Figure 19.1 Final Cut Pro is a hugely popular edit program from Apple. Many editors believe it offers the best solution for video editing.
Chapter | Twenty
Pre-edit Footage Viewing
OVERVIEW
You thought of it, you shot it, now it’s time to find out what your footage really looks like.
Right now you will have:
A few tapes with your movie on them, all scenes probably in the wrong order, or
A number of flash drives (external), or
SD cards or a large external drive with everything on it, or
DVD discs containing footage
So you need to:
Figure out where in all this footage is the really good stuff you want in your movie
Whether each good clip you choose has any problems like bad sound
How to find these good clips easily
You will likely have up to 20 times the footage you need, so a five-minute short might generate a couple of SD cards or tapes. You might have shot scenes lots of times, trying to get the right take. Or someone messed up so you had to do it again, or a car went past and messed the sound.
SECOND OPINION
What if you just start editing and skip this job?
That’s fine, it won’t affect your movie, but editing will probably take three or four times as long, and be a lot more frustrating.
STEP 1
QUICK VIEW TAPES/CARDS
Sit down and scan through the footage to see how it looks overall. You need an overview to check whether a big problem has come up – like your continuity is thrown because a whole scene has been shot in the wrong color temperature (see “white balance” tips in Chapter 12, Using a Camcorder).
HAVE YOU GOT TIMECODE?
If you don’t know what timecode is, that’s fine – it won’t affect your movie, it just makes this whole step much easier. Timecode is that 8-digit number that whizzes by on the LCD monitor as you record – like 01:28:53:12. The first two digits are hours, followed by minutes, seconds and frames, which is why these last two only go up to 24 or 29, depending on the system you use: PAL or NTSC (note that your LCD camera display actually says it’s one less than the total frames per second, because it includes the zero).
If you do have timecode on your footage, use it to note the start and end of each good clip you want to use.
STEP 2: LOG FOOTAGE
You can do this step either of two ways: either write down and log every single clip in the order they occur on your tapes/cards/drives, so you have a long list of every moment of the tape, good bits and bad. Or you can just note the good parts only. Best to do the first option if you think you might need to go back and get extra clips later. Either way, you need to use timecode to note where to find the clips.
STEP 3
Now you have a working list of the useable clips, you can reorder them so they are in the order you want them to be in the movie. You now have an edit decision list (EDL). An EDL is useful because you can just go ahead and grab all the clips listed on it, and place them on the timeline and that’s your movie edited. Of course, it always changes a lot as you edit, so expect to mess around with this edit long after it’s on the timeline.
ADDING CLIPS TO YOUR PC
You next need to transfer the clips you want to your PC, so you can edit them. Use an external hard drive if you have one to store the footage separately, connecting it to your PC. If you are capturing from tape, connect your camcorder and only take what you need to use, leaving the leftovers on tape to get later if you really need extras. Arrange them in the order you decided on in the EDL.
STEP 4: SAVING AND STORING
It helps to be tidy and organized with all your clips. Create a folder with all the clips in, and subfolders with different scenes in each.
Experts’ Tips
Benjamin Rutkowski, film student, USA
“If your first dailies don’t look so hot, do not give up. learn from your mistakes and a lot can be done in the editing process.”
Chapter | Twenty-One
Editing Methods: Narrative Continuity
Use this style for: Any narrative movie.
OVERVIEW
It’s the silent and invisible form of editing – the way we edit to create a flowing story. It’s not arty or tricksy, just gets the story going fast.
This chapter goes well with Chapter 14, Continuity – use it to help get more ideas for making a smooth narrative.
This style is called continuity editing and is pretty much the only way Hollywood and mainstream movies like to edit. It is designed purely to help the story move along, but also to get the audience quickly rooting for the characters and feeling what they feel, but without doing anything too weird. There are a lot of rules that have built up over the decades, and while it doesn’t fit everyone, it is the most acceptable way to edit stories.
Table 21.1 What does continuity editing do?
Clarity Everyone can see easily what’s supposed to be happening. Don’t confuse us. Give us the action, let us hear the talking, show us where we are, what time it is, whether it’s the past or the future and so on.
Moves the action along That doesn’t just mean high action like car chases, but any part of the story at all. It has to keep moving forward, with few detours or diversions.
Doesn’t let viewers see the editing and ‘suspends disbelief’ Editing in this style is like a magic show - we get swept along and no one wants to see behind the scenes or get reminded it’s just all make-believe. So don’t do strange, gimmicky editing where you show off all your box of tricks. We don’t even want to know an editor got near the movie - in fact we don’t even want to be reminded it’s just a movie.
Helps you identify with the characters We need to see what they see, hear what they hear, feel what they feel - and that means using neat editing to keep us pegged next to the characters all the time so the story is from their point of view all the time.
