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Video editing: overview
Why edit?
Video material as shot in the camera is generally not suitable for playing to your audience as it is. It may have been shot out of sequence, the scenes may be too long, the same action may have been filmed from different angles and don't forget those re-takes. You may also want to add titles, graphics, voice over and music to produce the finished programme.
A VHS copy can be made of all the material with a "burnt in timecode". Every picture frame has its own unique time in hours, minutes, seconds and frames superimposed on it. A "paper edit" can be made using a VHS player, pen, paper and lots of coffee! By doing this the required scenes can be listed prior to editing, this saves a lot of time and money!
Currently there are two ways to edit.
1. Videotape editing
In order to edit, the shot material must be copied onto another video recorder, both the play and record machines are controlled remotely by an edit controller allowing the edits to be made scene by scene in the order you require, usually starting at the beginning and working through to the end.
Any timing changes made to the edited programme will involve re-editing the tape from that point! Therefore it is usual to make a rough, "offline" edit to work out the shape of the final programme.
Depending on the complexity of the edit suite the final, "online" edit can be made using data stored in the edit controller. This "Edit Decision List" remembers the start and end points of all the edits made during the rough edit and the list can be modified before producing the final edit.
2. Non linear editing
The shot material is transferred to a computer and stored in a hard drive. Each scene is given a file name (a bit like naming word documents) and when editing, these scenes can be called up and placed on time lines (shown as parallel horizontal strips across the computer screen) as blocks graphically representing that scene. These may be played individually, the start and end times can be adjusted and other blocks added as the edit progresses.
By having more than one time line, blocks can be overlapped allowing transitions and mixes between scenes. The sound follows the picture on it's own audio time lines and can be adjusted or moved as required.
Importantly the edit does not exist other than in the computer's mind and these blocks can be moved around the time lines giving great flexibility to the editing process. New blocks can be added anywhere in the edit and existing blocks can be adjusted or removed. Graphics, voice over and music etc. can be added at any time. The process involves manipulating digital files and when completed the edit can be rendered (copied onto one new file) without loss of quality. From this a videotape master can be made. The file can also be digitally re-encoded to produce a CD, DVD master or video suitable for the web.
If the video is shot on a digital camera it can be copied into the computer in digital format through a firewire lead and copied back to the camera after editing in its original digital format and no loss of quality should occur.
Back to Video editing
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