Digital Video Editing I
Learn the fundamentals of shooting and editing your own digital videos
Ready to make digital videos? Editing film and video is about movement, choreography, the play of light, color, and graphics. And beyond all that, it's all about psychology.
In this 6-lesson course, you'll learn the art and craft of editing videos from two award-winning filmmakers. The course explores techniques that can be applied in a range of non-linear editing programs, including Final Cut, Avid, and Premiere. But the main focus is not just on developing software skills—it's on exploring the magic behind video modification.
Challenging projects including editing a commercial, an interview, a narrative scene, a music video, a video diary, and a text title sequence. Hands-on learning helps you explore how to apply time-honored principles of film editing using today's digital technology.
Important: Students will need access to a digital video camera with a Firewire connection. Students will also need a non-linear editing program: Final Cut Express is recommended for Mac users and Adobe Premiere Elements is recommended for PC users.
Course Tuition
Course Instructor(s):
Requirements:
- Computer with Internet connection (broadband recommended).
- A non-linear editing program. Adobe Premiere Elements is recommended for PC users and Final Cut Express is recommended for Mac users.
- Important: Students with other non-linear editors (Final Cut Pro, iMovie, Premiere, et al) are invited to join the class but will need to adjust for minor differences in interface and features.
- Access to a digital video camera, preferably a MiniDV with a FireWire I/O connection.
Course Objectives:
- Discuss and apply foundation concepts in non-linear video modification, film direction, and digital sound editing.
- Develop a basic proficiency with the tools and techniques available in standard digital video editing programs.
- Shoot, capture, edit, and output short video projects, organizing the material and editing it into a coherent sequence.
- Set up short video projects and shoot them using a variety of appropriate camera angles, shots, and framing.
- Apply a variety of techniques for establishing or breaking continuity in a video sequence.
- Edit a video sequence to synchronize it to a musical soundtrack or dialogue.
- Apply a variety of techniques compressing for expanding the perception of time in a video sequence.
- Apply basic techniques for mixing a soundtrack incorporating the human voice, ambient noise, sound effects, and music.
- Add basic titles to a digital video, do basic production checks, and output it in common video formats for DVD or the Web.
Course Outline
LESSON 1 Digital Editing Fundamentals
Lesson One examines both the hows and the whys of digital video editing. You'll explore the main features in your NLE (non-linear editing program) and learn important foundation concepts every editor should know. The transition between analog and digital media is analyzed to give you a context for today's environment. Finally, you'll learn about the different stages in a digital editor's workflow. In a two-part project, you'll learn how to assemble multiple clips into a video sequence, and also edit down a commercial into a 30-second segment.
LESSON 2 Shooting and Editing Video
Lesson Two gives you a broader context for understanding how videos are produced (shot, captured, edited, and output). In the lecture you'll learn the basics of how directors set up and frame shots, exploring the impact of framing and camera angle, height, and distance on the viewer's perception of the sequence. You'll learn key terms that video editors use as well as creative concepts for your projects. In the exercise, you'll learn how to set up and shoot a short interview sequence, shooting both the interviewer and the interviewee, and edit together your clips into a coherent interview.
LESSON 3 Editing Techniques
Lesson Three examines the finer points of video modification, exploring techniques that can make or break the continuity between one shot and the next. You'll explore classic techniques for connecting shots such as graphic match, rhythm, movement, and spatial relation. A secondary focus will be on different ways in which editors compress time. Finally, you'll examine experimental techniques that break the rules of continuity editing. In the exercise, you'll take part in a collaborative editing project with your classmates, then shoot and edit a short narrative piece, learning how to work from a storyboard.
LESSON 4 Rhythm, Motion, and Effects
Lesson Four focuses on different techniques manipulating time, through rhythm, motion, and effects. You'll explore how overrunning and underrunning time—or slowing or speeding up motion—can influence the viewer's perception of time. You'll learn how editing programs alter the frame rate through interpolation and how transition effects and other visual effects can be used to communicate the passage of time and other changes from shot to shot. In the exercise, you'll explore these concepts (how else?) by modifying a short music video, syncing visual images to a soundtrack of your choice.
LESSON 5 Editing Sound
Lesson Five discusses an all-important aspect of the moving image: the soundtrack that accompanies it. The lesson explores the four elements that comprise any video soundtrack: the human voice, ambient sound (room tones), sound effects (foley), and music, defining their impact on the viewer. The qualitative aspects of sound are discussed—volume, loudness, pitch, and timbre—and you'll examine how the syncing and fidelity of sound affects the viewing experience. In the exercise, you'll explore all four aspects of a soundtrack by shooting and editing a video diary sequence.
LESSON 6 Titles, Output, and Compression
Ready for Cannes or Sundance? Lesson Six provides pointers on polishing and publishing your work. You'll explore such final touches as adding the introductory title and/or text graphics to your video. You'll also take a look at file compression and formats for output so you can start showing off your projects. The final class project will be to create a title sequence using text and type tools.
