All language subtitles for [English (auto-generated)] chapter 1 2 [DownSub.com]

[Music]

[Music]

welcome to inside the edit and thank you

for purchasing the creative editing

course

you are about to start on an incredibly

rewarding journey into one of the most

beautiful and complex art forms around

we've spent three years creating inside

the edit with the sole aim of doing what

no other course in the world has ever

done before

to make you think like a high-end editor

that magic ability to watch a bunch of

disparate footage and immediately see

the form

structure and logic that so few people

are able to do you're going to build up

a vast database of creative techniques

and structural skills in your mind so

that you can take whatever has been

given to you and craft it into the very

best it can be

as you already know we're not here to

teach you anything technical about any

specific edit software

our goal is not to help you memorize

dozens of buttons shortcut keys and pull

down menus

no we are going to meticulously

deconstruct the actual artistic process

of creative editing in all its

complexity and beauty

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editing is a creative process with a

succession of interdependent stages

each one of these stages requires a

unique set of skills and a very specific

thought process

a way of looking at what we've got in

any sequence so that we can mold and

shape our creation perfectly

throughout the course we'll be studying

a vast array of editing theory

we'll be analyzing footage

we'll be doing live demonstrations of

creative concepts

and will be reviewing and rebuilding

rough cuts

but not only that in our tutorials we'll

be examining in great detail what

producers directors and executives

expect at every single stage

and giving you tons of little-known

insight into the world of prime

time-level broadcast editing

no two tutorials are the same some are

five minutes long and some are 50

minutes long depending on the complexity

of the subject we're tackling

but as a filmmaker watching and then

practicing all of these theories with

your inside the edit footage will be a

hugely enjoyable experience

we've created a complete editing pack on

your drive that replicates exactly what

you get in a professional high-end edit

suite

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so let's take a look at what's on the

drive and the best way for you to work

through the course

first and foremost the footage

there's around 35 hours of raw footage

from the observational documentary

cities at dawn shot over a two-year

period in london paris and venice it's

the story of californian photographer

anthony epps and his english wife diana

as they go through the trials and

tribulations of self-publishing their

photography books

hey something went right

the documentary has 45 filming days and

each one has a specific name and number

based on the location of the shoot or

the particular action within the scene

each of these filming days are in turn

split into successive roll numbers that

are around 10 minutes long

you'll notice that when we demo this

footage in the tutorials it has what we

call bitsy or burnt in time code

this allows you to see the exact shots

from the exact roll numbers that we've

chosen to illustrate a certain theory or

concept the footage on your drive

however does not have bitsy the time

code is exactly the same but we've taken

it off so that you can use the footage

to cut a professional showreel to

attract potential clients

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the second thing to look at is the

footage log

this is a detailed list of every single

thing that was shot it has a description

of the scene the breakdown of all the

roll numbers and the start and ending

time code on each one

it's a really handy reference guide to

all of the rushes with all of the

relevant technical information about

them

if you want to quickly search for a

scene or a specific location this is the

place to look

next is the transcripts

over the course of the two-year

production there were numerous

interviews filmed with the main

characters

everyone has been transcribed and

time-coded so that you can quickly

search and find specific sync from our

characters

you know why i'm feeling confident

because i don't even think about what it

would be like if they're totally screwed

the director's notes are important

constructive based information about

each and every scene that was filmed

what the main content is how it was shot

what is the director's vision for the

scene

what are the most interesting parts in

the scene

possible ideas for cutting styles and a

whole host of other interesting

information that can really help us as

we start to cut

documentaries and entertainment shows

are very different to drama-based

filmmaking in the way that they are

created

most of the time the script in a drama

is completed way before the shooting has

even begun

in a documentary or entertainment show

however the script is often not finished

until the very last day of the edit

numerous elements are constantly

shifting and changing around right up

until the very end of the offline

what's common then in many forms of

television is to have a script outline

that the director will have written

after the shoot but before the edit

begins

these are a rough collection of possible

structural ideas for the scenes and sink

to go in and they provide a great

starting point for the preliminary

structure of the film

at the end of every tutorial there will

be at least one creative task for you to

do

this requires you to go back to your own

edit and start practicing the theories

concepts and techniques which you've

learned over the course of that tutorial

it really doesn't matter what edit

software you use all that matters is

that you do as many of these tasks as

possible and in the order that they are

assigned

and finally universal production music's

fantastic you drive software is also

there on the drive for you to install

onto your own system and start using

straight away

there's a mac or a windows version for

whichever type of operating system

you're running and it's accompanied by

two thousand beautiful tracks for you to

practice scoring with there are also

thousands of different variations on the

tracks

including shorter and longer edits

versions without lyrics and so on

as with the city's adorned footage

you're free to use these in a

non-commercial way to create your own

professional showroom

if however you'd like to use any of the

music for commercial purposes or gain

access to their full library of half a

million tracks then please contact the

universal offices in your own country

the details and links to which are on

the partners page of our website

[Music]

