Pre-Scripted Elements

In a pre-scripted movie or television program, a written script is completed prior to the start of production. Feature films, television newscasts, dramas, sitcoms, commercials, and educational videos are traditionally pre-scripted—leaving it up to the writers to determine the on-camera action, narration, or dialog ahead of time during the pre-production phase of the project. In such cases, the script serves as a master blueprint for directing the on-camera performances of professional actors or talent. In postproduction, the same script will assist the editor in arranging shots and scenes into the predetermined linear presentation.

Figure 14.2 Television news anchors are able to maintain eye contact with the viewer by reading their scripts via a teleprompter mounted to the front of the camera.

In narrative filmmaking, actors are called to memorize their lines and rehearse them before the actual performance. Still, on-camera performances are rarely perfect, and directors will often ask talent to perform multiple takes of a scene before they are satisfied with the results. In some situations, such as in a game show, corporate video, or television newscast, scripted lines or dialog are performed using a teleprompter (see Figure 14.2). A teleprompter projects words onto an angled glass panel that’s mounted in front of a television camera lens. It allows the talent to read their script while looking directly into the camera. Teleprompters are used often in studio productions (news, sports, talk shows, etc.) but can also be used in remote field production. While a teleprompter can eliminate or cut down on rehearsal time and speed up production, their use doesn’t guarantee a perfect take. Reading from a teleprompter takes practice, and some people are naturally better at it than others.

Unscripted or Post-Scripted Elements

Nonfiction stories such as broadcast news packages and documentary films rely heavily on unscripted action (or candid footage) and post-scripted elements such as voiceovers or standups. Candid shots are unscripted, intended to capture the normal actions, speech, and sounds of real subjects and objects in their natural setting. Ideally, it means that nothing shot by the camera is intentionally scripted, staged, or performed. The camera is merely there to document reality. Whereas in scripted programs, shots are rather rigidly preplanned and constructed, here the camera is used to capture a story—as reflected through the actions, behaviors, thoughts, ideas, feelings, and expressions of everyday people, however ordinary or extraordinary they may be. Likewise, the written copy for voiceovers and standups is typically post-scripted—written after production has ceased and postproduction has begun in order to most accurately tell the story that unfolds. Four of the most common media assets used in editing non-fiction programs are: 1) sound bites, 2) B-Roll, 3) natural sound, and 4) voiceover.

Voiceover (VO)

A voiceover (or VO) is a narrative device used to audibly support or describe the visual portion of a video program or segment. Recorded off-camera, a VO is the sound of the hidden announcer, storyteller, reporter, narrator, or host, who guides the audience through a program—filling in details while adding color and continuity to the linear presentation of visual information. Voiceovers are often used in conjunction with sound bites. In news reporting, the VO-SOT (pronounced VOH-soht) is a technique in which a television anchor reads a scripted story off-camera

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The Stand-Up

In television, a reporter stand-up or on-camera host segment can be used as an alternative to a voiceover or in combination with it. For example, a reporter may choose to use a stand-up at the beginning and end of a story and voiceovers throughout the rest of the package. The best stand-ups add meaningful visual value to the story by providing something other than a good look at the reporter or host. A stand-up can be used to perform a visual demonstration, stress a key point, or take the viewer on a brief walking tour.

Figure 14.3 A TV reporter delivers an on-camera stand-up.

while related images and sounds appear on screen. VO-SOT-VO describes a fundamental editing technique where voiceovers and sound bites alternate to form the narrative structure of a linear story.

Music and Sound Effects

Music and sound effects are usually inserted into the timeline beneath the primary audio tracks containing sound bites (SOTs), VOs, and nat sound—giving the editor independent control over each track when mixing levels or adding audio processing effects such as compression and EQ. They should be imported into the NLE project bin in an uncompressed file format such as WAV or AIFF. If you import a compressed audio file, particularly a lossy file such as MP3, you will end up recompressing the audio when you export it at the end of the project, thus compromising its fidelity. Professionals usually avoid working with MP3 audio assets in video editing. MP3 is a consumer distribution format that is heavily compressed and technically inferior to WAV or AIFF.

Graphics

A lower-third is a television graphic used to identify the name of the person appearing or speaking on screen (see Figure 14.4, top). Sometimes the person’s title, or, as in this case, email address, is included as well. As the name suggests, a lower-third is usually positioned in the lower-third area of the frame They are sometimes referred to as supers because they are typically superimposed over a background video source or graphic.

Figure 14.4 Top: A lower-third is superimposed over the background video to identify both newscasters. Bottom: Full-screen graphics, such as this one, fill the entire video frame.

A lower-third is placed on screen through a process called keying. Keying replaces the background pixels in a title graphic (known as the alpha channel) with video from another source. This technique is similar to the superimposition of a weather map behind the weathercaster during the evening news. The weathercaster usually stands in front of a green or blue wall. Using a technique called chroma keying, the colored wall is replaced with video of a weather graphic. For best results, the weathercaster cannot wear clothing containing the same color as the wall. Can you imagine what that would look like? Like the green or blue wall in a TV studio, the alpha channel serves as a mask, allowing a title to be seamlessly merged with the video beneath it.

