Video editing can be a rewarding and creative process, but it also requires careful planning and preparation. If you want to avoid wasting time, money, and energy on reshooting or redoing your work, you need to ensure you have all the necessary footage for your project. Here are some tips to help you achieve that goal.
Before you start filming, you should have a clear idea of what story you want to tell, and how you want to tell it. This will help you decide what shots, angles, and transitions you need, and how to organize them in a logical and coherent sequence. You can use a script, a storyboard, or a shot list to outline your narrative and visual elements, and make sure you have enough coverage and variety for each scene.
Tudo come?a com o roteiro. Se o seu projeto tem narra??o ou cabe?as, escreva tudo o que vai ser ouvido no vídeo e grave tudo, mesmo aquilo que você sabe que será coberto com b-roll. Eu costumo fazer uma lista, no bloco de notas mesmo, com todas as imagens que eu preciso antes de ligar a camera, ordenadas pelo cenário e angulos de camera que eu pretendo usar.
It’s also incredibly important to self regulate yourself while doing this. Coverage, or getting enough footage and angles to effectively tell the story you want to is crucial, however it’s all crucial not to radically overshoot as it can consume resources and take far too much time.
As you go out to shoot, think about the story you want to tell and all the pieces that bring that story together. Consider the small details that you may inadvertently overlook. I have the timeline in my head before I have it in my editing software. As I go into a shoot, I look at the location and think, “what can I shoot that will give the viewer the full experience of being here without them actually being here.” My approach to shooting content is keep the story in mind and shoot, shoot, shoot. If I have some time flexibility, I rather shoot too much than not enough. Sometimes you’ll find impromptu moments that you may have never thought about as you planned out your story for your video and that usually adds some fun to an edit.
This is really good, but when filming run and gun documentaries or something where the storyline is dynamic it’s always good have a base story line which you want to convey and a couple of contingencies. For example for one of my clients this year the Championship is now going down to the wire in the final race of the championship due to the championship leaders crashing out of one of the races in the previous round. Beforehand we organised all the piece to cameras and shot the narrative along the way we thought the weekend would go, but knowing how unpredictable motorcycle racing is, I had to ensure we had a backup storyline which saved the episode ??
I'm a producer / editor so I make sure I know all the shots I need before shooting starts. With documentaries I always shoot the primary interviews first, edit an assembly cut, draft the storyboards and shot list, then add b-roll placeholders to the assemble. When the footage comes back, I swap out the placeholders with the matching footage from the shot list. It never works 100% but I've found it's the most efficient path to the first draft.
It is always better to have more footage than less, as this will give you more options and flexibility in the editing stage. You should shoot each scene from multiple perspectives, using different focal lengths, camera movements, and lighting conditions. You should also capture extra material, such as b-roll, cutaways, inserts, and reactions, to add interest and context to your main footage. You never know when you might need a filler shot, a cut point, or a creative solution to fix a problem.
The most frustrating thing in the world as an editor is not having enough footage to tell the story properly. When I hire guys to shoot for my company, I'm constantly telling them to "Shoot till you have what you need and then keep shooting". I also tell them, "Hold the shot till you've think you've got it and keep it rolling for at least 10 more seconds". If you have to use every clip in the folder to finish an edit, you either didn't shoot enough or you only shot what was on the shot list and didn't take any initiative to make the project better in the moment. Treat your editors better.
The most vital tool I use for any shoot, whether it is a fiction film, documentary, or corporate content, is a shot list. By sticking to my shot list I know that I have full basic coverage to get a comprehensive edit made. It will also act as a shooting schedule, sticking to this schedule often makes the day more fluid and once I have completed all the shots I need to I can then give myself the creative freedom to try different shots that may work. The editing for my films always begins in pre-production.
I think shooting enough without overshooting is the key. It's important to having enough footage to edit without having an enormous amount of footage to cull through. That becomes time wasted. Planning is key. Storyboarding and creating a shot list for a project can prevent overshooting while keeping things organized.
In recent years I have been collecting b-roll on my iPhone and gimbal. My clients trust me to spend some time walking around the company/non-profit to shoot candidly. Those moments cannot be scripted and add to authenticity of an edit. In addition, the variety it allows me in the edit is critical! Finally, since I am doing the editing, I love being able to capture the sequences that I need without having to direct a videographer. This model has changed my business.
So you want this person to show up loaded with $50k worth of gear, understand how to use it, back your footage up properly AND do your job creatively? If you get to the edit and don’t have your footage, point the finger at whoever is doing the director/producer job. Your shot list should outline everything. I’ve yet to hire a contract DP, cinematographer or videographer who didn’t cream themselves at the fact I handed them a realistic schedule with a detailed shot list. Prep better.
As you shoot, you should label and organize your files in a consistent and logical way, so that you can easily find and access them later. You should use descriptive names, dates, and tags to identify your clips, and group them into folders according to scenes, topics, or categories. You should also backup your files regularly, using external hard drives, cloud storage, or other secure methods, to prevent data loss or corruption.
