Video Editing Software Tips » Video Editing Tips

Simple Video Editing Tips

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 04:48:27 +0000

One of the first realizations you will have about video editing is that it can be slow and laborious. There really is no getting around that but of course when you have finished and produced the final video file it all seems worth it.

The key to reducing the mind numbing effects of video editing lies in your ability to be organized. Vast amounts of time and effort can be saved by doing a little work before you get started.

Before you even begin shooting have a plan. This can range from having a completed script and a shot list on a storyboard down to at least having some clue as to how you want the finished product to look like or even be about! You can also take a look here for a summary of some good video shooting tips that additionally help in staying organized and on track.

The main point here is to always shoot your footage with editing and the final result in mind.

If you haven’t already now would a good time to create an outline of your video and the story you will be telling. Use this as a constant reference as you edit. This will help you to stay focused on what you are doing and where you are within the process as you go along. It prevents you from drifting off from your intended story line or message.

The second point of organization is that of getting your video clips, audio clips, music, images or whatever into the various libraries of your video editing software. Do this before you even begin to edit and get everything named with easily recognizable file titles so you can quickly find what you are looking for.

Using your shot list or rough outline, go through all your video assets to eliminate the junk you will not be using. There is nothing that will suck the time out of your life and take the fun out of editing more than having to constantly scroll though a gazillion useless video clips to find the one you want.

Once you have all if that organized you can begin editing. When you first open your video editing software make sure you have set the project properties of the project to suit the video file format you are using. This will save time and confusion at the end of the process when rendering to a new file.

Most modern video editing programs these days are already laid out in a manner to follow the most effective work-flow for video editing and generally you are best to follow it.

First comes the video file editing itself which is simply a matter of adding clips to the time-line in sequence according to your plan for the video (You have a plan right?)

At this stage it is best to get everything roughly added to the time-line with each individual clip trimmed to approximately where you want it.

Next you can add (or not add) transitions between those clips for scene changes and cuts. Remember that a transition is going to absorb a second or so of the clip so get this done now otherwise the timing of audio will get thrown out if you add them later. Just keep in mind that a transition is designed to further the story, not to BE the story.

Now you can add audio to the time-line and begin tweaking everything to sync correctly and do what you want it to do. There is no getting around the finicky nature of this part of the process. You will have to shave a second here, add a second there, shift this forward on the time-line and move that back a little until you have it right… that’s editing!

Once the entire project is playing exactly how you want it you can add titles and again most modern video editing software has good titling capabilities to make this very simple.

Finally you will have to render your project to a completed file. Remember that until this point all your editing decisions have been “virtual” and your original files remain completely untouched.

In rendering all you have to do is to decide what format you want the final output to be in and let the software do the rest. The format itself will depend on whether you want to make a DVD, a Blu-ray disc, upload to YouTube or attach it to an email and send it to friends.

The range of possibilities here is huge so it is well worth doing a little research to find the best options for your project and writing them down somewhere for reference.

As a final note the best video editing software will also offer an audio “Normalization” feature at this point which you can use to get consistent audio levels for throughout the video you have produced. This is particularly handy if you have sourced audio from different places.

Of course this is not all there is to video editing by a long shot but if you at least get started using these tips and try to keep learning and practicing the whole process gets to be fun and a great outlet for your creative juices!

Go crazy!

Flip Mino, Zi8 and Creative Vado Video File Editing

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:25:26 +0000

An ongoing problem when using Flip Mino’s, Kodak Zi8′s and Creative Vado type camcorders is that when editing the footage from these HD cams computers have a tendency to implode and become reduced to a smoking pile of rubble.

Ok, maybe that’s exaggerating but let’s face it, MP4 or H.264 video files can still be a royal pain in the butt to deal with.

There can be any number of reason for this, from conflicts with other processes running in the background on the computer to insufficient resources available.

But even after addressing these issues some people still have problems regardless of the software they are using.

The root cause of the problem really is that these cams record in MP4 (H.264 .mov etc) and it just seems to be the nature of these files to be problematic. Remember, they were developed as distribution formats, not editing formats. So the very structure of the files and the way they achieve their compression is working against you from the start.

Combine all of the above with footage that has been produced on a cam that is as tiny as these and there is ample opportunity for error. In fact one of the main sources of error is in tiny corruptions of the original video file. This type of corruption does not interfere with playback but does make editing a nightmare because when the editing software is trying to do its thing it hits these tiny errors and chokes.

If you have had problems with this type of file in the past and have done most of the stuff listed on these pages for video editing computer maintenance then there is still hope!

You can use a free video conversion software called Handbrake to process the files and in doing so it will correct any internal errors (especially time codes) and maintain the quality of your footage. Hopefully after that you can edit with ease.

