Learning the Art of Video Editing Posted on March 24th
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video editing has two parts: mechanical and cerebreral. learning the mechanical part is easy. like any other program these are the keyboard commands and gestures that you are required to know to use it. in the case of video it’s a requirement to know these commands so that can works as fast as possible. almost all of these key commands are left overs from ancient video tape editors like AVID or Grass Valley. once an editor learned a system like these they insisted that every thing that came afterward use those commands exactly like they worked on the older systems.
you can learn the mechanical by taking a class or reading books and manuals. but we’ve found the best way to learn is to just use the NLE. don’t be daunted by the insane interface and the thousands of keyboard commands. eventually it will look like it makes sense. and don’t try to learn all the command keys all at once. instead learn them over time so you will pick up things that work for you. here’s four keys you need to know to start things off: ABMN. A is the pointer, B is the Razor, M adds a marker, N is turns Snapping on and off.
one thing to note is that the editor you ultimately decide to use really doesn’t matter. why? because the act of editing isn’t defined by the tool. it doesn’t matter if it’s an AVID running on Windows or a Final Cut Pro on an Octo Mac. the tool is not the editor because editing is defined by you. I’ve found that my style has been consistent across 6 different editors that I’ve used in my career as an editor.
a better way to think about editing is that it’s really just messing with Time and Space. and that’s why it can be so hard to learn. here’s a foundation of story telling: every story has a beginning, middle and end. but with your NLE the middle could be the beginning and the end might come abruptly.
video is has lots of parts that make up the total story. you can think of it as just sound and video. but sound is more than just sound. it’s emotion made from voice, music, foley and effects. a visual story just pasted on top of sound won’t work because our eyes are tricked by our ears to want to see things around a beats of the sound.
learning the art of this will take time. there is so much to learn.
here’s four books that we like:
The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film
In the Blink of an Eye Revised 2nd Edition
Apple Pro Training Series: The Craft of Editing with Final Cut Pro
Rebel without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player
here’s four movies that we like because you can learn from the Director commentary:
Robert Rodriguez Mexico Trilogy (El Mariachi / Desperado / Once Upon A Time In Mexico)
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (Widescreen Edition)
Saving Private Ryan (Special Limited Edition)
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As primarily an Avid editor I almost didn’t listen once I read Avid described as “old tape editors” but am glad I did. But really, what you use doesn’t matter and I’m glad you stuck by that point to talk about the craft. By the way, Composer has a free 30 day trial and has come on in leaps and bounds IMO, I went back to Avid from FCP because it was feeling bloated to me too.
I’ve found with editing certain types of film (animated, documentary come to mind right away) that between that mechanical and cerebral thing you have to have a really dilligent organizational sense. You’re the person the director sits with for many hours with their beloved project and they need to trust your eyes, ears and ability to find that footage, pronto.
A good thing to do to get mechanics and organizing down at an early stage in one’s career is to do some corporate work, weddings, and assist anyone you can in a variety of post houses. Go to the TV stations, go to the low-fi places and see how they get by on no budget. Offer to log and organize tapes at a low-end place, they’ll adore you.
I learned a lot from Kieslowski’s films, the commentary on the Three Colours box set is probably more advanced but fascinating.
Commented paul on March 25th, 2010.in no way did the “ancient tape editor” mean to conjure a which is better conversation. all of us are proponents of “use the correct tool for the job.” there are times when After Effects just doesn’t cut it and it’s Motion that saves the day. or if you are doing multi-camera Final Cut Pro will do it but there are better tools for doing this kind of edit.
thanks for reminding about going to low-budget and TV stations. I learned a ton doing the odd job in the truck on location. there’s nothing like L-I-V-E as an incentive to making sure you get it right. there’s no rewind for time! it’s a tough gig to get or the cool jobs are anyway. but sign up to roll cables, move tripods, watch gear then one day somebody will get sick and you’ll have a new job running a camera, mixing sound or the hardest job which is cueing instant replay!
info about Three Colors.
Commented Know Tech on March 25th, 2010.Excellent show. I should mention I am low income (Permanent Disability in Canada), so all I have is FCE4, Canon HF s10 (well my moms). I would love to somehow generate cash to buy FInal Cut Studio 4 in summer 2011. I am also legally blind and have excellent hearing due to my vision problem. I would post a video I did to music last Christmas, but you know copyrighted music (family use only). 14 years on the Mac and trying to build a Mac Phone Support business which also offers support via screensharig http://www.macphonesupport.net . I think I will write up a blog entry about all of this at my website.
Thanks again John for an excellent show (I triple played with 3 episodes before bed last night). Now what can I use my Beige G3 266mhz for……Yes I am serious.
Commented Trevor Harrison on March 25th, 2010.Another tip I still use to this day: every week write a shortcut on a post-it and stick it under your monitor. When beginning start at 5-7 post-its a week, I’m at 1-2 and have been cutting for around 10 years. By the end of the week make sure you use and have the shortcut down so you can take it down next week. Plus clients are impressed by post-its.
If you’re running low on what to do just try mapping something to a new shortcut that might be more efficient, or move a few of your custom shortcuts around.
Didn’t mean to sound too cheesed about the “ancient tape editors like Avid” comment, I just was preparing for a ‘which tool is best’ which is a boring monotonous conversation done to death. I’ve seen guys tear it up in Sony Vegas, at this point it doesn’t matter as long as you don’t get too stuck on one NLE.
Would love to hear a show on how to deal with clients. ‘Know when to be spineless and when to not be’ comes to mind.
Commented paul on March 26th, 2010.post it notes are a really good way to burn in learning using a cue.
Commented Know Tech on March 26th, 2010.I hope you guys get the ol’ Amazon kickbacks if the links are used? Ordered one of the books from the link just to be sure.
Commented paul on May 1st, 2010.