Making movies
Turning your video clips into a watchable movie need not be complicated. Follow our guidelines to become a master of the edit The Final Cut
videos, shots appear on screen for just three or four seconds. That’s why lots of B roll footage is important. One tip is to start recording a few seconds before the main action, and keep shooting for a few seconds afterwards. That extra footage will be a blessing in the edit. 1 It starts before the edit At the very outset, it’s best to have a basic plan for how the film will fit together in terms of the key scenes. These may be in chronological or non-linear order. It’s also best practice to organise our footage into readily recognisable folders. For example, create a folder for each new video project on a hard drive and then create subfolders within it to store footage from an
But, just as in Photoshop – where there are lots of menus and features many will never use – we can start with the basics and learn as we go. Once we master the art of storytelling in video, it can be addictive. Whereas a photograph is a single- frame record of a moment in time, moviemaking is generally all about the story. It is usually told in a series of short clips or key ‘scenes’ joined together and most often shown in chronological order. Hopefully, if we’re the storyteller, we’ll have shot each key scene from many different angles, viewpoints and focal lengths. In the vast majority of
“Just as in Photoshop, we can start with the basics and learn as we go”
WORDS BY ADAM DUCKWORTH
PART TEN This series is designed to help you get to grips with the essentials of filmmaking. In every 2023 issue, we’ve been covering key parts of the process. Keep reading each month and you’ll end up with all the advice to be the next Spielberg! Your guide is Adam Duckworth, editor-in-chief of our sister title Pro Moviemaker. This month, we take a look at the editing process.. IT’S LOTS OF fun to shoot video content and let our creativity run wild. But the idea of assembling all of the resulting footage into a well-exposed, colourful and cohesive film with audio to match can seem a frightening prospect; even if we’ve mastered the basics of using photo editing software to manipulate exposure, colours and contrast in our stills photography. Controlling all of these features in a complex non-linear editing program (NLE for short) can be complicated.
9:16, while Instagram is 4:5, or 9:16 for stories. Frame rates are usually 25p for UK/PAL areas and 30p for NTSC, which is the US standard. The majority of non-vertical content is Full HD or 4K in 16:9. If all our footage is in 4K or higher, then we can edit the Project in 4K, and export in 4K, Full HD or even smaller. 3 Beginning our masterpiece Starting a Project will open up a blank timeline. This display represents the whole of our video, and it’s where we can add or alter clips. Laid out from left to right, it lets us scroll around to make changes including trimming, adjusting colours, rearranging the clips, adding music and even graphics. If stacking footage on top of the timeline, the uppermost footage is always shown, but you can still hear all of the audio of the clip underneath. So if you have a talking head interview, you can put footage on top and hear the person still talking, which is a useful way to edit interviews.
individual day of the shoot, or footage shot on different cameras. It’s a good idea to have at least two copies of any footage on external hard drives, with sufficient available space. Fast SSDs are ideal for editing, as the response will be quick; however these are pricey. A good tip is to use a fast SSD for the project library, as this will be fast enough to edit with, but keep the actual footage on much cheaper mechanical hard drives. 2 Key decisions to be made When opening our NLE, we’ll want to create a new Event to which we will import the relevant footage; and within the Event, start a new Project to make our film. This is when we will choose our options for resolution, frame rate, aspect ratio and more. Typical options are 720p HD, which is 1280x720 pixels, Full HD at 1920x1080, 4K at 3840x2160 or 8K at 7680x4320. Regarding aspect ratios, the standard for YouTube is 16:9 horizontal. For vertical shorts, it’s
PRE-SHOOT Choose your resolution, frame rate and aspect ratio beforehand
Issue 112 | Photography News 35
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