the universal production music library

really is the best library in the

business and as you'll soon be entering

into the professional editing market

it's essential that you get to know a

high-end music library as soon as

possible

it truly is an investment in your career

that's what's on the drive let's now

talk through how to get the most out of

the creative editing course

in this first tutorial we're going to

start off with just one simple concept

there's a latin saying that sums up the

point beautifully

fastina lente make haste slowly this has

been used for thousands of years and is

particularly applicable to learning the

craft of creative editing

it's a really simple principle

you must not rush through the course

this is not a week-long technical course

or a manual where the object is to

memorize as much of an editing interface

as possible

the creative editing course is a

one-year artistic endeavor it requires

repetition

diligence and above all practice we're

going to work through hundreds of

creative subjects

slowly

carefully and methodically just like the

actual craft itself

if we rush anything mistakes happen and

we'll never achieve the long-term

results we want

over the course of this year you'll not

only be learning the many theories of

creative editing but you'll also be

practicing cutting the hours and hours

of raw documentary footage on the hard

drive and in numerous different ways

the course is an accumulative process

and therefore it is so important that

you don't watch all of the tutorials as

quickly as possible without practicing

the many creative tasks

also each tutorial builds on the

knowledge of the previous one and so

doing them out of order is again not

encouraged

we're aiming for long-term memory

retention so the longer you take to go

through the course the more you practice

and repeat tutorials the more you'll get

out of it

we would encourage you to watch each

tutorial at least three times over the

course of your year's membership and

practice on the footage as much as

possible

if you don't grasp a concept as quickly

as you'd have liked just repeat the

tutorial until it sinks in

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[Music]

in creative editing there is no make

this scene great button

it's a meticulous and detailed craft

that tests our creative and intellectual

abilities at the very highest level

inside the edit was designed to make you

a better editor a better storyteller and

therefore a better filmmaker by teaching

you how to watch

analyze and construct any type of

footage into a beautiful and coherent

scene above all i wish you the very best

of luck on this fantastic journey and

truly hope you enjoy learning this

beautiful craft

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so

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okay let's look at some of the basic

abilities that are essential to becoming

a high level professional editor

primary amongst them is the ability to

watch something again

and again

and again

and each time pretend we've never seen

it before we're resetting our minds

we may be working with a director some

form of producer or a corporate client

in our edit suite

but even if we're not our clients want

every single shot of their film to be

absolutely perfect this means watching

it through many many times

adjusting it

trimming it and refining it

we also need to develop a very strong

affinity to precision as the slightest

adjustment or reorder of shots within

any scene can change its meaning

completely

there's an old and not very good joke in

editing what's the difference between

comedy and tragedy

answer 10 frames

it's a big marketplace in editing and

directors producers and production

companies all recognize editors who

really embrace perfectionism and go that

extra mile

speed is another winning ability

and often asked question by a potential

client about us is

are they fast but there's an illusion

here what's rarely talked about is that

there are two kinds of speed

first the ability to hit the buttons

we've memorized very very fast

and secondly the ability to cut scenes

in our head very very quickly

what no one really tells us in

post-production is that we want to

develop this second kind of skill

speed on the keyboard is handy but in no

way essential

so we shouldn't worry if we're not that

fast it will come in time

the skill that we're really interested

in developing is the ability to look at

some raw footage for a scene and

essentially cut them quickly in our head

many of the top editors within the

industry don't hit the buttons very fast

but they can pull a scene together

incredibly quickly as the thing is

already cut in their head

it's much better to sit and think for 30

seconds about what we're going to cut

and have a much more complete idea of

our goal than to start cutting and

constructing quickly with the buttons

and pull-down menus

so

let's start thinking about these few

basic abilities

one

resetting our minds

two precision

three

striving for perfection

and four

creative speed

okay let's now look at some of our basic

responsibilities

as an editor

primary amongst them is to make sure the

documentary entertainment show corporate

film whatever we're working on is as

good as it can be

we must have filtered through all of our

footage and taken out the absolute best

content and cut it all together in the

best way possible it has to be the most

enjoyable and informative experience for

our audience in order for that to happen

in the early stages of the edit we're

acting as a kind of creative filter

between our director's vision and the

reality of how this will be received by

the viewing audience

whatever the type of show we the editors

are the first audience

we are the person it must make sense to

first

if it's a complicated science

documentary we've got to understand it

if it's an emotional reality tv scene we

must be moved by it it must thrill and

excite us if we're trying to make a

slick music montage if it doesn't it's

our job to tell the client and most

importantly to come up with suggestions

on how to fix it

we are here to realize our clients dream

but we must also develop the ability to

filter out their bad ideas without

offending them

in that sense editing is as much about

diplomacy as anything else

any editing agent will tell you that a

television producer would rather spend

two months in an edit suite with someone

who was good and a really pleasant

person

then two months in an edit suite with

someone who was excellent but a complete

nightmare

and finally we must be able to deliver

on time

with the huge amounts of footage that

come with any half hour or one hour

program we could conceivably go on

editing forever and keep on making it

better and better each one of the

creative stages within the edit has a

time limit

and understanding this is essential

a production company or broadcaster only

has a certain amount of money in their

budget for editing and getting a name

for going over on a schedule is not wise

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so let's go through our basic

responsibilities as a professional

editor

one

making our film the best it can be

two

acting as a creative filter

we are the first audience

three

be nice

be diplomatic

be zen

and four deliver on time

start thinking about these abilities and

responsibilities as much as possible

memorize them like a mantra

they are the very foundations of our

work

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so

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for those new to the pro workflow let's

