Moving Image Education

where to start

First of all, make sure you have familiarised yourself with the clips in your browser. It may take a little while to figure out in which clip the individual bits of footage landed as you brought them into the computer. Careful naming of your clips when you first import them will help tremendously. Keep a notebook and jot down anything that helps with this organisation. Make a plan of your edit on paper too.

Basic editing, or ‘assembling’, is just like copying, pasting and editing a document. There are two ways to start and it can depend on what type of program you are using. One is to mark the part of your source clip that you want to use and paste it into the timeline. The other is to select the whole clip and cut it down in the timeline. Both ways will result with in a sequence, a compilation of source clips.

insert & overlay

The main tools you will use for assembling INSERT and OVERLAY. These are separate buttons that place the clip you have selected at the playhead. INSERT makes a space for the new clip, pushing everything else along. OVERLAY deletes whatever is already on the timeline underneath the new clip.

in & out points

You first want to choose the part of the clip you are going to use. This is done using IN and OUT points. Watch your clip before you put it onto the timeline. Find the exact frame where the action starts (i.e. the bit just after the actor has started walking but before he reaches the banana peel) and make that your IN point. Next find the exact frame where the action ends (i.e. just after the actor has hit the ground) and make that your OUT point.

Then choose the place you want this action to go in your movie.

browser differences

In more advanced programs, the clips remain untouched in your browser, even if you take them onto the timeline, cut them up or delete them. You can always go back to the original.

In simple programs like iMovie, dragging clips to your timeline removes them from your shelf so you know they've been used. If you want to use the same clip twice you must duplicate it, or remember to do a function key drag.

Understanding some of the established rules when creating a sequence will help the flow of your sequence. But remember that breaking these rules can have impact, the same as unconventional framing or a strange sound. But use these techniques sparingly and only if fitting with the overall style of the film

Whenever you are making significant changes make a copy of your sequence. That way you can always go back to a preferred version.

Put your clips in a general order in the sequence. This might be dictated by a storyboard or a shot list. Don’t worry about editing in scene or story order, you can often get stuck in one place this way. Give each scene the chance to work on it’s own. It’s amazing how weaker scenes in the script or on the shoot can become much more powerful when given the chance at the editing stage. Once you have your ‘first assembly’ you can put scenes in their correct order.

re-arranging

Each clip is like a sentence in a text. Rearrange them until you are telling the story you want to tell. What do you want people to see first, the hand with the dagger or the calmly sleeping victim? The order is very important, and the way it was imagined initially may not prove to be the best order in the end.

Editing is like making music. Not only are you telling a story, you are also creating the pace at which the story is told. It has to flow, varying between slow and fast, loud and quiet, wide shots and close ones. It has to set questions in the minds of the audience, keeping the viewer hooked on the narrative as it unfolds, moment by moment.

After you have your ‘first assembly’ it’s time to start working on the structure. Are scenes in the right order? Is certain information too early or too late? Are characters introduced at the right time. Usually these elements can be moved around without too much disruption, though complex timelines and continuity might restrict you.