Creates intensity Now and then you have to stray from this straight-down-the-line editing and know when to bring in the cavalry - to create real excitement and suspense. You’ll need a few other ways to edit, stealing a few ideas from montage editing (see Ch 22, Editing Methods: Montage) but knowing when to rein it in too.
… And this is what you do to get it:
Rhythm In editing, rhythm is about how fast each shot occurs. For instance, in an action scene you might have shot lengths of two seconds or less, making a quick, intense, and exciting sequence. But then you need to slow things down later, so you have longer shots of six or seven seconds each. It’s just like music, where you have quiet verses and louder choruses. If you are aware of rhythm you can use it to crank up the excitement and then calm it down again. To do this, check out the timeline on your edit program. You can see how small the clips get when there’s big action, and how long they get when it’s calm again. Use this as a guide to help you see a rhythm evolve in the movie
Pace Pace keeps a check on the overall rhythm of the movie. You can pace the movie so that it gets steadily more exciting, or tense, or happy or whatever it needs to build to a finale. Often the first parts of the film are slower than the last, you get a middle where we take a breather, and then you can plot where the fastest or most intense part of the film is. Or try more unusual structures - see Ch 3, Scriptwriting.
Same style all the time However you came up with the style of the movie - it could have been through doing designs or you might have just stumbled across it while shooting - you need to stick to it. It needs to look like the work of one person, not as if it was passed around for different people to make different bits. To keep it consistent, use one way to edit throughout, keeping shot lengths similar depending on what the script needs. And don’t pull new surprises halfway through the movie, like trying a new experimental way to edit.
Control of time You need to be able to show how much time is passing, either during a scene or between scenes. For a long passage of time, use slow diss
olve transitions to black, dissolving from black again at the start of a new scene. Within a scene, several lengthy and wide camera shots will suggest that time is stretching a little, and you can use quick dissolves to push it further, for instance during an interrogation scene in a police cell, where you might want to suggest it is taking place over a few hours.
Eyeline match This puts us in the point of view of a character. For instance, we see a person stop in a street and they notice something in a window. We then need to cut to a shot of what they see, as if the camera were their eyes.
Shot reverse shot Usually used when two people are talking, you’ll show each face in the frame, but with part of the back of the head and shoulder of the other person also in shot, so we know who exactly they are talking to. When you get to edit you just need to cut these two together — called “shot and reverse shots”. You could also use cutaways to break up the monotony of this, like cutting to the person’s hands as they talk, or to a clock on the wall.
Establishing shot You can open a scene with a big wide shot showing the whole room, or location. This gives the audience all the information they need - who’s there, where they are and whether it is day or night. It sets the scene, or “establishes” it.
Cut in and cut away In a short sequence, you can open with an establishing wide shot, then move in with a few close-ups of the action, then back out again with a similar wide shot, this time showing the action moving on, such as the car driving away, and fading to black again. This can create a rhythmic kind of sequence.
Common Space You took the time to shoot an establishing shot, so now you need to remind us now and then that we are still in the same place. To do this, include cuts where you showed the same objects repeatedly, or the same background.
Object matching/graphic match This is a neat way to cut between two scenes - simply use shots that look visually similar, like cutting from a shot showing an eye in close-up to a shot of a round plug hole as water washes down it - as in Hitchcock’s Psycho.
Cut on action Try to start and end shots with movement. If there’s action, start the shot a split second into the action so it is already happening.
Sounds to amplify action Use sound layers to increase the sensation of what is happening. Don’t rely on the sounds you got while shooting - they just won’t seem real enough. In continuity editing you need sounds to be hyper-real. A car door goes clunk loud and clear, a fist makes a big thump and a footstep is a solid crunch. Go to Ch 23, Audio Editing, or Ch 24, Foley.
Use of camera angles Continuity editing uses camera angles in quite a predictable way - and that’s the way we like it as an audience. You need to work this into the way you shoot the movie, but providing you have the right shots, make sure you know how to use them. A wide shot opens the action, a medium shot brings us in a little, and a close-up is for emotional, high drama moments. You know a lot about these shots because this vocabulary of movie language is something you’ve absorbed over years of viewing.
30-degree rule Check out Ch 14, Continuity to find out about this and other rules. Make sure you don’t edit together two shots that are closer than 30 degrees to each other against the center of action.
Transitions/wipes Use them to help move the action on, or to slow it down. Apart from the straight cut between shots, use cross dissolves. Use other transitions only if you have a really good reason to do otherwise. Fade to black is OK, but reserve fade to white for flashbacks or dream sequences.
Cross cutting/ parallel editing This is where you cut between two areas of action to show simultaneous events. It’s a good device to speed up the plot and build up a sense of drama or excitement. Don’t use dissolves or we’ll think there is a period of time separating the two scenes; instead use straight cuts to get between the two.
CLOSE-UPS, WIDE SHOTS AND HOW LONG ThEY NEED TO BE
Each genre has its own approach to how long shots should be and what sort of camera shots they use. There’s always a link between the two – the more tense and dramatic the movie, the more close-ups and the fewer wide shots there will be.