now take a detailed look at the various

stages of the creative editing process

what we call the offline

the offline is where 95 of the

creativity happens a stream of thousands

of creative choices are made to produce

at the end one unmixed ungraded precise

duration television show

each of these stages is a refinement on

the previous one a great mental image to

consider is that each of these stages is

methodically passing through our

sequences in waves

each time refining

filtering and making it slightly better

moving from rough cut to completion

stage one

the first stage is to ingest all of our

footage

this footage could be 10 minutes or

hundreds of hours depending on the type

of show we're working on it could also

be on tape or disk

if we're working on a show with a lot of

footage there's a good chance that the

media will be at a lower resolution to

save on disk space and keep the computer

running fast

stage two

the second stage is to sift through all

of this footage and start to organize as

much as possible

organization is the key to successful

editing

if we know everything we've got and

where it is our ability to make creative

decisions and to find specific shots as

quickly as possible is greatly increased

the amount of time we get to do this

will depend on what type of show we're

working on if it's a one or two hour

documentary we might be given several

months to edit and can therefore spend a

good amount of time watching and

organizing however if we're working on a

quick turnaround reality tv show the

likelihood is we'll have very little

time to organize and we'll be relying on

our client to find media

stage three

after we've sifted through our material

and organized it in a way that's easy

and quick for us to access

we move on to assembling this is the

stage where we start to mark our

favorite parts of our footage and edit

them down onto the timeline

we're getting a feel for our show by

building rough cuts of our scenes

it's an experimental stage that allows

us to really immerse ourselves in what

the show is about the characters and to

start playing around with the structure

many things will work at this stage and

many things won't

our scenes will be too long and usually

be full of duplications and structural

issues

stage four

after we've started to bolt our raw

elements together on the timeline this

next stage is where we'll be adding in

some of the more craft-based editing

we'll start to add commentary and music

to construct how the style and emotion

of each individual scene is going to

look and feel like

this could be a fairly quick process or

quite a lengthy one depending on the

duration of our film the amount of

footage and the time we've been given to

edit

if we're cutting a two-minute news

report it could take us a few hours if

we're cutting a 60-minute entertainment

show it could take us several weeks but

at the end of it we should have a very

baggy overly long repetitious cut of our

film

it's often at this stage that a more

senior producer or corporate client will

want to see the film back at the

production company they want to make

sure everything is working well

and that there are no problems which

require expensive reshoots they also

want to know that we're doing a good job

and are on schedule to finish in the

time allowed

at this stage we may also get notes on

what preliminary changes they would like

stage five is fine cutting

this is the time we go through our film

and start to perfect it we'll cut out

all excessive footage in our scenes and

really start to make the film tight

at this stage we don't leave many loose

ends and we'll aim to get about 90

percent of the work done

we'll have already seen the footage and

our rough cut sequences many many times

so concentration and attention to detail

will be very important at this point

we'll have sent a few versions of the

cut to our clients and will have had

another massive notes this stage tends

to be a more tense time in the edit as

the deadline is usually looming

it's not uncommon for the director to

start getting stressed and some of the

senior producers to start applying

pressure

if we're cutting our own film with no

client and no deadline this is often the

time that we start to lag

it's really important to push ourselves

at this stage as what often happens when

we take our foot off the accelerator is

our immersion into the narrative and

therefore our ability to be creative can

dry up

pressure is not always bad

stage six is what we call picture lock

we need to have a perfect film

down to exact time and with the clients

changes and notes all done

it's usually the most stressful time the

deadline is very near and if we're

working for a production company or

broadcaster they can often change their

mind at this stage

this is the stage with very long hours

lots of caffeine and lots of stress

it's a race to the finish

once it's been signed off our job as

creative editors is over and another

layer of creativity begins

our offline master will be re-ingested

at full resolution if it was edited at

low-res

and will then be sent off to be graded

mixed and played out to tape or encoded

for transmission

[Music]

[Music]

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some basic television terminology is

very handy to know

producers directors camera operators

sound operators series producers

supervising producers executive

producers and commissioning editors are

all going to start to talk to us in

these industry terms

so it's a good thing to know them

some of these vary depending on where we

are in the world but having worked in

multiple countries i find that there is

usually a version of all of these that

describes exactly the same thing

rushes

or footage or media

this is the 10 minutes or 10 hours of

footage that has been shot by the camera

operator the director or you

the rushes are the whole body of raw

footage that has been shot

and has to be whittled down to the final

duration

let's look back in the rushes for that

missing shot is a common term used in

the edit suite

time code timecode is television's eight

digit numerical labeling system that

locks everything that's been shot with a

unique set of numbers

hours minutes seconds and frames are

printed onto every single piece of media

by the camera

so we know where absolutely everything

is

at the end of our offline process we

have a graphical representation of our

film on the timeline

but our film is essentially a set of

time code numbers

running in the order that we edited them

shooting ratio

this is the term which relates to how

much was shot compared to what the

duration of our final film will be if

we've got to deliver a 60 second

commercial and 20 minutes of footage was

shot

that is a shooting ratio of 20 to 1.

