To import clips, you click file - Import - and you have several different options to select when importing clips. This includes 'Files, Folder, Batch List, Cinema Tools Telecine Log, EDL and XML.
If you look further down the list you will see the two options 'Log and Capture' and 'Log and Transfer'.
These are the options you use if you want to import media directly from a camera or an SD card for example. You select Log and Transfer to transfer footage from an SD card onto the editing software, and if you select Log and Capture you can capture the footage through the actual camera you filmed it on. To do this, you select the start point on the camera, and it captures the clips onto the software through this.
This is one of the ways to import onto to Final Cut Pro
Log and Capture
Log and Transfer
Bins
Timelines
When you have transferred or captured your you can keep seperate storage units to separate your footage, to make it easier to find certain sections when coming to do the edit. These are known as bins.
They could be used to store all of your interview footage, so you know where to find it, or you could even save the best takes of different scenes into separate bins, so you know where to find certain sections of the film you are creating, and you know where to find the best quality clips. This will speed the overall edit process up.
The 'Sequences' Highlight the different bins
Timelines
In the timeline the most work is done, because you have to drag your content to the timeline to edit it, if you want to cut a clip in half for example, you have to drag all of the content such as video, images and audio onto the timeline to do this.The timeline is used to see how long your clips are, to layout the way in which you want your film to be, and to generally edit and sort out the production that you are making.
This is the basic view of the timeline on Final Cut Pro
Storage and folder management
When you first open the editing software that you are using to edit your production, before you start to transfer all of the clips over, you should ensure to set up your storage and manage your folders.
This is because, if you don't do this, you could spend forever trying to locate your files, and this is added time that you don't need when you are under the pressure of deadlines.
This is an example of storage management on final cut pro
Following this, you also have to set up your scratch discs. Again, this locates where you want your files to be saved, so if it is a new project, once you have created your folder to save everything in, you won't get confused afterwards, and not end up losing where you have saved your footage to.
You should check your scratch discs every time you load up your editing software, to ensure they are still set to the same location you set them to originally.
This is an example of scratch disc set up on final cut pro
Online and offline editing
An offline edit is the rough cut that you produce before starting the master edits, which is also known as the online edit. People can work on the offline edit, and have no part in the titles or credit of the film, as this would all be included in the master editing process.
This is an example of offline editing
Resolution
The resolution is developed depending on your frame size, and the compressor that you are using. The higher resolution you have, the higher the file size will be, and visa versa.
This is the resolution I used in Final Cut Pro
Software demonstrations
Here is a screenshot of me using final cut to edit my documentary
The first thing you should do when preparing to edit, it check the material for faults. There are three stages in which we do this, which include;
1. Check your play back to double check that the scene works. We also would do this to check for colour balance, white balance, focus, exposure and to check the overall framing.
2. Log sheets - Make sure you log the footage in detail, making specific notes of the shot description, taking not of which scenes work, and which don't work as well. Doing this can also reduce the production costs, because it will help a lot in speeding the process up when coming to editing.
This is an example of a log sheet I created for Documentary
3. Log and Transfer - This is the process in which the editor captures the footage. This is the stage in which any potential faults, such as the alignment of a shot being wrong, would be spotted by the editor, so it could be rectified at this stage, rather than discovering it when you come to the final edit.
The next thing that is important when preparing to edit is synchronising rushes.
This is an old technique that is still used today. It consists of checking that scenes and shots work with one another in transitions.
An example of this being used in olden film technological days, is that you would have had to line the two reels together, get them at the same speed and then mix them together.
Another version of this from analogue video editing is that you had to get player A, player B, sync them up together and move from one scene to another using a vision mixer. This was known as A, B roll editing.
A modern example of synchronising rushes is doing a live shoot with two or more cameras, both editing in final cut. You do this by putting one cameras footage on track one, the other cameras footage on track two, and then you would choose mix or select.
For example, in the Dark Knight, they used 7 cameras in one scene, and would have to sync these up together using a clapper board.
This is a live news show, in which they would use more than one camera, then sync them together
Produce a rushes log
Log sheets are produced to log every single frame in your footage. This will help you to identify where all your scenes are, and to know which tape to use within your scenes. This also helps to determine which footage you want to use and why, which will make the editing process a lot more organised.
Marking up a script
Marking up a script includes looking at scene numbers, and the general shot descriptions so they would know the following day to shoot that scene again if it needed doing. The script would then be passed to the editor to help them during the editing process.
This is an example of an edited - marked up script
Labelling tapes
It is important to label tapes to secure the footage and ensure that it doesn't get filmed over, and also to ensure you know what footage has been shot on what date, so when filming, you know how much footage you have, and how much you still need to get, before passing it on to the editor.
Storing tapes or film
Film used to be stored vertically, so that it would dry. This would be done at room temperature, as if it was too hot the film would go sticky, and if it was too cold then it would go brittle. So they would have to be very careful of the room temperature, or all of the film could be ruined.
Nowadays, we use external hard drives, or an archive server, to upload all of the footage into. This is so the editor can just search through this and find the footage quite easily. This is known as a film/data bank.
