Preparing to edit

Importing clips

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

Basic steps - file naming and saving protocols

Preparation techniques

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