if we're working on a one-hour

observational documentary that was shot

over many months

we might have a hundred hours of footage

that gives us a very high shooting ratio

of a hundred to one

reality tv and observational

documentaries famously have very high

shooting ratios

just like a drama any tv show in the

world would not shoot the program in

order

scene 1 isn't shot first and then scene

2 etc etc

the program will be shot in the order of

the availability of contributors

locations and logistics

and we reorder them all in the edit

interviews

it sounds obvious but it's worth an

explanation

these are shots where one of the

contributors in our show are being

interviewed by the director or producer

they may be looking off camera at the

person who is interviewing them but not

always we were so close to not making it

another common term in the edit suite is

sync

sync is a general term that means

footage of someone talking

like an interview it will be common for

a director to ask us if

is there any sync of someone talking

about this

pieces to camera or ptc's

these are usually done by presenters of

our show if we have one

they are pre-written or at least

rehearsed short monologues which are

said directly to camera

b-roll

these are the shots filmed that show the

subject of our scene whether it's a

person place or thing

and will be used as what some editors

call wallpaper shots to illustrate the

scene

cutaways

these are the b-roll shots that are used

in the edit to hide cuts in the

interviews

if we've cut out a chunk of someone's

interview we'll have a jump cut in there

a cutaway hides the cut and is usually

chosen based on the subject of what the

person or people are talking about

but it's not just jump cuts that these

shots are hiding

if there's anything at all in the shot

that we think could be distracting to

the viewer for example a member of the

public waving to the camera in the

background while our interviewee is

talking will also hide that with a

cutaway

many tv shows and corporate films have

commentary also known as voiceover or

narration

this is audio only descriptive speech

and it has many uses

it can be used to describe what's going

on in a scene or it can create the right

frame of mind for the audience it can

help reinforce a particularly difficult

concept or even link together or

summarize a sequence of concepts that

the audience has just watched

many times we'll hear in the edit suite

their abbreviations

com

or vo

transitions dissolves or cross dissolves

these are visual effects that represent

the passing of time from one scene or

one shot to another

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different editing programs call them

different names but they all do the same

thing

the most common are a cross dissolve or

a fade up or down to black at the start

or end of a scene

stings

these are quick graphical or shot

transitions that are used to get out of

scenes or locations

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they're commonly used in entertainment

shows game shows and studio based

programs

but there are also many documentaries

that use them as a cutting style to give

a sense of speed

actuality

actuality is footage of a person or

group of people talking or doing things

in any environment when they are not

being interviewed

a good way to think about it is that

generally they are not acknowledging the

camera's existence like they would do in

an interview

much of reality tv an observational

documentary is made up of this type of

footage it's a sticker it's a sticker

yeah because they they just put it on a

panel

pickup shot

a pickup shot is a shot or group of

shots like a close-up of something that

is essential to the scene but was

usually missed when filming it

the camera operator could have been

filming something dramatic and didn't

want to spoil the filming by stopping

the action and getting the necessary

shot

it is very common to find many of the

b-roll or cutaways for the scene we're

editing at the end of all the footage

shots

an essential part of the editing process

is to know all the names of the shots

here's a list of some of the most widely

used

wide shot

medium shot

close up

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extreme close-up

profile

pan

tilt

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track

slow-mo

freeze frame

and time-lapse

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so those are some great terms for us to

memorize

we may know many of them already or we

may not

if at any point during the course we

need a refresher let's go back and watch

this tutorial again

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have you ever pitched an idea to a

friend a family member or a colleague

it could be anything you might have told

them why you should buy this thing

instead of that or why both of you

should go on this holiday instead of

that one

of course everyone has it's part of life

well

you're already an editor

you've told a story and while telling

that story you've highlighted all the

points that convince your audience and

you've conveniently left out all the

ones that don't you've created a

narrative

and this is an essential first concept

you know you wouldn't see through the

glass so much

the beautiful art of editing is all

about taking everything that's been

given to us cutting out the bad

keeping all the good and molding it into

the best possible version of itself

it is the art of creative subtraction

we are creating art by taking

non-essential things away

it's a mix between the subjective and

the objective

if we gave 10 editors the same footage

we'd end up with 10 different scenes

every single time so you could say that

there is definitely a wrong way but

there are many versions of a right way

to do things

there is no perfect scene a great

concept to start thinking about is to

realize that editing is a state of mind

it is not a piece of software or a

button or a pull-down menu or a shortcut

key these are just tools to help us

realize our film faster

the way we watch footage structure it

choose the best music and do all the

numerous things it takes to create a

beautiful scene is created in our mind

and then transferred onto the timeline

let's review our first concepts

one

creating a narrative

cutting out the bad and keeping the good

two

creative subtraction

creating art by taking non-essential

things away

three

there's wrong but there's multiple

versions of right

and four editing happens in our heads

it's a state of mind

congratulations on completing the first

chapter

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watching a good editor is a bit like

watching a duck on a pond

they may look like what they're doing is

effortless but under the water their

legs are kicking like crazy

a good editor is continuously watching

footage and analyzing it for its content

and at the same time any possible

structure

the film is cut in their mind as they

are watching the footage

and all they have to do is then press

the right buttons so that what is in

their mind then gets translated to the

specific blocks on the timeline

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now the first step on the road to this