Producing an edit decision list
An edit decision lost is a much more organised version of the tape log. It has all of your shots in the order that you want the final film to be in, so this can then be passed to the editor, along with all of the storyboard and paperwork, and would be able to put everything in the correct order during the editing process. If this is done correctly, the edit decision list should look like your storyboards.
This is the edit decision list I created for Documentary
In camera editing
The Lumiere brothers pioneered in camera editing in 1895. The invented the cinematograph which was an early film camera and projector.
In camera editing is when the film is shot and edited in the camera, once all of the film sequence has been shot. This requires only using one reel of film, so it means you would have had to film in the order that you want the film to be seen as there was no way to change the sequence around. To make cuts using this method of editing, you would have to bring the film to a stop.
Above is a video of the Lumiere brothers first films.
Following this, in 1899 in America Thomas Edison's company invented the Kinetoscope for capturing images. Edwin S Porter was an employee of the Edison manufacturing company, and he took charge of the motion picture production of The Great Train Robbery, and because of this he is considered to be a pioneer of early editing techniques.
This 12 minute short was the first film to show some evidence of editing, this is because you can tell the film continues after the first shot, and wasn't just all filmed in one long sequence and then edited afterwards.
Another pioneer of early film editing was DW Griffith. He was the first person to use close ups, camera movement and lighting to emphasise the action that was happening on screen. Furthering this, he also created the use of seamless, or invisible as its also known, editing, which was when the cuts between each of the shots matched the action perfectly, and it all flows together perfectly.
Following the action
This is where the film follows the subject or actors, showing more than one camera angle, to show the transition between movements. So for example, if someone is walking out of a building, the camera would then be outside showing that the camera is following their movements as they make them.
Multiple points of view
Different points of view can be created by using the point of view of the character on screen by using over the shoulder shots. The editor will create different points of view by putting clips together of the actors involved in the scene. This usually shows the object or person the actor is looking at and then cuts back to the actors face to show it was them who we were taking the point of view of.
Shot variation
Shot variation is a technique in which there are many different camera angles, and different movements used, to create a sequence of images when the edit is finished.
Manipulation of diegetic time and space
Manipulation of time and space is when a sequence of shots are taken, and edited together to show the change in a person or a place over a period of time. This can be used as a quick way to show time passing in a film. A famous example of a film that uses this technique is, the time machine, in which a short clip of is shown below.
Film
Film editing is when the editor works with the raw footage and chooses the shots and sequences that they want to use. The shots would be captured on film in this form as editing, in contrast to now where the film is captured on a memory card, USB, or disc.
Video
Analogue
Before the introduction of digital editing, people used to use analogue editing, which involved actual physically editing the footage by choosing the shots that they like and want to keep for the final product. You would have to cut the film by using a splicer, and you would then have to place the shots together in the order you want them to be in, and then stick them together.
Digital
Digital editing is the new way to edit film and is used much more than the old style of analogue editing in present day. Digital editing is where the footage is edited on a computer using the appropriate editing software, which allows you to add effects onto your footage, whereas you would be limited with what you can add, effects wise, on analogue editing.
Seamless
Seamless editing was discovered/pioneered by D.W Griffiths who used seamless editing when he wanted to make cuts in scenes to match the action.
Continuity
Continuity sort of links in with seamless editing, in the sense that it was discovered that it was needed to have seamless continuity through out, or a scene wouldn't make sense. So during the editing process you would have to ensure that the scene made sense, but it was also interesting and appealing to watch,
Motivated
This is a technique, where two shots are put together, which both provide pieces of information about what is happening within the scene, but you find out separately whats happening. So for example, a shot could be shown of a man staring into the distance, then the shot will cut to where the man is looking, and you can see something approaching in the distance, which explains why he was staring there in the first place, but you get this information separately.
Montage
Montage was developed by a Russian man named Eisenstein, but putting shots in a sequence to show to the audience the passing of time. He did this because he thought that by placing unrelated shots next to each other in a sequence, it could develop a new meaning, and intrigue and manipulate their audience, therefore making them more interested. Here is an example of a short montage that he created, and in this short clip it does show a passing of time to the audience. This is now something that is used very commonly in recent films, as it has an effect on the audience.
Jump-cutting
Parallel editing
Parallel editing (also known as cross cutting) is when two things are shown happening at the same time. So they will be shot separately, and then the editor will put them both together during the editing process, so they are simultaneously happening at the same time. This can be used for a lot of reasons and is still something used in present day to build suspense within a scene, or to show the audience two different sides of a story going on at once.
Parallel editing was first used by Edwin S. Porter in the earlier example that I showed of the great train robbery. DW Griffin also used this technique in his film 'History of a Nation' to build tensions and relationships.
180 degree rule
The 180 degree rule means that the angle between two consecutive shots should not exceed 180 degrees in order to keep the spacial relationship between people and objects, and it is as if there is an invisible line down the middle of the shot, that cannot be crossed. This rule, and this type of shot is normally used when filming a conversation involving two or more people. In a situation such as this, the camera would be able to go left, right or do a reverse shot, but must not exceed the 180 degree rule, or the audience would be confused with who is who in the conversation.
Splicing
Splicing is used in analogue editing and it is used for cutting the film strips, so that you can line up the footage in the correct order so it is ready for the final production.
