Lesson 3

THL Toolbox > Audio-Video > Technical Processing of Audio-Video - Log, Edit and Compress > Lesson 3

Importing Files

In Lesson #2 we captured our footage as Video Clips and saved them to our Project File. But suppose you forgot to save your project, or you want to create a new project using the Video Clips you already captured. Since the Video Clips have been saved to the hard drive, you don’t have to capture the files again! Here’s how you access them:
1. Right-click the mouse anywhere in the white area of the Project Window. A drop-down menu should appear.
2. Select Import, File, and locate your scratch disk. In Lesson #2 we called it Dancing Clips, but yours will probably have a different name.
3. Select the Video Clips you would like to add to your project. You can Ctrl-Click to select more than one clip at a time.

Note: You can also use this method to import still images, music files, or just about any other type of video, still, or sound file from your hard drive.

Types of Files

Now look at your Project Window. You will see icons next to each of the files you have imported. Here is what those icons mean:
1. Film Strip: Indicates a Video Clip with no sound.
2. Film Strip with Speaker: Indicates a Video Clip with sound.
3. Speaker: Indicates a sound clip.
4. Page: Indicates a still image.
In the panel below the files, click on the icon furthest to the right. Now extend your Project Window by dragging the lower right corner. You will see that there is a lot of information associated with each file. Here is what that information means:
1. Name: Indicates the name of the file.
2. Media Type: Indicates the type of file (Audio, Movie, Still)
3. Duration: Indicates how long the file is.
4. Timecode: Indicates the timecode of the clip on the DV tape.
5. Video Info: Don’t worry about this.
6. Audio Info: Don’t worry about this.

Playing Your Clips

In order to decide what footage goes in your film, you need to watch it first. Here’s how:
1. Right-click the Video Clip you want to open in the Project Window. In the menu that appears, select Open in Source Monitor.
2. Use the VCR controls (Play, Stop, Fast Forward, Rewind,) to view your clip.

Setting In and Out Points

Remember the definition of editing? In case you’ve forgotten, it’s cutting out the bad bits of footage. Now it’s is time to do just that. The process is a lot like capturing your footage since you set in and out points:
1. Search through your footage until you find the point at which you would like your shot to begin.
2. Click the left bracket ({) at the bottom of the Source Monitor to set your in point. You can also set an in point by dragging the bracket ({) in the slider bar.
3. Now search through your footage and find the point at which you would like your shot to end.
4. Click the right bracket (}) at the bottom of the source monitor to set your out point. You can also set an out point by dragging the bracket (}) in the slider bar.

Putting Your Footage in the Timeline

Now it’s time to put your shot in the timeline:
1. At the bottom right corner of the Source Monitor, you will see two buttons. One is a down pointing arrow positioned above a single rectangle. This is the Overwrite button. Click it. Your shot will appear in the timeline.
2. Somewhere on the timeline you should also see a vertical line with a triangle on top. This is the edit line. Drag it through your shot. You will notice that the image in the Program Window Changes. You can use the edit line to move quickly through your footage.
3. Now drag the edit line to a point somewhere in your shot. At the bottom right corner of the Source Monitor you should see a second button that looks like a down pointing arrow positioned between two rectangles. This is the Insert button. Click it. Your shot will appear in the middle of the shot that was already in the Timeline.
4. Here is the difference between the Overwrite and Insert buttons:
  1. Overwrite: Places the clip on top of the existing footage at the point of the edit line.
  2. Insert: Places the clip at the edit line and moves the shots in your sequence to the right.

