interpreting ideas * knowledge of the production process * knowledge of how to use special visual and sound effects * people and communication skills to work with clients, journalists, writers, producers and directors * good planning and organisational ability * problem-solving skills * basic maths skills. Organisation Before starting out make sure you have numbered all your tapes or clips individually. Make sure you use this exact information when capturiing your media. Making detailed logs of each clip, taking note of footage that is unusable due to camera focus, drop-out and sound errors will speed up the editing process. If you have been given detailed reports from the continuity person make notes in your logs, as the director on set will have stated which take he/she would prefer to go with in the rough assembly. Your Project/Film Think of your project window as a filing cabinet and the ‘Bins or folders’ are drawers within it, then each individual tape, clip, music, sfx are files within that drawer. Keep your ‘Bins or folders’ labeled correctly. These are where you will store your captured media. As a rule you should have a folders named rushes, sequences, sound fx, music, images, titles, and scenes (where you will have broken down your tapes into sub-clips.) Remember to continuously save your project whilst editing as although computers are more reliable these days they can still crash. Capturing/Digitisng your media. Capture all of the media. If a take has been marked as no good (NG) for performance there may actually be a moment, a glance, a reaction that may be useful when editing a scene. Watch the footage as you capture it, you can make notes, come up with ideas during this process. This is unless you are using media stored on a card or importing dpx files. (Digital Picture Exchange Files). The more familiar you are with your footage the easier it will be to the correct edit decisions. Back-up your media to a safety drive. Having to re-capture your media is a time consuming and costly process. It is best to have a safety drive in case of a drive malfunction so all you have to do is copy your media over at a fraction of the time and cost. Starting to edit The first stage of editing would be to create a rough assembly. This is so you can get an overall feel for your film. The rough cut is usually assembled whilst the production is still filming. At this stage you don’t need to worry about the fine tuning of your edits, though cutting out extraneous dialogue. The rough cut of scenes allows the editor with the director to decide whether a re-shoot of that scene is needed before the production ends. Making these decisions early can avoid costly re-shoots when you have to rehire the crew and equipment. When undecided about the exact frame to cut on, cut long rather than short. Whenever possible cut 'in movement'. Cut for proper values rather than proper 'matches.' Story Structure An old Hollywood saying has it that a film is created three times; when it's written, when it's shot and when it's edited. Having assembled your rough cut don’t be afraid to veer away from the original script structure if you and the director feel it will enhance the film. Often when editing a drama the films narrative order changes from the original script. If a scene weakens the films structure do not hesitate in removing it, if there is no information in it that is necessary for the plot and is making the film far too long cut it. How many times have you watched 'dvd extras' to find 6 or 7 scenes that have been removed from a film. Previewing your edit Make sure your preview handles are long as just because the cut is exact in a continuous motion and continuity does not mean it will be the right take to use as with regards to the story arc. An audience will be more distracted if they don’t believe the character in the scene than if there is a glass in a different position to the previous take. Watch the previous scene that leads into the current scene you are editing as this will keep you aware of the films rhythm. Pacing and Rhythm Tips In order to create the right tempo in your edit it can help to use a temporary music. If for instance you are editing a chase sequence you may choose a dramatic fast paced track to help with the rhythm of your edit. Classical music helps with more emotional, reflective scenes. Further Reading: • Murch, Walter (2001). In the Blink of an Eye: a Perspective on Film Editing. Silman-James Press. 2d rev. ed • Dmytryk, Edward (1984). On Film Editing: An Introduction to the Art of Film Construction. Focal Press. • Fairservice, Don (2001), Film Editing: History Theory and Practice, Manchester University Press. • Pearlman, Karen (2009), Cutting Rythms: shaping the film edit, Focal Press. • Dancyger, Ken (2007), The Technique of Film and Video Editing: History, Theory and Practice.. Focal Press Links to Editing Articles http://www.helium.com/items/555846-film-editing-tips-and-techniques-for-creating-a-compelling-story http://www.lavideofilmmaker.com/filmmaking/film-editing-tips.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/oneminutemovies/howto/edit.shtml http://www.howstuffworks.com/video-editing.htm Music and Sound FX Advice For an editor it is vital that he/she has access to a wide range of music and special fx to emphasise the mood and pacing of a film. When choosing music for your piece you have to take into consideration the costs involved. There are a number of royalty free music and sound fx libraries available but this does not mean that they are free to use on your production. Royalty-free means that you do not pay any royalties to the music or sound effect author when your video airs or is distributed. That's the general agreement. You pay a flat fee upfront for the rights to use their media. But the agreement when you make your purchase can vary between authors. If you don’t have the necessary funds to pay for music there are other ways you could go about finding the right music for your film. Get in touch with schools or colleges in your area that may be willing to let you use their music or indeed compose something specifically for your production just for the cost of a credit in your film. Ask other uScreen members by uploading your project to the website, you never know one of our members maybe able to help. Advertise your needs on ‘Shooting People,’ this is a website for a network of film-makers that may offer services for free if they like your project. Why not have a go at composing yourself. There are a number of different music software packages that allow you to create your own loops and scores and because you would be the composer you would have no rights to pay. Editing software such as ‘Final Cut Studio, Garageband,’ come with a selection of music and sfx that you can use for your film. Search the internet for free music but be sure to read the user agreement prior to downloading at that it has the correct licence agreement. Free mp3 music sites (please read the fine print as accreditation is required for the use of these tracks) http://incompetech.com/static/music/ Free music to download and use in your projects. All you need to do is credit the composer, although donations are suggested and highly appreciated. Read the Music FAQs. http://sonnyboo.com/music/music.htm Completely free pieces of instrumental music for independent filmmakers. There's reggae, jazz, blues, new age, drones, and more. All royalty free, meaning download and use it, there's no lawsuit if you do. All you have to do is credit the songwriter. http://mcs.franknora.com/ Hours of mp3 music tracks available that you can download, cut and use for free. No attribution required. http://www.publicdomain2ten.com A nice selection of old classics in public domain. http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/free-music.html All free music to use in your projects. You just need to provide a link back to their site or mention the website in your credits. 28 music tracks available.
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Post production SUBT-INV (clip)
Post production