creativity is to make sure that we are

perfectly organized

remember there are so many different

elements that make up a film

b-roll interviews music sound effects

etc etc whenever we are first confronted

with this mountain of raw media we

should ask ourselves a few preliminary

questions

firstly

how am i going to categorize this

particular element

secondly where does it belong

the best way to never be overwhelmed by

anything large is to cut it up into

smaller pieces and bunch those pieces

together in a form of categorization

there are multiple layers of

organization in an edit

from the basic to the very complex so

let's start looking at the most basic

the construction of our master bins in

our project window

on the first day of the edit we should

create a set of master bins that will be

labeled along the following lines as the

edit progresses and expands in size and

complexity through the coming weeks so

will our bins will create sub bins

within these master bins

the first one i will create will be

called rushes or footage

this is where i put in all the hours and

hours of raw material that has been shot

and ingested

it could be one tape or disc if i'm

editing a short promo or news report

or it could be 100 tapes or disks if i'm

working on a long documentary

next i'll start a bin or a folder

depending on what software i'm using

called sequences

this is where i put in all of my

different rough cuts that i begin to

build

i'll usually have a list of sub bins

inside this as the edit gets bigger

each one of these sub bins will be built

to house the many versions of scenes

that i'm working on cut 1 cut two cut

three etc etc

this bin will definitely get much bigger

as i work my way through the edit

my music bin will contain all the music

that i import into the project for use

in the film

and again as the project gets bigger and

bigger i'll create new folders or sub

bins in order to categorize the many

different genres or sources of music i

pull into the edit

i always make sure that every time i

import a track it's clearly labeled with

the name of the track and the artist who

it belongs to

at the end of the edit it's common for

the production company to want a

complete list of everything that's been

used in the show as copyright will need

to be cleared for its use

there is nothing more frustrating to a

production manager to have 25 untitled

tracks on their edit decision list

the next one i'll create will be a

voiceover bin

any voiceover or commentary gets

recorded into this bin

i tend to just do this numerically and

not label the exact text of the

voiceover as this gets re-recorded again

and again

after that i'll create an effects bin

anything like freeze frames or imported

jpegs or animations i'll stick in here

again if i need additional sub

categorizations as the project gets

bigger i always do them we can never be

too organized this may or may not be

applicable to the genre i'm working in

but if there's archive footage in my

film i will start an archive bin or

folder with various sub bins created

later to indicate the different sources

and different subjects

next i always have a bin called

duplicates and there's a very good

reason for this

a key thing to remember in editing is

that we or our director or producer will

often change our minds about something

while cutting

when this happens it's essential that we

duplicate the sequence that we're

working on and stick it into our

duplications bin in order to create a

legacy of editing decisions

if we decide to try something new or go

off on a tangent from the script with a

particular scene and then decide after a

while it's not working we'll want to go

back to where we left off

if we haven't saved the previous version

we'll be in a lot of difficulty we may

have to rebuild parts of the sequence by

hand and often from the very start

most importantly we won't look good in

front of our client

through many years of experience if my

director suddenly says to me hold on

i've got a fantastic idea i immediately

duplicate the sequence

the next bin to create is a sound

effects bin any sound effects will be

imported into here and of course if i'm

dealing with a lot of sound effects or

multiple sources of sound effects i will

create more sub bins

now i always create a bin called junk

these are the things that i don't need

to keep but there's something inside me

that says i should

they might be ideas i've tried out but

didn't work or there might be scenes

that were cut

never delete anything

it's always good practice to leave a

paper trail of everything that's been

tried in the edit we never know if it

will be needed again weeks into the

future

many times a director has said to me do

you remember that weird idea we tried

about five weeks ago maybe that will fit

in here at the end of scene 12. to be

honest it's always better to be a

paranoid hoarder just in case

so that's our first layer of

organization and it's good to start it

on the very first day of a new show

now it's important to say that it's not

essential that you copy this precisely

you can make up whatever names you want

but as long as they are clearly labeled

you stick to using them and above all

whatever names you've chosen they make

sense to you

what we are creating here is the first

layer of categorization in what is

essentially a digital filing cabinet

our ability to access any of the

different content within our raw footage

whether it's a particular shot or a

specific sound effect is made much much

easier when we have an intelligent

labeling system within our edit

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so after we've created our master bins

