Technical Skills and Development - Editing

Technical Skills Development

Editing

(Sagar)

Film editing is part of the process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling.
 Film editing is the only art that is unique to cinema, separating film-making from other art forms that preceded it (such as photography, theater, dance, writing, and directing), although there are close similarity to the editing process in other art forms like poetry or novel writing.
Film editing is often referred to as the invisible art because when it is well-practiced, the viewer can become so engaged that he or she is not even aware of the editor's work.

On its most basic level, film editing is the art, technique, and practice of assembling shots into a whole. A film editor is a person who practices film editing by assembling the footage.
However, the job of an editor isn’t simply to mechanically put pieces of a film together, cut off film takes, or edit dialogue scenes. A film editor must creatively work with the layers of images, story, dialogue, music, pacing, as well as the actors' performances to effectively re-imagine and even rewrite the film to craft a cohesive whole. Editors usually play a dynamic role in the making of a film.

With the event of digital editing, film editors and their assistants have become responsible for many areas of filmmaking that used to be the responsibility of others. For instance, in past years, picture editors dealt only with just that—picture.
 Sound, music, and (more recently) visual effects editors dealt with the practicalities of other aspects of the editing process, usually under the direction of the picture editor and director.
 However, digital systems have increasingly put these responsibilities on the picture editor. It is common, especially on lower budget films, for the assistant editors or even the editor to cut in music, mock up visual effects, and add sound effects or other sound replacements.
These temporary elements are usually replaced with more refined final elements by the sound, music, and visual effects teams hired to complete the picture.

Film editing is an art that can be used in diverse ways. It can create sensually provocative montages; become a laboratory for experimental cinema; bring out the emotional truth in an actor's performance; create a point of view on otherwise obtuse events; guide the telling and pace of a story; create an illusion of danger where there is none; give emphasis to things that would not have otherwise been noted; and even create a vital subconscious emotional connection to the viewer, among many other possibilities.

(Jasmine)

Using Final Cut Pro

Digital Video Rushes
For narrative project rushes, there are pieces of footage from a certain period of shooting. This footage is not edited, this is used as a way to show some members of the cast and crew what kind of footage needs to be recorded for each scene. These rushes are presented without any kind of constructive order. They are left in the order they are filmed. This is to prepare them for viewing there is a special process to get them onto a format for standard viewing.

Importing RushesBefore you actually export the rushes from Final Cut Pro you will have to get them into this non-linear video editing software to begin with. If you are shooting on a HD digital storage format such as a P2 card this means using Log and Transfer to get those MXF files into your Final Cut Pro Browser and Project. If you are using Standard Definition digital video then you will use Log and Capture to take the footage from your DV tapes and into your Final Cut Pro project.

Arranging Rushes in Final Cut Pro
Once you have gotten all the footage in there make sure that the clips are split up into each individual take or insert. Then label them according to the scene order you want it to fall in and take number so that you can clearly see exactly what clip it is. You will look back at your shot list to double check what order each angle was taken in so that you know exactly what order to arrange them in.

Files and Folders/Timeline/Sequencing
Files and Folders:A Final Cut Pro Project consists of three main separate files:

1). Project File - A binary file which contains all montage information such as time code information, clip's in/out-points, size/crop/position, composition nesting, filter settings, automation data, Etc.

2). Media Source Files - Either captured from tape or loaded/imported from the file system.

3). Render Files, Cache Files - Files which are generated by Final Cut Pro display, filter effects, etc.

The location of the Media and the Render/Cache Files is not standardised. Final Cut Pro can be configured where to store them. After having finished a project, one can erase everything but the project file, to save disk space, and at a later time Final Cut Pro can re-capture/re-link all source data and recalculate all render and cache data.

Timeline:Clips can be edited together in timelines called sequences. Sequences can be nested inside other sequences, so that a filter or transition can be applied to the grouped clips.

The timeline in Final Cut Pro allows video tracks to be layered on top of each other. If a clip is higher in the timeline than another, then it obscures whatever is below it. The size of a video clip can be altered and there are many other settings that can be changed. The clarity levels can also be altered to make it sound like the feeling you want it to. It can also animate over the whole track using key frames. Final Cut Pro also has other compositing modes that can be applied to clips, such as Add, Subtract, Difference, Screen, Multiply, Overlay, and Travel Matte Luma /Alpha. The compositing mode can be changed through the contextual menu.

Sequencing:
Start by creating a base at the beginning announcing the project, the director, the scenes that were recorded, and the date for the shoot that the rushes came from. Then begin stacking the unedited clips according to the order that they were shot on the Timeline. This will create a very long sequence of raw footage, but this is the way that the rushes need to be presented.

Exporting From Final Cut ProOnce you have a final sequence of your rushes using your Timeline you need to go to File and choose to export using QuickTime. This will give you a large base QuickTime file that is easily viewable from any digital location. You then can just transfer it onto another digital storage (disk). The file size can often be fairly large, so if it is too big just open the QuickTime file into compressor and choose a codec that will maintain the base QuickTime format but will shrink it up a bit.