Most NLE software programs make it relatively easy to create and insert a simple title graphic. However, when you want something more complex, you will want to turn to a graphic editing program such as Adobe Photoshop (see Figure 14.5) or to a motion graphics program such as Adobe After Effects. You can then use the NLE to import the graphic into the project as a standalone media asset. NLE programs recognize most common graphic file formats including JPEG, GIF, TIFF, and PNG. In fact, professional editing software usually allows you to import native Photoshop files (PSDs) directly into the project. When the NLE opens a PSD file, it converts each layer to a corresponding video track, allowing the editor to have independent control of each layered element in the timeline.

Television graphics come in all shapes, sizes, and formats. For example, an over-the-shoulder graphic appears at head level just to the left or right of a television anchor or host. Crawls scroll from right to left across the bottom of the screen with the latest stock information or school closings while credit rolls scroll vertically, identifying members of the cast and crew at the end of a television show or movie. A full-screen graphic fills the entire screen while a bug (a tiny network or station logo) takes up very little real estate in the corner of the screen (see Figure 14.4).

Figure 14.5 Adobe Photoshop includes several film and video presets. For an HD television program choose the one shown here. Film and video presets include visual guides to show the action and title safe areas.

Source: Adobe product screenshot reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Figure 14.6 Adobe Premiere Pro includes this title generator for composing on-screen graphics. Notice the title and action safe guidelines displayed in the design window to aid in the placement of text and graphics.

Source: Adobe product screenshot reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Cut-Ins

The cut-in is a popular editing technique used in continuity editing. A cut-in directs the viewer’s attention to a related object or alternative viewpoint within the current scene. For example, in a scene showing a woman stepping into an elevator, the sequence might begin with a wide shot of the elevator as the woman enters through the opening doors. She turns, glances down, and reaches out her hand, at which point we cut to a close-up shot of her finger pushing the button for the 10th floor. The cut-in of her finger may be framed from her point of view as if we are looking at it through her eyes or through the eyes of someone standing nearby. A cut-in is often shot as a close-up that guides the viewer’s attention to a related element within the frame. Be careful when you are cutting your scene together. Avoid cutting between two shots that look almost the same. In doing so you run the risk of creating a jump cut—where the position of the main subject shifts suddenly on screen for no apparent reason. You’ll see this error sometimes in news, when the video editor joins two non-adjacent sound bites together in the timeline. This is one of the reasons cut-ins (and cutaways) are so important. Editors often use them to cover or hide a jump cut by positioning them over a transition point on the video track above.

Cutting on Action

Cutting on action is a technique editors use to match continuous action in a scene as it unfolds across two sequential shots. In our previous example, the woman on the elevator performs a simple action by reaching out her hand to push a button on the control panel. Cutting on action means the editor will cut from the wide-angle view to the close-up (or cut-in shot) while the hand is in motion. Typically, the best transition points occur at the apex of movement, when the action is most intense, and before the subject or object begins to decelerate or stop. The editor must ensure the last frame of the action in the first shot matches the first frame of the continuing action in the second shot. For example, if the right hand is used to extend the finger in the first shot, the right hand should be shown completing the action in the second shot. If the actor uses a different hand in the second shot, then a continuity error will occur, drawing attention to the edit and disrupting the viewer’s attention.

Figure 14.7 The film Chariots of Fire won an Oscar for Best Picture in 1981. The movie included a one-minute scene, pictured here with still images, of two athletes competing in the Great Court Run. The runner’s goal was to complete one lap around the main college square before 12 strikes of the courtyard clock (roughly 43 seconds). The edited scene was comprised of 30+ shots from multiple camera angles. Through continuity editing, the director was able to portray the scene in real time with continuous action, an amazing feat considering the scene was likely shot using only one camera. Notice how many cut-ins are interspersed with shots of the runners.¹

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Multi-Camera Editing (or Multi-Cam)

Multi-cam is a production and editing technique whereby shots of an event or scene are recorded simultaneously from multiple camera sources and then assembled in editing to resemble a live switched event or to produce a visually fast-paced sequence. Each iso (isolated) camera records a unique view of the action at a different angle and distance from the subject. After the shoot, footage from each camera is imported into the editing software, where the video and audio in each clip is then synchronized to a common master clip or sync source. In a professional multi-cam production, cameras are often synchronized to a timecode generator that produces a common reference signal that each camera records during the shoot. This is the most foolproof method for synchronizing multi-cam clips in postproduction. Unfortunately, many less expensive cameras are not designed to accept an external timecode signal. As an alternative, multi-cam producers must ensure that each camera records live audio of the event as it occurs. In a scene where there is no dialog or dominant sound source, you can use a clapboard to mark the beginning of a recording with a visual reference and an audible sound stamp. Professional NLE software—such as Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer, and Apple Final Cut Pro—that supports multi-cam editing also includes tools for automated audio-based synching of iso footage obtained from multiple cameras (see Figure 14.8). Once all the clips have been synchronized, you can use your NLE’s multi-cam editing mode to cut or transition from source to source (or clip to clip) in real time as though you were switching multiple cameras during a live event. The transition points between shots can then be tweaked and refined manually as desired.

