It’s in the Edit: 5 Quick Tips for a Compelling Video

Posted by Scott Leamon on Jul 25, 2010 in Blog, Film | 1 comment

“The essence of cinema is editing. It’s the combination of what can be extraordinary images of people during emotional moments, or images in a general sense, put together in a kind of alchemy.”
- Francis Ford Coppola

Regardless of the deliverable, from feature films to low-budget web videos, one of the key ingredients to communicating a message or story through video is the edit. Yes, a strong narrative thread, creative vision and quality footage are essential. However, to bring all those elements together in an engaging and coherent way that is either informative or entertaining to the viewer, the edit must be well planned and executed.

1. Pacing and rhythm
This may be the hardest of all to articulate. We as viewers often never recognize the amount of time an editor puts into weaving together good sequence of images. As they shouldn’t – a good edit should be transparent to the viewer. The pace of a sequence is often dictated by such elements as the narration/dialogue or music. Time must be considered for the viewer to absorb what is being stated both aurally and visually and reflect upon it. Let the sequence breath unless it is fast-paced; in this case a more jarring cutting method is likely needed.

2. Use multiple camera angles
Tired of that static headshot of the talking head? Nervous about having relevant b-roll to cut in-and-out of? Use a second camera. I know, you don’t have the budget for a second camera, let alone another skilled videographer. There is a creative solution. Use whatever handheld camera that you have easily accessible. Maybe even your camera phone–why not?!? A second camera will provide an alternative to the one-shot for quick cutaways. It helps keep viewer’s interests and can add a nice creative touch to what may otherwise come off as boring.

Establish your static shot with the superior camera and have a grip (or even the producer) use the other camera as a handheld. Walk around the subject – of course without being disruptive and getting in the way. Keep a loose but steady feel with the camera. Also allow yourself to go tight and loose on the subject when appropriate. I will often setup tilts and pans in-between answers, this will give the editor options for using the cutaway camera for transitions. I’ll also sometimes effect the footage (black and white, over saturated, etc) of the second camera in post, if the end product lends itself to an edgier feel.

3. Planning and organization
You think you have everything covered. All the footage is digitized, you have temp music (or the score), some canned SFX, the narration is recorded. That’s all I need, right? Not really. Before going into an edit it is wise to have a schedule specifically for this phase. Try to map out, to the best of your ability, a timeline of the event. Add touch points and milestones. Work in time for review, breaks, revisions. Be realistic.

Have all your assets labeled properly and organized. Work with an assistant to setup a file naming convention. This will make communication much easier when the producer or director needs to find a shot or piece of music. Create a database in Filemaker or Excel listing all elements. Use tags and descriptors so it is easily searchable. Nothing can be more frustrating than digging through dozens of hours of footage for that “shot of the trees with nice light on that one day.” There is no such thing as being TOO organized!

4. Storyboard your ideas
I’m currently working on a 30 minute documentary that is a mix of archival still images and landscape motion. We have nearly 13 hours of footage and 300 still images! In order to find the best of the best and begin finding visuals that support the narrative; we printed off a still from each motion select and a postcard sized version of each still image. In ideation we take these and post them to a wall and begin assembling a sequence. At first it was tedious getting all the images prepared but in the long run it has saved us maybe hundreds of hours of digging through the electronic files and reviewing footage. This method has allowed us more time to think through an idea rather than get bogged down in the abundance of options we have in digital assets.

5. Effective transitions
Moving from one shot to the next helps weave the narrative thread, it also sets the stage for a new setting or sequence, and also ends the sequence. The most common visual transition is the simple cut. This works especially well when switching between angles of actors with on camera dialogue or during action sequences. Conversely, it does not work well in a slow moving, emotive sequence. This is when the cross dissolve is used most. Dissolves can range from .5 seconds to a long as 20 seconds. However, the longer the dissolves means the footage on the tail and head of each clip must blend naturally from one to the other. Take time to find the shots that match naturally and adjust the length of the dissolve accordingly. Again, this is a feel. It either works or it doesn’t. There are of course several other methods of visual dissolves. These are only the two most common. Other more graphical dissolves work well in television bumpers and home movies. As you can tell, I’m not a big fan of the page flips and zooms!

The use of sound effects can also reinforce a visual transition. If your dissolving shots have nat sounds underneath, then dissolve the sounds accordingly. I’ll often lead and extend the sound dissolves longer than the visuals. The use of swishes and other sound effects are great for fast paced transitions when creating a more dramatic change of scenery or material.

These are a few tips that come to mind. I’d like to know what you think. Please add to the discussion in the comments.