and put all the corresponding elements

into their rightful places

it's time to start the second layer

the organizing of the footage itself

this next process is where in some

genres of television we often don't get

the time

in certain fast turnaround high shooting

ratio reality tv shows we are cutting

numerous sequences by the hour and there

is no time for detailed organization

but in an hour-long entertainment show

or feature-length documentary where we

have a few months to edit the film there

is definitely time and it's actually

encouraged

you could say that the depth to which we

break down is relative to the length we

have in the edit schedule

so we'll start to look at what's in our

russia's bin and subdivide it into

further categories

the benefits of the subdivision of the

rushes if time allows are enormous and

numerous and we'll take a look at them

in detail

now we spoke about speed in the previous

chapter

organization and speed are deeply

connected one of our main jobs in these

early stages is to act as a kind of

librarian to all the footage

we are going to get hundreds sometimes

thousands of shots across multiple tapes

or discs and we have to know where

everything is and be able to pull up and

watch every single shot in our software

very quickly

the organization of media is something

that if not done can slow us down

dramatically and make us look bad in

front of our client if we spend ages

searching for a shot or scene because we

haven't organized or labeled our raw

footage properly we'll lose hours and

therefore days over the course of a long

edit

every single genre of television or

corporate film is made up of different

elements

for example an entertainment or reality

show might be made up of lots of

actuality scenes and lots of short

interviews

a political or historical documentary

might be made up of hours of archive

material and lots of long interviews it

doesn't matter what the genre is when

we're organizing what matters is that

every single different element is

categorized and labeled as much as

possible into the sections based on what

has been shot

let's look through some well-used

headlines to order our footage into and

some examples of when they be used

characters

this is a very well used headline

let's say that we're working on a

documentary or a reality tv show that

has two or three different characters

and the intended structure of the film

is intercutting the various scenes

between all two or three

if we've got a bin inside our master

brushes folder with everything that's

been shot from each character will be

able to effortlessly access and move

between each set of rushes separately

and quickly

locations

this is a good one if we're working on a

show where the narrative structure is

location dependent

say for example a travel show where the

character in the show goes from location

to location

themes or story lines

this is an excellent way to organize

some of the more structurally

complicated tv shows i've used these in

political documentaries science

documentaries and genres like that where

multiple interviewees are talking about

a lot of different subjects

for example we could have 15 people

being interviewed for a documentary

we're working on about the history of

say world war ii or the history of say

nasa

these will be very complex films made up

of multiple themes and storylines

and many of the contributors will be

talking about the various subjects

independently

creating a bin called the moon landing

and then putting in everyone who talks

about it would be an excellent way of

compartmentalization

scenes

i use this one all the time and it's

probably the most used by editors

it's great for all manner of tv shows

corporate films and certain genres of

documentary

the footage in many films can be simply

cut up into easily identifiable scenes

if we know that all of scene 22's

footage is shot over discs 4 5 6 and 7.

then a good idea would be to put discs 4

5 6 and 7 in a bin called scene 22

interviews

this is usually a practice i do more in

documentary than in entertainment shows

or reality tv

documentaries often have specific

sit-down interviews that are properly

lit

and may even be in a studio setting

so therefore this is an excellent

organizational structure

however many entertainment or reality tv

shows have a different kind of interview

they are often filmed on the move and

relate to specific scenes or pieces of

actuality that have just happened or

just about to happen

and so are better tied together in a bin

with the rest of the scene's footage

instead of a separate interview bin

part 1 2 3 etc etc

most tv shows have commercial breaks and

some editors like to structure their

footage into sections that are clearly

divisible into the parts between these

specific commercial breaks

this also might happen if we had more

than one editor working on a tv show the

production company could give us all the

rushes for parts 1 and 2 in our edit and

the editor next door could get all the

rushes for parts 3 and 4 in theirs

obviously if we're working for an

internet-based production company or if

we're editing a corporate film this is

not going to be applicable to us

so the underlying theme in many of these

is that we're often using the director's

vision or the genre type to categorize

and organize the rushes

one word of warning though

as with any part of the editing process

it's always possible to go too far

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it's not a good idea to spend half our

edit schedule just organizing

that will end in tears as about the time

we're supposed to be delivering our

first rough cut we may only have just

finished organizing the footage

it's about balance and categorizing our

time

we must ask what the important delivery

dates are within any edit schedule

before we start any edit

this will allow us to plan the level and

detail we can organize

if we don't have a client or it's our

own film we're editing

lucky us

we can create our own schedule

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now there are a couple of very

interesting secondary advantages of

doing a detailed organization of our

footage

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firstly we get to see all of our footage

for the very first time

this is very important and is going to

tell us many things about what we've got

to work with

what is the footage like

is it shot well do we like the framing

is it well directed can we see their

style coming through

are there any particular moves they like

shooting

putting names to faces with the

characters

and importantly are we going to

encounter any problems like focusing

issues

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secondly we'll get to know what we've

got to work with

after seeing our footage for the first

time we've got a very good idea as to

what's been shot

everything we watch will be placed in

our short-term memory so when we trawl

through our footage when organizing it

we'll have a great idea of the

characters involved and what and where

they do everything that's in our film

an ideal scenario is to see everything

at least once before we start cutting

we then know what we've got and what we

haven't

remember we are here to act as the first

audience that means giving an opinion

and feedback at every stage to our

clients

we can't do that if we've only seen a

limited amount of the rushes it would be

like writing a book review without

reading the original book

so these are two great additional

advantages to organizing our footage

as we've discussed sometimes it's not

always possible to go this in depth

but if we do get the chance we should

take it

many new to editing want to rush in and

start cutting things together on the

timeline

resist the urge it really will pay off

in the long run

it really is tempting to jump in and

start creating but put the brakes on

just for a short while

even if time doesn't allow a really

quick high-speed scan through the rushes

of a scene can still be very very

helpful

your eye will pick up loads of useful

information in a few seconds even if you

don't hear any of the sink

who's in the scene whether it's an

interior or exterior how long it lasts

the geography of the location etc etc we

should know all the facts before we make

a judgment

and so watch all the relevant footage

before we cut the scene

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it's common for many directors to get

agitated when we start doing this as

they are losing control and have already

seen the footage

after all they were on location

we should stick to our guns

the sequence will be better and we'll

have done it quicker than if we just

relied on their ideas about what should

be pulled out of the footage

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as we've seen chopping up the many

elements within our film whatever genre

we're working in is a great preliminary

task

so how do we actually go about doing

this from a technical point of view

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well there are two main ways