Figure 14.8 Multi-cam editing in Adobe Premiere Pro. Six cameras were used to record this live band performance. A switched program feed was recorded on-site along with six ISO recording (one for each camera). In Adobe Premiere Pro, the six ISO camera recordings were imported into a multi-cam editing session and synchronized to the original switched recording of the event.

Source: Adobe product screenshot reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

NLE Project Folder

At the end of production you will likely end up with a fair bit of footage and other project assets, and you need to know how to effectively organize and manage them. It helps to understand how your NLE software stores and saves project files. As a general rule, at the beginning of every new project, it’s a good idea to create a master project folder to serve as the container for all the project files and assets associated with it. The project folder should contain the native project file generated by your NLE software and numerous topical subfolders for storing media content such as video, music sound effects, still images, titles, and so forth. In addition, NLE applications will often create additional subfolders for storing video and audio capture files, render files, and backup copies of the master project file. Again, each project you are currently working on should have its own designated project folder (see Figure 14.9).

Figure 14.9 Left: Upon starting a new project in Adobe Premiere Pro, the editor is prompted to identify the scratch disk locations for the captured video and audio files, preview files, and backup files. All the media assets and project files associated with a video project should be stored in a master project root folder. This way, you will never lose track of files associated with your project. Right: Based on the information you provide in the scratch disk window, the program will create physical folders and files on your drive as shown.

Source: Adobe product screenshot reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Adobe Premiere Pro and the legacy version of Apple Final Cut Pro use the term scratch disk as the name of the interface component for setting up the name and location of the project folder and subfolders. Hence, the phrase “setting your scratch disks” is synonymous with the process of linking to or creating the project folder at the beginning of an editing session. In Avid Media Composer, the editor uses the “media creation settings” window to set up the name and location of the project folder. Similarly, Avid Pro Tools refers to each project as a “session” and requires the user to create a “session folder” at the start of each new project. Whatever the name or approach, be sure you understand how to properly designate the name and location of your project folder. This step is critically important and, when done well, will save you a lot of time and potential frustration during the editing process. Also, consider using an external hard drive as your scratch disk instead of the one on your computer running the OS and NLE software. Using a dedicated external drive for your video project assets can help speed up performance and allow you to move your project easily from one computer to another. Once you’ve created the project folder, be sure not to move it or change its name. This goes for all the content within the project folder as well. Doing so can potentially confuse the NLE program, causing it to lose track of the media files and assets it needs to properly display and run your edited sequence.

Figure 14.10 The Adobe Premiere Pro interface is divided into four main regions. 1) The Source Monitor is used to preview media clips and to trim video and audio clips prior to inserting them in the timeline. 2) The Program Monitor displays video from the timeline during playback. 3) The Project Panel displays bins and image thumbnails for each asset associated with the project (video, audio, titles, sequences, etc.). Double-clicking on a clip loads it into the source monitor. 4) The Timeline is where you assemble your project—insert and order your clips; add titles, effects, and transitions; mix audio levels; render frames; and so on.

Source: Adobe product screenshot reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

NLE Project File

The project file is a proprietary data file used for keeping track of every detail associated with an NLE project. Once an editing project is created, it can be revisited in later sessions by double-clicking on the project file icon. The project file can be thought of as a set of instructions for playing media clips back in real time as an edited sequence.

Media Files and Media Clips

Media files are the raw project assets that are created or acquired prior to the start of an editing session. These include the actual video and audio files captured from tape or through direct transfer from a video camera, memory card, or other digital source. Media files are typically the largest file assets associated with an editing project. For example, digital video (DV) requires 1 GB of storage for every five minutes of recorded footage (or 250 MB per minute). High-definition video files consume an even larger amount of digital real estate, which is why high-capacity hard drives are so often used in editing.

Figure 14.11 Top: Red is generally a bad color to see on a media clip or sequence. Here, in Adobe Premiere Pro, it signifies that a media file has gone offline. In other words, the media file associated with media clip in the timeline has either been deleted from the project’s hard drive or moved to a new location—thus breaking the link that was established when the media was first imported. Bottom: The Link Media panel in Premiere Pro is used to locate and re-link the missing asset.

Source: Adobe product screenshot reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

When a media file is imported into an active NLE session, a clip is created and added to the media browser or project bin. A clip is a relatively small data file that “points” to a larger underlying media file that’s stored on the hard drive. It functions as an alias or virtual representation of the real thing, and for this reason, it is sometimes called a pointer file. A clip can be placed in the timeline, trimmed, cut, and deleted without changing or destroying the actual media file it is linked with. A single clip can be added to the timeline sequence multiple times without adding significantly to the physical size of the project file. Each instance of a clip is a standalone digital asset that keeps track of the pointer data for a particular event in the edited sequence. You can delete a media clip from the bin without deleting the media file. While deleting it makes the clip icon disappear from view in the project window or browser, the actual media file is safe and sound in its original location on the hard drive. A media file can be reconnected with a media clip at any time though re-linking or by re-importing it into the project.

