Part 8. Subtle Editing Tips

Video Editing 101 Comments (2)

This week’s story is Sentence Please

This week we look at

Subtle Editing Tips

Staggering Audio and Video Edits

Maximizing Shot Potential

 

Sentence Please is a story I edited in just a few hours.  It was shot simply but very effectively.

Under the opening shot you hear the announcer begin telling a speller that’s getting a word.

Go back and look at how the shots blend together with staggered audio and video cuts.

I want to take the shot of the speller in pink [:01] right as she turns her head.  The turn of her head helps acknowledge the announcer to her left (our right).

All 3 shot blend together thanks to the audio.  I sneak the announcer’s audio under the first shot.  I cut to the shot of the speller in pink before the announcer is done speaking.

• The 3 edits are smooth and help blend the shots together
  

This is a trick I use all the time

• Stagger audio and video edits
  

The first reporter track in this story is

52 kids sat on stage

For 52 kids I show a lot of kids on stage.  The next shot is that of a speller’s hands

 

I take the edit the second I see him fumbling with his hands nervously.  The simple tight shot shows he nervous.

• Very often the action within a shot can help convey a subtle message
  

I want to keep reinforcing the kids fidgety state throughout the story.  

After a shot of another speller at the mic, the reporter track is

All with one goal in mind.

The next shot is that of a speller looking down.  I take the edit right when she moves her hand around.  Her motion helps convey every one’s feeling while they are on stage.  

The next shot is of a kid with his hand on his chin

 

I take the shot and then he swallows.  It’s subtle.

• I continue to use shots that I think help convey the feeling of the kids on stage
  

At [:17] I’m milking a shot.  I like to maximize shots visually and auditorily.   I use the shot and the speller says meticulous twice.  I place the reporter track within the two times the speller say meticulous.  It’s a subtle way of getting more natural sound into a story.

At [:20] the reporter track is

The 7 to 14 years olds each won their Boulder Valley or St. Vrain school’s contest to get here.

I still want to show that fidgety feeling onstage.  

This shot of a 7 year old perturbed was too good to pass up.  His expression tells so much.

 

Don’t you just love this shot?

 

This shot is subtle.  I wait to take the shot the second she scratches her face.

 

With this shot I wait for her to move her head and then put her hand on her face.

• All these shot are helping visually convey the kid’s feelings while they are on stage

Watch the story again.  This time pay attention to what each kid is doing in each shot.  Also pay attention to how the action in the shot helps convey their feelings.  

Little things like what’s going on in your shot and when you take the edit can often make a good story just a little better.

• Every shot in the this story has meaning

• Subtle moments help make a story better

shawnmontano @ December 5, 2008