Using Your Tools

Tools help us to move and manipulate our shots in the Timeline. You can find your Toolbox at the top left corner of the Timeline. To use a tool, just click on the icon. You’ll notice that if you click on the small arrow at the bottom right of each icon, a fly-out menu appears containing more tools. Here are some of the basic tools and a short description of what each one does. (Note: Some of them you may have to access through the fly-out window):
1. Selection Tool (Arrow Icon): You can also press “V” to use the selection tool. This is the tool you will probably use most. When you are using the Selection Tool, your cursor appears as an arrow. Here some ways you can use the Selection Tool:
  1. Move shots in the Timeline: Click on a shot and hold the button. Now move the shot into a new position.
  2. Extend or shorten the length of your shot: Move the arrow to the end of a shot. You will see it changes shape to a bracket ““ or “”. Click and drag, watching the Program Window to determine the appropriate starting or ending point.
  3. Deleting a shot from the Timeline: Click on a shot to select it. Press “Delete”. The shot will disappear from your Timeline, leaving a space.
2. Multitrack Select Tool (Box with Two Arrows): This tool selects all of your tracks at once.
3. Ripple Edit Tool (Two Arrows Pointing in Different Directions): This tool also can extend or shorten the length of your shot, much like the Selection Tool, however, it won’t leave a gap. To use it, Click and drag the end of your shot. Once you find the point where you want to make your edit, release the mouse button. All the shots on the other side of the shot you selected will slide over to accommodate your selected shot’s new length.
4. Razor Tool (Razor Blade Icon): Makes a cut by slicing a shot in two.
5. Hand Tool (Hand Icon): This tool isn’t very helpful. It moves the entire Timeline by grabbing a shot and sliding the mouse to one side. I almost never use it.
6. Zoom Tool (Magnifying Glass Icon): The zoom tool lets you see your shots in more detail by zooming into the Timeline. You can get the same effect by pressing the “+/=” key. You can also zoom out by pressing the “—“ key.
7. Link/Unlink Tool (Chain Icon): By default, audio and video clips are attached. This tool lets you link or unlink a video clip from an audio clip. It is used most often in sound editing, which we’ll talk about in a later lesson.
8. In-Point Tool (Bracket, “{“): Instead of dragging the edge of a clip to trim it, you can use this tool. It is usually easier just to use the Selection Tool, so you probably won’t find yourself using this very often.

Closing Gaps

Notice that when delete a shot using the Selection Tool, it leaves a gap in your sequence. Here’s how you close it:
1. Right click in the space between two shots. Select Ripple Delete. Your shots will slide together, making the sequence continuous again.

A Word on Basic Editing Techniques

Now that we know how to put footage in a sequence, let’s discuss when it’s appropriate to cut, as well as some of the standard shots you should be familiar with.

When to Cut

There is no formula that will tell you exactly when to cut, but there are guidelines that will help you make your decision. All of these guidelines are actually different ways of saying the same thing: You cut when it feels right!

## When the shot turns bad.

1. When you are bored with the image.
2. When the image stops providing adequate information.
3. When the image doesn’t make sense in your sequence.

Basic Shots

Most shots that you see fall into the following basic categories. If you are familiar with these shots and how they function, it becomes much easier to put them into a sequence that makes sense.
Establishing Shots: These show tell viewer where they are. Try to use them at the beginning of your sequence. Example: A shot of depicting the entire Barkhor.

Wide Shots: These are similar to establishing shots, but the emphasis is on the person or the object rather than the place. For a person, it usually means that you can see them from head to toe.

Medium Shots: These usually show a person from the waist up. It gives us a sense of who that person (or what that object) is.

Tight Shots: These are where part of the person or object takes up the entire frame. For a person, it usually means that only the face fills the screen.

Matching Shots: These are shots where the action stays the same from one shot to another. Look for these when you are trying to cut together an action. Example: You have a wide shot of someone typing at the computer and a tight shot of her hands at the computer. If the tight shot is of her hands typing, make sure her hands are also typing at the point you cut the wide shot.

Cutaways: We always try to avoid putting two similar shots together. A Cutaway shot is a way of avoiding this. Usually you only use the video for the cutaway, and keep the audio from the previous shot. Example: In an interview you want to avoid cutting together two shots of the interviewee, so you might instead cut to a shot of her hands between the shots.

TIP #1: Using a combination of Wide, Medium, and Tight Shots keeps the sequence interesting. It also helps us to avoid jump cuts (see Tip #2). TIP #2: If we see two similar shots next to each other in a sequence, it creates a “Jump” in the image. This is called a JUMP CUT. Jump cuts also occur when an action doesn’t match across shots. Both types of Jump Cuts are jarring to the audience, so we try to avoid them when we can.

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