Capture and Render Files

Capture files are time-based media files that are created when footage is ingested into the computer through a connected camera or videotape recorder. The video and audio tracks recorded on tape exist as linear streams of digital information that are read and rendered in real time as the tape is played back. Capturing involves converting these time-based streams (or video and audio tracks) into a file-based format that can be read and processed by the NLE program. Once captured, a media file can be easily moved and copied, allowing it to be used in other projects or saved in a digital archive for retrieval at a later time.

Logging and Batch Capturing

With the logging and batch capturing method, an editor will preview footage prior to capturing. He or she works through the footage one scene at a time, stopping at the beginning and end of each good take to set an IN and OUT point. In the logging fields, the editor can designate the tape or reel number, clip name, scene and take number, shot description, camera angle, and other notes or comments as desired. This information will be permanently attached as metadata to the captured media file. After viewing and logging the source footage, the editor will select the batch capture option. At this point, the NLE will proceed to capture each of the scenes specified in the editor’s logging notes. The bad takes are skipped and the total capture time is cut down significantly, especially for big projects with hours and hours of footage. Batch capturing allows the editor to automate the capturing workflow, saving time and hard drive space, while tagging clips with descriptive information that will stay attached to the footage as long as it remains in its current digital form.

Figure 14.12 This is the log and capture window in Adobe Premiere Pro. User-provided metadata can be attached to each imported clip using the data fields on the right.

Source: Adobe product screenshot reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Rendering

From time to time during every editing session, the software will need to create new video files in response to the placement of a transition, effect, filter, title, or multilayer composite. This process is called rendering (see Figure 14.13). For example, when a one-second dissolve is attached to two adjacent clips in the timeline, a one-second video clip must be rendered to represent the visual effect.

Figure 14.13 Top: In Adobe Premiere Pro, a color-coded render bar appears near the top of the timeline to indicate whether or not the underlying clips have been rendered. When the bar is yellow or red, it means the frames associated with a particular clip, transition, or effect have not yet been rendered. Simple effects can be previewed in real time without rendering while more complex ones will need to be rendered first in order to view them smoothly or even at all. Bottom: The render bar turns green once rendering has been successfully completed.

Source: Adobe product screenshot reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

You can render clips as you go or wait until the end of a project and render everything at once. The more complex the effects and transitions, the longer it will take for rendering to be performed. Depending on the speed of your computer, the NLE can often play back unrendered clips in real time. However, the display quality may be poor because the program has to process the transition or effect on the fly in real time. It’s a good idea to stop occasionally throughout a session to render all the unrendered clips in the sequence.

Flashback

NLE Pioneers

Avid Technology is one of the oldest developers of nonlinear editing software. Its flagship program, Media Composer, was released in 1989 and continues to be one of the most recognized NLE applications used in the motion picture and television industries. Adobe’s NLE solution is called Premier Pro, which Adobe released in 1991. Adobe’s chief competitor, Macromedia, was instrumental in developing a rival NLE called KeyGrip, a product designed to work natively with Apple QuickTime. KeyGrip was renamed Final Cut and eventually sold to Apple, who released it commercially as Final Cut Pro in 1999. While there are many professional NLE solutions to choose from, Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Apple Final Cut Pro have stood the test of time and remain three of the most recognized names in nonlinear video editing.

Project Panel

The NLE project panel goes by different names. Look for a window or panel group that allows you to browse all your project media files that are stored on a local or attached hard drive, bins containing your media clips, and other tabs or sections granting you access to clip and sequence information, effects, and global project or session properties. Think of the project panel as command headquarters— the main portal and information vault for everything related to your project. In many respects, it serves a purpose very similar to the OS file browser on your computer—the Finder in Mac OS X or File Explorer on a Windows PC—but from within the application. Through it you can locate and import files into your project, open them in the source monitor, drag them to the timeline, search for and re-link missing clips, and keep track of where everything associated with your project is stored.

Figure 14.14 The Media Browser in Adobe Premiere Pro allows you to locate, view, import, and re-link media files stored on a physical hard drive from within the application.

Source: Adobe product screenshot reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Timeline

The timeline displays your edited sequence and the position of audio and video clips that are arranged and kept in order on linear regions called tracks. When a video clip is added to the timeline, the video portion of the clip is placed on a video track while the audio portion is inserted beneath it on an audio track. Audio tracks are normally grouped in linked stereo pairs. By default, the first track (or left channel) is sent to the left speaker and the second track (or right channel) is output to the right. Some NLEs combine the left and right audio channels into a single stereo track. When a synchronized video clip (such as an SOT) is placed on the timeline, it usually occupies three adjacent tracks (one video track and two audio tracks). If a single microphone was used in the recording, there will be only one channel of associated audio and thus only one corresponding audio track. A mono track can be easily converted to a dual mono pair by the NLE, sending it to both the left and right speakers.

When editing a video clip containing synchronized audio, you will often want to apply the same action simultaneously to both the video and audio portions of a clip. For example, when a clip is split in two using the splice or razor blade tool, the edit will typically affect all three tracks at once. Likewise, when you reposition a video clip within the timeline, the linked video and audio segments will travel together in tandem, allowing them to remain in sync. Problems can occur when video and audio become unsynchronized. Even a slight shift of only a few frames can affect lip-synching in an SOT, causing you and the audience to squirm in momentary discomfort.

