Scottish Paddlesports FestivalPart 3 - Editing In the final part of our series on making a short film for the UK's paddle film festival we tell you how to stitch it all together. OK, so you came home after the shooting, tired but happy. The shoot went pretty well and you got just about everything you wanted. (Nobody gets everything he wanted.) Before you get any further, do a shot log (see later). Then, how do you put it all together? To
edit you need; 1. Either do it yourself (which involves a lot of trial and error) or you could try to enthuse one of the students at your local media college to do the editing for you; they'll likely be very interested in the action stuff you have. They
would have the advantage of knowing any editing equipment and will
cut down the editing time tremendously. Their creative input would
be invaluable although they can be brutally honest as they commit
your hard won shots to the bin because they don't fit the programme
anymore! It's good for us all to have a reality check every now
and then for the sake of the film. 2. It is possible to make a rough copy by recording from 1 domestic VCR to another ahead of doing a final on line copy. If one of them has audio dub facility then you can, with trial and error, do very basic sound editing. If the 2 VCRs are the same make, eg Panasonic, then a synch edit cable will join the clips nicely. It's also possible to buy secondhand tape to tape systems, cheaper now as everybody's going into computers. Tape to tape is good and very simple but if you need to make many changes to a sequence the quality of the picture will rapidly fall and you can end up with a fuzzy mess. This is not a great problem but you will have to do a final edit where you copy the whole programme again from your master tapes; this is confusingly referred to as the on line edit. Then there are computers. They seem very attractive but unless the editing function of these is already set up then beware the perils of installing your own video capture card and editing software. Definitely try before you buy or commit to using. If you have access to an Apple Mac computer you can get a free simple editing system called iMovie. The advantage of computers is that they are non linear, ie offer multiple changes to sequences without any loss of quality; adding titles is easy, as well. 3. Shot log. When the camera has been hooked up to the telly and everyone has a beer in hand, draw up a shot log with columns for time elapsed/timecode, description of shot and frame size (wide, CU etc). Make a list of the order of shots as they were shot on the tape. This will save a lot of time in editing when you are trying to find a shot. It will also be useful for working out your story if there have been any changes. You may find it better to dump your master tape footage onto VHS to shot log and plan the editing. Go into the edit with the plan of your film on paper; this will have been a good exercise for you and it will have highlighted any problems in your story before you find yourself staring at an empty screen, wondering what goes next. Editing is just as creative as the shooting, if not more so. Sometimes, if the shooting has not gone as well as expected, a solution may be found to make the story more interesting by editing it in a different way or by shooting one or two simple extra shots which may be a bit off the wall but can liven up a sequence. The accepted rules of editing can be gained from basic books, worth learning these rules even if you do intend to break them! One hint is to tell a story with the pictures. (See if you can do this without a commentary.) Remember, any good story needs a beginning, middle and end. Use a variety of shots with frequent changes. (Watch any TV programme and see how often the scene changes.) The hardest part of editing isn't the vision but the sound, especially if adding music or commentary. This can be done using VCRs with audio dub facilities but thereÕs a lot of trial and error; computers make sound mixing easier. Music is great for making the programme move along but you should only use non copyright music; unfortunately, it is illegal to use popular chart music (unless you pay the band). Unfortunately, the current vogue for end to end music is pretty boring; we suggest you alternate music with interviews, natural background sound or even (if youÕre stuck) commentary. So, that's it, our basic advice on making a video programme! We'd be delighted to see lots of amateur entries for the short film category of the UK's 1st Paddle Film Festival on Oct 20th 2001, entries by 28th Sept. As well as WW films, we'd like to see touring and open boat films on any topic, paddling, environment, access, humour, so get filming! Some
useful websites Part
1 - Planning and storyboarding access
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