Take a look at how long shots in the movies tend to be, and how the length of the cut is connected to whether it’s a close-up or a wide shot.
Silence of the Lambs (horror/thriller/action) has 330 close-ups or extreme close-ups (ECUS), and only 43 wide shots, while the average shot length is 6.4 seconds.
Martin Scorcese’s Raging Bull has an average shot length of 6.9 seconds, hyping up to a fast-paced 3.2 seconds for one of the big fight sequences.
In Michael Mann’s tense The Insider, with Russell Crowe as a paranoid tobacco industry whistleblower, each shot lasts just 5.4 seconds with 301 close-ups against just 32 wide shots – barely enough wide shots to open each new scene with.
TV dramas and soap operas are the same. An episode of the Australian soap Neighbours had 363 close-ups against just 15 wide shots, with an average shot length of 5.7 seconds – just right for a dramatic and emotional show.
More stylized movies get even faster shots, as in Alex Proyas’ gothic thriller Dark City (1999) where the average shot length is just 2 seconds.
Meanwhile, comedy or dialogue-heavy movies need longer shots, such as Oscar-winning comedy Annie Hall at an average length of 14 seconds, and the talkative Chinatown (which won an Oscar for its script) of 16 seconds.
Thanks to the hard work of Barry Salt, David Bordwell and others for compiling this data. Get more information from www.cinemetrics.lv/database.php.
SERGIO LEONE AND HOW TO CUT FOR ACTION AND SUSPENSE
Take a few tips from the master of the steady build-up, Sergio Leone. In his finale to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, a three-way shoot-out takes over nine minutes for the shooters to set up, pace around and fire. Dissecting the scene reveals how Leone gradually draws us in to the ensuing fight.
First, we see the three characters: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach. Eastwood’s Blondie strides into the middle of the frame where he remains commanding the screen.
The three slowly take up their positions equidistant from each other in the empty yard. The camera lingers as they move, resisting the urge to cut.
We then cut slowly between the three enemies, first in medium shots, then wide shots of the whole scene with all three at the edges of the frame.
Leone revs the engine next as we start the steady build-up to the shoot-out. With steady timing, he takes seven seconds for each character, then six seconds each, then four. He ups the odds against Eli Wallach by focusing more on the two faster gunslingers, drawing out for a medium shot of a nervous Wallach.
Then we draw out for a long, wide shot lasting over 30 seconds while we hold our breath. The stage is set and then the editor gets to work.
We close in for a series of fixed, five-second shots of each man, the rhythm building with the soundtrack. Then comes the extreme close-ups, with added sweat, one after the other. The sound of the musical watch offers a brief respite.
With the faces filling the frame, now we move from two-second shots of each, to one-second, then – like a countdown – to 12 frames, before the shooting starts. Van Cleef falls, and Eastwood shoots the dead man’s hat and gun into the ready-made grave after the body.
DON’T KNOW WHERE TO START? TIPS TO KICK OFF
Try editing a big, important sequence first. You don’t have to start at the beginning.
Listen to music that matches the mood of the film while you edit. It can set the rhythm and pace for you.
Edit standing up, to speed up the process. It’s also better for your back. l Edit from the middle outwards. Start from the center of the movie and then do the start, then the bits either side of the center, then the end. It doesn’t work for everyone but can make you move faster and make better decisions.
On the timeline, work on several sequences at the same time, separated onto different video tracks. You can move between them and edit across all of them, encouraging you to keep the same style throughout.
Try working in a highly organic way if you are making a travel movie, freecording or any other kind of nonstory movie. That means grabbing clips onto the timeline in a free and loose way, just seeing how they look together. Don’t plan on paper at all, just work on your gut instinct as you get shots and arrange them on the timeline.
Aim to edit in two hours to create a five-minute rough cut.
Chapter | Twenty-Two
Editing Methods: Montage
Use this style for: Any movie without a regular story.
OVERVIEW
Call in the cavalry. Sometimes regular editing just won’t cut it, especially when your movie is a little unusual or if it’s a sports movie, music promo, or travel movie. When you need to go that extra mile to create a sequence that really affects people, you need montage.
As soon as you start editing a movie such as a music promo or a road trip, you soon realize that you don’t want a story and you don’t need one. The movie is enough by itself – the images, the way the visuals unfold. It’s a whole different animal. So another method is needed, one where you hook up to a very different way of doing things. Montage editing is kind of “Zen and the Art of Editing,” a slightly mystical experience. One of the masters of montage, Nic Roeg (of spooky horror film Don’t Look Now with the famous opening montage) once said that to edit you have to tap into “unseen forces.” This is like editing with the brakes off, the gloves off, and definitely no prisoners taken. It’s a full-on head-rush, aimed at drawing the viewer right into the world you are creating. They no longer just watch the movie, they go through it.
Stand-Out Shorts Page 11