Sometimes an editor will choose to unlink a clip in order to control the video and audio separately. For example, you may want to perform a split edit by assigning different IN and OUT points to the video and audio clips. This technique is commonly used when editing sound bites. With a split edit, the audience might see a person talking for one to two seconds before they actually hear him or her. Another use of this technique would be to show B-Roll during the first five seconds of a sound bite before cutting to a synchronized headshot of the person speaking. Split edits are performed routinely in editing and are extremely useful. Just remember to re-link the clips when you’re finished working with them to prevent accidentally unsynchronizing them later.

In addition to synchronized clips, editors deal with a variety of standalone media assets. Digital images, for example, contain no corresponding audio. They are also static, meaning they have no duration (length), as compared to time-based media assets. Static clips like images, titles, backgrounds, and slugs (a solid black video frame) are automatically converted to time-based video clips when imported or created by the NLE software to allow them to be extended within the timeline to any length the editor desires.

Video Compositing and Audio Mixing

Compositing is the process of combining two or more video tracks together to form a new image or visual effect. Video tracks are used in much the same way as layers in Photoshop to segregate clips into discrete editable regions, thereby allowing the editor to maintain individual control over the settings for each asset and its position in the timeline. In the timeline, tracks are viewed from the top down, meaning that a clip placed on video track 2 (V2) will partially or completely obscure the view of a clip placed beneath it on video track 1 (V1). Let’s look at a few examples.

Example 1: A simple two-track composite: The editor begins by placing an SOT on V1, the first video track in the timeline. Next, he inserts a lower-third title graphic above the SOT on V2 (see Figure 14.15). At this point, the program monitor will display a composite image showing the title superimposed over the top of the person speaking. Because each element in the composite image resides on its own track, it can be edited independently without affecting other clips in the timeline.

Figure 14.15 Example 1: Adobe Premiere Pro is used to create a two-track composite image comprised of a video clip (V1) and lower-third title graphic (V2).

Source: Adobe product screenshot reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Figure 14.16 Example 2: The timeline shown on the left includes five video tracks containing media clips that are aligned to produce the composite graphic on the right. Each track contains one of the five elements used in the composite.

Source: Adobe product screenshot reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Example 2: A five-track composite: In this example, a composite image is formed by vertically aligning five clips on adjacent tracks in an edited sequence (see Figure 14.16). First, a gradient background is inserted on V1. Next, a close-up shot of the host is inserted on V2 and then scaled down and positioned on the right side of the frame. This step is repeated for the wide shot, which is placed on V3. Finally, two text graphics are positioned on tracks V4 and V5 respectively. The composite image shows all five elements co-residing within the frame. Incidentally, the five elements do not have to appear or disappear at the same points in the timeline. The editor can choose a different IN and OUT point for each element. The possibilities are endless.

Mixing is the audio version of compositing. With mixing, multiple audio clips can be combined in an unlimited number of ways to form a complex aural experience. For example, in a motion picture film, an action sequence often contains multiple tracks of dialog, background sounds, music, and sound effects (SFX). Again, let’s consider a common example.

Example 3: A four-track stereo mix: Here, we begin a sequence by placing an SOT on the timeline. The audio portion of the SOT resides on A1 (see Figure 14.17). Music is then added to A2 and placed beneath the tracks of the person speaking. In this example, the primary, or foreground audio, is being produced by the SOT. The editor wants it to stand out above the music and sets the A1 audio level to full (100%). Music is a background element and as such should not compete for the audience’s attention. The editor adjusts A2 to a lower level that’s more appropriate for a background source. As additional sources are added to the sequence, the editor will mix them accordingly until he or she achieves the intended balance and effect called for.

Figure 14.17 Example 3: The audio track mixer interface in Adobe Premiere Pro is used for mixing audio from the SOT on A1 with music on A2. The editor needs to set the level of each stereo track pair independently to achieve an aesthetically pleasing mix. Since the SOT is the main element, tracks A1 and A2 are set to normal levels (full). Notice how the music is set much lower to keep it from competing with the main spoken word audio.

Source: Adobe product screenshot reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Source and Program Monitors

The NLE interface contains two virtual television monitors. The source monitor (sometimes called the preview monitor) sits on the left and is used for reviewing project assets and trimming (shortening) and adjusting them before inserting them as clips on the timeline. Double-clicking on a clip in a bin or on the timeline typically opens it in the source monitor, where edits and changes can be performed. The source monitor can only hold one clip at a time. When you are done working on one, simply double-click on another clip to swap them out. The program monitor is positioned to the right and is linked to the timeline. As you play back or scan through an edited sequence in the timeline, the program monitor displays its contents. Likewise, as you scrub the program monitor playhead back and forth, the companion playhead in the timeline moves left and right in perfect unison. The source and program monitors contain a variety of identical virtual controls for viewing, playing, and marking clips.

