Part 2. Editing Under Deadline with Limited Video.

Anatomy of an Edit Comments (1)

Have you ever edited a story with a limited amount of time and a limited amount of video?  Me too!  

Please watch Where Real Democracy Occurs first.

This is a story I edited on the Sunday before the Democratic National Convention.  I only spent about an hour on it due to other responsibilities for the newscast.  Anytime I have a story like this and little time the first thing I’m going to do is

• Cover it the best I can  
• It usually takes me about 15 minutes to cover a story like this

Meaning, if it absolutely had to air there would be no black holes.   That left me with around 45 minutes to play with it.  

After I cover It, I start looking for natural sound to add a little juice to the story.  It’s pretty easy to add natural sound to almost any story.  

• I firmly believe in breaking up reporter tracks 

A little something breaks up the monotony of his/her voice, but it also takes the viewer there with sound.  Sometimes shots aren’t as stable as I’d like them, but in the case of a story like this I believe it’s ok to be on the shoulder ready for whatever may occur.  

• The shot at :16 seconds isn’t stable when I take it.  

But I wanted to use that natural sound at that moment.  I didn’t have much wiggle room as far as taking the shot later as the photographer moved onto the next shot.  I also didn’t want to cover any of it with feet from the previous shot.  

• I hate feet shots, so I rarely use them.  

The reporters writes

“hit the pavement”

so I use the feet shot to reinforce the track.  Let me just get out my foot frustration.  I like to edit as if you were there, as if the camera is the eyes of the people there.  How many people got on their knees in the middle of the crowd to look at shoes? None right?  Then why would you get that shot?  Ok, back to the story.  

I’m under deadline so you don’t see any sequences in this story.

•  If I don’t have a lot of time I’m not going to match up sequences as much as if I had more time.  
• I live by S.W.A.P. (Synchronize Words And Pictures).  
• S.W.A.P is easier and faster.  
• I’ll sacrifice a sequence if I have some shot that is relevant to what the reporter is saying.  Even if it’s not the greatest shot I’m still going to try.  

• At :18 seconds the reporter says 

“A normally quite morning in downtown Denver,”

 I don’t really have those kind of shots but I do have some shots with a small amount of people in it so I use them.  Anything I can use to reinforce reporter track I’m going to use.  

• Something else you notice in this story is a lack of tight shots.  

A lot of mediums to mediums and wides.  There are two reasons for this.  One, I didn’t get many tight shots, and two I don’t believe in forcing tight shots.  If it works and the shot has meaning great. But, If your editing a tight shot in just cause you feel you have to many mediums to mediums then stop and think about it for a minute.  

• The human eye takes in much more of the world as a medium shot then it does as a tight shot.  

Something to think about next time your shooting all those tight shots.  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE tight shots.  I just don’t force them.  Back to the story.  I’m using natural sound as much as I can and I’m trying to keep the pace of the story up.  

• Whenever there is an interview you’ll notice they are only up for about 4 seconds on camera, just long enough to super them.  

The women’s bite at :56 seconds was a little long so I trimmed her bite and covered it to flow better.  If you listen closely you can hear where I butted two bites together.  Stories like this should keep a good pace.   Leaving someone up on camera for 10 seconds really slows a story down.  This isn’t going to win any awards but it takes the viewer to the protest.  I try and use shot relevant to what’s going one and I use as much natural sound as I think will help take the viewer there.  I leave interviews up only long enough for them to super and then I cover with video.  

• The opening shot is the best thing I like about the story.  

You’ll see people marching, the state capital and a cop.  That pretty much establishes everything your about to see.  The closing shot is not that strong.  I’m out of video and out of time and at least it says the march is still going on.  Again back to the eye of the viewer, if you were sitting on the curb watching as all this was going on that’s what you might see before you get up and leave.  

• Sometimes little accomplishments like a good opening shot,  good use of natural sound and a good pace are enough to feel you’ve done a story justice.  Thanks for reading.  

shawnmontano @ October 17, 2008