sub clipping and sequence clips

sub clipping is a very simple technique

where we create smaller clips out of the

larger original rushes

we'll watch through our longer raw

footage a roll at a time and cut them up

into clearly labeled smaller clips

let's look through this process

for this i'm going to be working with a

really great b-roll only scene shoot 32

tony wake up

okay i'm going to be nice and organized

and start a new folder

i'll call this sub clips

and i'll then start a new bin and call

it 32 wake up sub clips

again let's be tidy and put the bin

inside the sub clips folder

okay

so let's load up the rushes for shoot 32

in the viewer monitor

okay i'll just start playing through

it looks like the first shot has started

there so i'll just rewind that a tiny

bit so we get the start of the shot

where anthony's alarm goes off

good

and what i'm going to do now is make an

in point where i want this new sub clip

to start

and carry on playing

great

so i've defined the start of the new sub

clip

let's see where this shot goes

now i'm essentially looking for an out

point

so his alarm has gone off he's turning

on the light

okay so we've got a nice wide shot here

so the question i'm asking myself here

is when is this shot going to end

when do i finish this first sub clip

okay it seems to have ended here as the

camera operator is giving some kind of

direction to anthony

and then it's gone into another shot

so let's stop there rewind it a bit

and go and find an exact out point

i'll just mark that up

so that's now an isolated selection with

clearly defined in and out points

let's sub clip that into our bin

and we'll give it a name

we'll call it wide shot tony

turning on light and getting up now i've

noticed it's 42 seconds quite long but

good information to have about this new

clip

great our first detailed sub clip taken

out of the larger original rushes

on to the next one i'll just remove the

in and the out points and begin looking

for the start of the next shot

okay straight away there's a new shot

what looks like a close-up profile

angled shot

let's just rewind that and look for our

in point

that looks good about there before

anthony's head comes into the shot let's

mark that and carry on playing through

looking for our out point it's a nice

shot quite dark

he's rubbing his eyes

nice head movement

he's yawning

so where's this shot going to end

okay so the camera operator zoomed out

and reframed to a wider shot

we won't use the zoom out so let's just

rewind that and find the out point

before the reframing

looks good about there

we'll put in our out point there and

repeat the sub clipping process

so we'll call it a close-up profile shot

tony getting out of bed

there we go

sub clip number two

great

next

i'm going to remove the in and the out

points again and carry on playing

through and look for the in point of sub

clip number three

looks like we can go immediately here

into this wide profile shot

let's mark an in point there

carry on playing through and looking for

the out

what's he doing here

he's looking really tired

he's adjusting his neck kind of

interesting

there's some off-camera direction there

from the director

he's going down to get his shoes

i think i can play this at double speed

now

50 frames a second

we can still get what's going on and

find where the shot ends

it's quite long this one

okay we've moved into a close-up there

so we'll stop and rewind that a bit

let's get out of this shot before the

camera movement so we can have a nice

tidy end to this new sub clip

i'll mark an out point again

sub clip it

and clearly label it

we'll call this wide shot profile tony

yawning and putting on boots there we go

three nice sub clips extracted out of

the original rushes let's carry on going

through losing the old in and out points

and looking for that new in we've gone

straight into a close-up here okay let's

stop

rewind and find a good in point there

looks like a nice clean in

let's play through and look for that new

out point

great there looks good just before the

camera zooms out again let's sub clip

we'll call it

close up tony tying shoelaces

there we go now using this technique i'd

go through the whole of this or any

other russia's role i wanted organized

and repeat this whole process

i'd carve out every single shot that

looks good giving myself this new highly

organized structure

as you can see this is an excellent way

of keeping everything in order so if we

or our director want to see a particular

shot we just go to this specific bin and

we can find it very very quickly

now the only downside to this technique

is that if we're working within a genre

that has a very high volume of footage

this can be very time consuming and ends

up stealing time from possible

creativity

the second way is to edit the whole roll

down onto the timeline

creating a new sequence

and instead of choosing the shots we

like

we take away everything we don't like

at the end all that's left is shots that

we like in the form of isolated blocks

so this is a subtractive form of editing

let's take a look at this process

i'll close down the subclips bin and i'm

now going to start a new bin called

breakdowns

let's again be nice and tidy and place

this breakdowns bin in our sequences

folder

there we go

okay let's load up our rushes again into

our viewing monitor now what i'll do

here is mark the whole roll and overlay

it down onto the timeline it's just

going to ask me where i want this

sequence to live

i want it to go into breakdowns

great

so we've got an untitled sequence here

in our breakdowns bin i'm going to call

this

32 wake up breakdown

there we go it's around 14 and a half

minutes long now

in this process we are subtracting parts

of the rushes that we don't want

this whole chunk here at the start i

know i don't want i'll mark an in at the

start

i'll then press play and look for the

start of a shot i do want

which is around here i'll mark an out

point where the shot starts so all of

this here can be deleted leaving only

the start of the first shot that i do

want

let's play through and see where this

shot ends

i'm going to speed through this as we've

already seen these rushes and we know

what happens

remember we're subtracting i do like

this shot and i want to keep it on the

timeline so i'm looking for the end of

it where i'll mark an in point denoting

that everything after the end of this

shot and the start of the new one can be

deleted thus leaving only what i want on

the timeline

okay there it is i'll put in my in point

we can carry on playing we know it

changes into that close-up profile shot

straight away i'll stop there

find where i want to come in and on this

new shot i'll place my out point at the

very start of the second shot

like so

so again everything between this in and

out point i don't want

i can cut this

there we go we now have an isolated shot

in the form of a block on the timeline

this is the same as a sub clip but it's

now here on the timeline

we've reversed the selection process by

taking out everything we don't want as

opposed to sub clipping which is

including everything we do want