Image Frame

The largest area of a monitor control interface is reserved for the picture data. What you can do in this region is largely dependent on the features available to you inside your NLE software. Typically, you will be able to transform the size and aspect ratio of the image through scaling, cropping, and wireframe controls. A wire-frame acts like a bounding box that allows you to freely transform video within the frame—whether it’s rotating the image, changing the playback speed, adding a visual affect or filter, or otherwise altering a clip’s movement or appearance.

When an audio asset is loaded into preview, the visual interface looks different. Instead of a video image you’ll see an audio waveform. A waveform is a visual representation of the amplitude signature of the audio clip across time. The height of the waveform indicates the volume level. By looking at the waveform, you can often tell whether audio was recorded at an appropriate level or not (see Figure 14.18). Under-modulated audio (audio that is too soft) will have a short waveform height or perhaps none at all—simply a flat line. Overmodulated audio (audio that is too loud), which may be distorted, will have an intense waveform pattern that extends from the bottom of the track to the top (or from the “floor” to the “ceiling”). A waveform’s fluctuations can provide the editor with a visual representation of timing and rhythm, which comes in handy when setting IN and OUT points. In a music clip, the waveform can reveal the beat structure and tempo of a selection, providing visual cues for determining transition points. In addition to having a waveform on the timeline, audio and video editing software includes a VU (volume-units) meter to let you monitor the loudness of a source objectively in decibel units.

Figure 14.18 When audio is loaded into the source monitor in Adobe Premiere Pro, it appears on screen as a virtual waveform. Top: Visually, this waveform suggests that the audio levels are properly set. Bottom: This waveform looks relatively flat, suggesting the recording was severely under-modulated.

Source: Adobe product screenshot reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

First Pass—Construct the Primary Audio Narrative

The primary audio portion of a program is often constructed first by inserting the spoken word or performance-based segments of a story such as dialog, sound bites (SOTs), narration, and voiceovers into the timeline in sequential order from the beginning to the end. Think of audio as the wheels of the chassis on top of which everything else rides. The tracks in the timeline are even structured in this way, with video tracks located in the top half of the timeline and audio tracks below. Audio serves as a cue to help inform editing decisions—for example, where to position the beginning or end of a media clip. It’s generally a bad idea to cut from one shot to another in the middle of a spoken word or sentence. Taking a cue from an SOT or music track, a better approach would be to time the cut to occur at a natural break in the conversation or in conjunction with a significant shift or transition in the tempo or rhythm of the audio soundtrack—such as during a pause or breath between spoken words or just before or after a sound effect, music stinger, or particular beat in a musical score.

Second Pass—Insert B-Roll and Natural Sound

With the primary audio portion of the narrative in place, you are ready to jump back to the head of the timeline to begin inserting B-Roll and natural sound. One purpose of B-Roll is to fill in holes in the video track where only audio currently exists—for example, above a voiceover or narration clip. Another use of B-Roll is to cover the video portion of a talking head (or SOT), in whole or in part, and to hide any visual jump cuts that resulted from cutting together non-adjacent segments of an audio interview.

Third Pass—Insert Titles and Graphics

Once all your video clips are in position in the timeline, you can begin inserting lower-thirds and graphics. If a title or graphic is to be superimposed with an underlying video clip, be sure to place it on the track immediately above the corresponding clip. If your project includes several lower-thirds—each identifying a different subject—then consider using the first title as a template for constructing the others. Doing so will ensure that the duration of your titles and their corresponding font and style attributes are consistent throughout the program. Begin by editing the first title and adding it to the timeline. Next, use the copy and paste function to duplicate the title clip. Open this clip in the title editor to change the text identifiers to match the second subject—repeating this step for as many titles you have in the project. This method is much faster than creating each individual title from scratch when you have a series of identically formatted graphics.

A graphic should appear on screen long enough for the viewer to read it. For lower-thirds, five to seven seconds generally does the trick. Also, it’s good practice to establish the subject on screen for at least one second before superimposing the title. Likewise, take down the super before cutting to another shot. Finally, consider fading lower-thirds in and out rather than using a hard cut, as the gradual transition of a fade is far less abrupt.

Fourth Pass—Add Sound Effects and Music

Not every project requires music and sound effects, but when you want to include them in a project, it is usually better to hold off doing so until the basic structure of your story is sufficiently developed. An exception to this, of course, is a music video or a musical segment that is a part of a longer sequence. In such cases, a recorded song serves as the primary audio and needs to be placed on the timeline first before inserting video. This way the beat structure of the song can be used for timing the duration and placement of video clips and transitions. When using SFXs and music as a secondary or background audio source, they should be mixed with primary audio at an appropriate level so as not to compete with or distract from the main subject or message.

Fifth Pass—Add Transitions and Effects

Once all your clips have been inserted into the timeline and you are satisfied with their placement, you can begin the process of adding transitions and effects. Trimming and repositioning clips after transitions have been attached can be difficult and time-consuming, so it’s best to add them near the backend of postproduction. Likewise, adding effects prematurely to clips—before you have to—can slow down the editing process. Effects usually require rendering, and the more effects accumulate as your timeline grows, the longer it can take to render them, and the more often you will find yourself having to pause from editing to do so.