A great way to do this is by sorting your media in folders in a YYMMDD format so that they'll always appear in order, instead of the MMDDYY format that may seem more immediately intuitive. This will avoid things being out of order if the project heads into the next year.
I love Brian's thought process here. I've worked under many different workflows and this, by far, is the most efficient way to manage media folders. yymmdd is king and keeps you lined up for success.
Bins… bins… bins! Before you even begin to view your footage, organise your assets. Use bins/folders to separate your rushes from your sound files and your graphics from your timelines. I adapted the following method from a highly organised editor that I used to worked with: 1_PROJECTS (here I put all the timelines) 2_RUSHES (all footage are placed here) 3_MEDIA-IN (other video files, graphics and audio files are here with their respective subfolders) Of course, to each their own! As long as you have a clear organised filing system it should be good. Always assume that you might have to handover your edit to another. So keeping things in order is key!
Labeling each image with a brief description of what it contains is a simple way to make editors' lives a thousand times easier. I've also worked with editors that prefered using tags or a number system, although I had a harder time adapting to that. Whatever you do, make sure everyone involved in the video's creation is looking at the same folder! Sometimes, backup systems can create duplicates, and if only one of them gets labeled, you'll end up wasting a lot of time.
If it’s not in three places, it doesn’t exist at all. Three backups stored in different locations is the goal. One local. One cloud. One external drive stored off-site.
Before you start editing, you should review your footage carefully, and select the best clips for your project. You should watch each clip from start to finish, and note down the quality, content, and duration of each one. You should also mark the in and out points, the audio levels, and any issues or errors that need to be fixed or avoided. You can use a logging software, a spreadsheet, or a paper form to record and rate your footage.
Color Coding works well here. Develop a system of noting which clips are of the best quality and use Adobe's color coding system to help you quickly identify good and not-so-good clips in your library.
This isn't always possible, depending on the kind of show you are editing, the amount shot and the turn around time due to ever tighter schedules. It's good to find out if a "scene" is even going to be included in the show as I've had instances where I've been working on some rushes only to be told that the scene will be dropped. Communication is key.
The most important thing to look out for, in my opinion, is footage where the speaker's voice is hard to hear. If you need to use any such footage, make sure you mark it so that the editoprs know they'll need either to EQ the sound to boost the speaker's voice or to add subtitles. Color or lighting problems that may require fixing should also be noted, but they're usually not as hard to solve.
Once you have your footage ready, you should edit it in stages, following a workflow that suits your needs and preferences. You can start with a rough cut, where you assemble your clips in a basic order, without worrying too much about the details. Then, you can move on to a fine cut, where you refine your transitions, effects, and timing, and add music, sound effects, and titles. Finally, you can do a polish cut, where you check your color correction, audio mixing, and export settings.
Non-destructive editing (NDE)!!! Make sure you're making new sequences before you start chopping potentially important pieces off! If you work non destructively, you'll save yourself a headache when someone asks, oh didn't they say "x"? Lets go find that. Stay organized friends.
Creating duplicates of your timelines will be your hero move! I have had clients that suddenly decided to use previous versions instead. This also helps in case you experience machine crashing.
From my experience, it's easier to edit the sound first, then arrange the images. Make sure your audio track tells a complete story, with all the information you need. Then, go through your footage and find which images best complement the audio track at each point. By doing this, you'll first make sure that your video's message adds up. Once that's clear, it's much easier to do the rest.
Before you finalize your project, you should seek feedback from others, such as your clients, colleagues, or target audience. You should ask them to watch your video and share their opinions, suggestions, and questions. You should listen to their feedback with an open mind, and consider how it can improve your work. You should also test your video on different devices, platforms, and formats, to ensure it works properly and meets the technical specifications.
Always have as many people as you can review your work. Different perspectives, platforms, and contexts all highlight different things. Different people see different things or notice different things than you do. I always try to show my work to people who are better than me in different areas to get their perspectives.
Learn new skills and don't be a stick in the mud. I bet even if you have been editing for 30 years, there is stuff you don't know. So, when you learn of a short cut, try to implement it and speed things up. Speak to other editors too and watch them editing you can. Within a couple of minutes they will do something that you had no idea how to do. So pinch their skills and make yourself better! ??
Everyone has the prerogative to work in a way that feels right for them. Don’t get too bogged down with rules and doing things ‘by the book’ because you run the risk of blocking artistic spontaneity in the process. For instance, I often start cutting to music right away. It inspires and helps me find a flow. The edit will certainly change over time, but I like working with that sense of freedom.
Don’t be afraid of new tech. See how advancement in AI can help elevate your workflow and quality. These are tools that will help you cement your self in the new age.
Allow yourself to take some risks and try something new once in a while. That idea may fail but something better will come out of it.
Try to experience all aspects of production early in your career. The best way to know what an editor needs is to edit some projects yourself. Same goes the other way around. An understanding of all aspects of production will go a long way in developing your career and skills.