let's carry on playing

we know what happens in this shot it's

that close up profile

we've already got our start so we're

looking to find our end and mark a new

in point

it zooms out to that wider framing we

can speed through this a bit

and there we go let's rewind a little

bit and find the end of the shot

great

we can mark an in point there carry on

playing

let's mark our out point

again this whole area here is

superfluous content we do not need it we

can delete it and leave only the perfect

end of the outgoing shot

and the perfect start of the incoming

shot let's carry on playing through

i think we can speed through this again

as this was another longer shot and

we've already seen it

he went to put on his boots and then it

moved into a close-up

so let's just stop there and play

backward to find our new in point that's

where the camera stops wobbling

i'll mark in there let's press play

again and look for our out point

bang there we go we've got yet another

area to delete leaving only what we want

on the timeline let's just adjust this

view and zoom in a little bit

so we can see that using this technique

we now have isolated shots on the

timeline

again i'd obviously go through the rest

of the role and repeat the process so

that at the end i'd have a nice

organized timeline with only what i

wanted appearing as neat blocks in the

sequence

it's similar to sub clipping as we've

got what we wanted out of the rushes

but the way we did it was through

subtraction

as opposed to creation

we don't get the neat labeling system

that we do with subclips but it's a very

quick way of subdividing our rushes with

a number of great advantages

we can see how much footage has been

shot for our scene on the timeline for

example a director tells us that this

scene is supposed to be no more than

three minutes and there's three hours of

rushes on the timeline this can let us

know how long it'll take to go through

it all

another advantage is that we can quickly

try stuff out if we get a sudden

creative idea

which one of these processes we choose

depends on several factors including how

much footage we've got and the specific

genre in each set of rushes

but guaranteed we will use both of them

out there in the pro world so it's

important to try them both out

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so we've set up our project we've had a

good first go at organizing our footage

into a logical structure

pretty soon we're going to be laying

down shots on our timeline and trying

stuff out

a good point to raise here is how we

engage with the timeline from a creative

point of view

a very little known or talked about

subject in non-linear editing it's as

important to organize our timeline with

as much accuracy and consistency as it

is our footage

you'd be surprised by how much this

subject is ignored within the

professional editing community

what we're talking about here is track

laying

the structure and assignment of

different media elements to different

tracks on our timeline

so let's go through a demonstration of

how we would tracklay

our first and most important element

that makes up a huge percentage of many

scenes is the video and audio associated

with people talking what we call sync

this could be the sync from a sit-down

interview or it could be the sync from

some actuality

we would place the video and associated

audio onto our most important tracks

v1 and a1 and 2.

these tracks are reserved for what is

essentially master speech and picture

tracks or what we call

a-roll

our next most important element is

usually our b-roll the secondary images

that so often illustrate what our

character is talking about in their main

sync

when laying these shots down onto the

timeline we can place the video on v2

and the associated audio on

3 and 4. these shots are often hiding

jump cuts that were made on our v1 layer

and so can be repositioned throughout

the edit when we start changing our sync

without causing problems to the master

sync tracks on the lower levels

so

a-roll and b-roll take up a huge

percentage of the content of many of our

scenes

but there are several other audio based

elements that are often inserted into

any timeline let's go through them

music is a very large part in any

television program

and we can end up using dozens of tracks

in any half hour or one hour show

so we can place all of our music tracks

onto a five and six

it's quite rare that we'd use more than

one piece of music at a time and so

using these pair of tracks for our music

is usually enough

another consistent audio element we use

is voiceover or commentary whichever you

prefer to call it

we can lay this down onto a7 and 8.

and lastly we may have sound effects of

some description

which we can place down on a9 and 10.

so this is a great way to organize our

timeline

but why do we need to be so precise

well there are multiple advantages to

being tidy and again one of the primary

advantages is speed

speed is greatly increased by being

consistent in how we engage with the

timeline

consistency means many of the repetitive

jobs we do throughout our editing day

will quickly become a reflex

we want to get to a point as quickly as

possible in our career where we don't

have to think about the action

it becomes automatic

we know where everything is and on what

tracks

if we know that whatever type of element

we edit onto our timeline for example

b-roll or voice-over or master interview

gets placed onto the exact same tracks

before long we'll get incredibly fast

when moving elements around on the

timeline which is a huge percentage of

narrative editing

what we don't want is a complete mess

where different elements have been

edited down onto the timeline with no

consistency and no logic it can take

time to figure out where everything is

and so again can steal time away from

creativity it's totally fine to use as

many video tracks as you need and so

many pro editors use more than two when

it's called for

for example a multicam edit but what

they are extremely careful about is the

logic and consistency of what's on each

one

at the end of the offline process

they'll be required to tidy up their

work by collapsing all of the unused

tracks down to as few layers as possible

before they hand it over to the online

editor

and audio mixer

so that's a great way to keep things

nice and tidy

now there will be times when we have

more elements than tracks

and the need to put multiple audio clips

across tracks that are not in these

categories

this does happen i find it quite rare

but it does occur

it's nothing to worry about

but the most important fact to remember

on this subject is that when it does

occur we are consistent in the way that

we choose to do it

consistency is everything in the end it

doesn't really matter what system you

create for yourself the simple fact is

is that the more we are organized and

consistent in every aspect of our edit

the quicker we will be we don't want to

waste time doing things that are

unnecessary we want to spend the maximum

amount of time

on creativity

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you