Sixth Pass—Finishing Touches

Before closing out an editing project, there will be lots of nitty-gritty details to attend to. You will spend lots of time making minute adjustments to the placement of clips and the timing of transitions, titles, effects, and so forth as you work to refine and polish the overall presentation. You may also need to perform color correction to fix, enhance, or alter the color properties of video clips and their consistency across the length of your program. With audio, you will likely have to tweak levels and add sound processing filters and plug-ins to improve individual audio clips or the overall mix of the composite soundtrack. Finally, you will need to perform a final comprehensive rendering of every clip in the timeline before exporting the project to a distribution format.

Figure 14.19 This close-up view of the source monitor in Adobe Premiere Pro illustrates the process of trimming. The original video clip is 0002:56:00 in length. The editor isolates a 20-second sound bite by marking an IN point at the beginning of the sound bite and an OUT point at the end.

Source: Adobe product screenshot reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Figure 14.20 When the edit is performed, only the 20-second portion of the clip that’s been marked will be inserted in the timeline. Trimming clips prior to putting them in the timeline is highly recommended. While you can also trim directly in the timeline, it is best to do so only to fine-tune your initial edit decisions.

Source: Adobe product screenshot reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Step 1: Set an IN Point and OUT Point in the Source Monitor

I begin by opening the voiceover clip in the source monitor. The clip is more than five minutes long and contains numerous voiceover segments along with several takes of each one. In the end, I will not use most of the content in this clip. I only need to extract a few choice sound bites for my project. I scrub the playhead to the first voiceover (VO #1) and set an IN point by pressing the I key on my keyboard. Next, I move the playhead to the end of VO #1 and set an OUT point by pressing the O key on my keyboard. The marked clip has a duration of 00:00:20:10 and is ready to be inserted into the timeline (see Figure 14.21, top).

Figure 14.21 Top (Step 1): An IN and OUT point are set to mark the beginning and end of the 20-second clip in the source monitor. Bottom (Steps 2 and 3): An IN point is set on the timeline and then the edit is performed.

Source: Adobe product screenshot reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Step 2: Set an IN Point in the Timeline

Next, I change the focus of the NLE to the timeline by clicking on it. Since this is my first edit, setting the IN point is relatively easy. I advance the playhead one second into the timeline and press I on my keyboard to mark the IN point (see Figure 14.21, bottom). With three points marked, the NLE has enough information to automatically calculate the timeline OUT point. For this reason, I do not have to specify it. In fact, when using this method of editing, a fourth point is never required and should never be entered. Hence the term … three-point editing.

Step 3: Perform the Edit

With three points marked, I’m ready to perform the edit. Presto! Just like that, a new 30-second clip is added to the timeline at precisely the right spot (see Figure 14.21, bottom). The original three-minute clip remains in the project bin for future use and will remain visible in the source monitor until I load a different project asset. Keep in mind that the newly created clip is merely an alias, a visual representation of a pointer file that can be changed at any time without affecting the corresponding media file stored on my hard drive. I can work with the clip directly in the timeline—repositioning it or trimming it or extending it as required. I can also load it back into the source monitor by double-clicking on it. As your project evolves, the number of clips and aliases you have access to will steadily increase. You need to keep track of which clip is loaded into the source monitor at any one time. It’s easy to get confused and make mistakes by inadvertently editing the wrong project asset or timeline clip.

Step 4: Repeat Steps 1 through 3 for SOT #2 and VO #2

The next step in this example is to repeat steps 1 through 3 for the remaining clips in the sequence (see Figure 14.22). On the timeline, the IN point for each subsequent edit will be the OUT point of the previous one. This will ensure that each clip is butted tightly against the other with no empty frames in between.

Step 5: Add B-Roll over VO Segments

Once the three clips have been added to my sequence, I return to the beginning of the timeline and start inserting B-Roll over each voiceover segment (see Figure 14.23). To keep from overwriting the voiceover clips on A1 and A2, natural sound is placed beneath these tracks on A3 and A4.

Figure 14.22 Step 4: Repeat the first three steps until you complete the first pass for a simple VOSOT-VO sequence.

Source: Adobe product screenshot reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Figure 14.23 Step 5: The completed sequence with the inclusion of B-Roll and natural sound.

Source: Adobe product screenshot reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

When editing B-Roll, I slightly modify my three-point editing technique. Since my goal now is to fill precise gaps or segments in the timeline sequence, I want to set IN and OUT points on the timeline first. Next, in the source monitor, I mark only an IN point to designate the starting frame of each B-Roll clip. The clip will end when it reaches the OUT point as designated on the timeline.

Cut

The most common transition is called a cut. A cut is an instantaneous transition from the end of one shot to the beginning of another shot. Because of this, a cut has no duration per se. In fact, you can think of a cut as the invisible transition. Cuts are popular with editors because of their simplicity. When properly timed, the audience will hardly know a cut has occurred. As we’ve already discussed, however, cutting in the middle of a word or sentence, or on an awkward beat in the underscore, can disrupt continuity and be self-defeating. Most often, the editor’s goal is to make the presence of a cut invisible to the audience. Remember, the best edits are often the ones you don’t notice. Incidentally, the first beat of a bar, called the downbeat, is the strongest point in a melody line and a great location for the placement of a cut or other transition.

Figure 14.24 These icons represent many of the standard video transitions included in Adobe Premiere Pro CC.

Fade

The absence of picture data on a television screen is referred to as black. A slug is a media clip comprised entirely of black frames. A slug (of any length) can be inserted into the timeline as a clip separator—as a way of signaling a key transition or scene change—in much the same way that a lighting blackout is used during a theatrical production to herald the beginning or end of a scene or act. Programs usually begin and end in black with a fade providing the transition. A fade up is a gradual transition from black to a fully opaque television image, while a fade down is a gradual transition in the opposite direction. Video and audio fades often occur simultaneously. For example, in an end-of-program fade to black, the video image should reach 100% black at precisely the same time the audio signal is fully muted. For this reason, it is standard practice to use the same duration time for both the video and audio portions of a fade.

Dissolve

A dissolve is a gradual transition from one shot to another that is created by overlapping the fade down of one clip with the fade up of the next adjacent clip in a sequence. Dissolves are less abrupt than cuts and are often used to signify a change in time, a change of location, or a change in tempo. Dissolves can be used to slow the pace of a program when a gentler timing structure or rhythm is called for. Short dissolves of less than 10 frames can be used in place of a cut to soften a transition without necessarily affecting an otherwise upbeat tempo. The longer the duration of a dissolve, the more dramatic and pronounced the effect.

Wipe

Most other transitions fall into the category of wipes or 3D effects. A wipe uses a linear movement or sweeping pattern to transition from one image to another. For example a vertical wipe moves from the top of the frame down, or from the bottom of the frame up, as it overwrites the current image with new pixels. A horizontal wipe does the same thing by sweeping left to right or right to left. A circle wipe moves in a radial direction from the center of the image outward and vice versa. Wipes come in a virtually unlimited assortment of shapes and patterns. There are checkerboard wipes, clock wipes, and slide wipes, which push the entire frame of video off-screen. A spin wipe is used to rotate the video frame as it moves out of view, while an explosion wipe shatters the picture into pieces before sending them off in every direction. If your selection of wipes is limited, chances are that a third-party software developer has produced wipes for your NLE that can be obtained for free or purchased and downloaded for a fee.

Like wipes, 3D transitions come in all shapes and sizes. Using powerful algorithms, video can be squished, stretched, warped, morphed, and distorted in any number of ways to achieve creative and unusual visual effects. Page peel transitions curl the edge of the video frame inward to simulate turning pages in a book. Cube spin transitions turn the video frame into a rotating object with multiple sides displaying different images or picture data. The list goes on and on.

Wipes and 3D transitions are visually very cool. They are fun to play with and can add legitimate value to a visual experience for the viewer. However, you must use them with caution. Anything you add into the video timeline should be motivated by the story and the impact you wish to make on the viewer. Simply throwing things into an edited sequence because you can, or because they look cool, is not necessarily going to make the end product look any more professional or be any more effective. In fact, it may backfire, producing a negative effect. Until you have more experience, stick with cuts and dissolves—and whatever you do, be consistent in terms of when and where you apply visual transitions. Do not use a pinwheel wipe in the first transition, a page peel in the second, and exploding video in the third. This sort of sporadic and random use of transitions will only confuse the viewer or overwhelm his or her visual senses. As we’ve said before, less is more!

Transition Properties

Once a transition has been added to the timeline, it becomes a customizable asset with properties that can be easily changed. Transition values are saved in a data file that’s stored in the render folder. While most transitions will play back in real time, at some point before exporting your project, you will need to fully render them. Once rendered, they will perform more smoothly and appear sharper when playing them in the timeline.

The most important property you need to pay attention to is the transition duration. Duration is the amount of time a transition takes to perform from beginning to end, as indicated in seconds and frames. The default transition in most programs is one second (or 30 frames). When adding a dissolve between two clips, I often use a 20-frame duration, which is roughly two-thirds of a second. This duration serves me well most of the time. For something particularly dramatic, I might use a longer increment of one to three seconds. Only rarely will I use anything longer. You need to remember that transitions take time to execute and that this can affect the runtime of your project, consuming precious seconds and minutes over the course of a long program. For example, in a 60-second commercial spot with 10 default transitions, one-sixth of the presentation will be taken up by transitions. The simple act of changing the default duration from one second to 15 frames will give you five additional seconds to work with. Think about it: 5 seconds in a 60-second spot is a lot of time.

In addition to the duration property, you can adjust a number of other variables. For example, you can change the direction of an edge wipe, causing it to start from the left, right, top, or bottom of the frame. The properties you have access to will depend on the transition you’re working with. Each transition is unique and therefore has different parameters and values you can adjust or manipulate to change the way it performs.

When applying a transition, make sure the adjoining clips you’re attaching it to are connected. If there’s a gap between the two clips that you can’t see—perhaps because you’re zoomed out too far—then the transition may not attach. Zooming in to the timeline for a close-up view of the transition point is really helpful. Once attached, transitions become modular visual objects you can modify.