Go to www.handbrake.fr to get a copy of the software and install it.

Open the software and use the “Source” button to navigate to the files you want to correct.

Next look for the “Destination” button and use that to select where you want the processed files to go.

Underneath those you will see a series of tabs. Select the “Video” tab, look to the right and you will see a slider control that has some radio buttons. Select “Constant Quality” and the slider will become active.

Move the slider to about 70%. There is no quality advantage in going higher than that, just choose 70% and your file will retain original quality.

That’s it! Even though there are numerous other settings the beauty of Handbrake is that all the defaults are just fine for this purpose.

Finally hit the “Start” button top left of the window and let it run.

When it has finished load the newly processed MP4 files into your editor of choice and you are all set.

Camcorders Still Cameras and Codecs

admin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 09:57:43 +0000

This is a reply to an email I received asking about camcorders. I though the info might be of use so I have posted it here.

Ok Kimmy Sue,
I see by my inbox you have a busy day planned for me! I will address each email separately so we don’t get all crossed up here.

Camcorders.

The argument that you need a purpose built camcorder to record video instead of using the video capabilities of a still camera gets weaker everyday.
Consumer camcorders were the best in the past and even up to last year, but it has all changed now.

Most consumer camcorders have very small lenses and because of that they restrict you greatly in what you can really achieve. For family ‘point and shoot’ of course they are fine but if you want to go further then they will always fall short because of the lens. If you look at some you will see they have very small openings for the lens itself.

Video is just photography on crack. Ultimately the quality depends on the ability of the camera or camcorder to record light and that really takes us straight to the lens. The main difference between something shot by an amateur and something shot by a pro is depth of field. This is important. Remember I told you to try to de-focus the background footage? The reason for this is that if you look closely at how movies and TV shows are shot you will notice that the main action is always in sharp focus and whatever is happening in the background is out of focus. This is achieved by being able to control the aperture of the lens. Most consumer camcorders cannot do this or cannot do this very well.

Shakin’ all over.

You have entered the world of high definition. This means that you now have a new best friend. Meet Mr. Tripod! You may as well have him surgically attached to your body because from this moment forward you are forbidden to take hand-held shaky shots following your husband around the house annoying the crap out of him! The codecs being used to compress the HD footage you are taking do not “compress.” They actually take a whole bunch of the image data and throw it away! This results in small file sizes with amazingly good quality. The trade off is in the ability of these new codecs to display motion smoothly. Panning across a scene too fast or moving the camera will result in jumpy or jittery motion so you have to keep that to an absolute minimum. Use a tripod or BE a tripod… it’s up to you.

Audio.

This first thing you are going to notice once you settle down and get over the video editing excitement is that hey!… my videos sound like shit! That’s because they do! The audience wont notice, they will just leave either physically or mentally without knowing why. The most important part of video is… audio! You must get a cam that has a jack for an external mic. The on-board mics of camcorders and cameras suck mightily and will destroy any effort you make in creating a good looking video.

Put A Sock In It

Actually that’s incorrect. Put a sock ON it. When shooting outside using an external mic (because you read the previous paragraph) take a wind sock with you and always use it. There is nothing worse than getting home and discovering that all you can hear in the video is the sound of a gentle breeze constantly blowing across the mic surface… and nothing else.

Compression

Currently for High Definition we have two main camps. Under one label you have h.264 under many guises such as AVCHD, .mov, MP4 blah, blah, blah. On the other side we have HDV. HDV is the same architecture as MPEG2 which you find on standard definition DVDs. The difference is that the resolution had been ramped up to HD standard and the bitrate (amount of data per second) has equally been ramped up from around 4 to 5Mb per second to around 25 Mb per second.

Both give great quality but the AVCHD/MP4 camp gives smaller file size. The real difference for me is that AVCHD/MP4 still presents the user with great difficulty in editing and requires an enormous amount of processing power to manipulate.

Whilst the whole MP4/H.264/AVCHD camp represents the wave of the future HDV will still be around for a long time yet and is easier to deal with. HOWEVER take note that HDV camcorders use tape to record rather than solid state memory cards so you can only transfer it to a computer in real time. An hour of video takes an hour to get on to the hard drive.

So what to buy?
Well I guess it comes down to cost in the end so here are some recommendations.

Camcorders

Kodak Z18 Pocket Video Camera.

For around a hundred bucks this little camcorder is great for “talking head” videos for online type presentations and can be carried around in your pocket to shoot anytime you want. It has a mic jack so you can plug a decent microphone into it for good sound and records very nice HD footage.

Click to see in full

Canon Vixia HV30

This is a HDV camcorder recording to tape. It is my pick of the dedicated camcorders because Canon have included a big fat ol’ lens out the front allowing for great shots and good control over depth of field and low-light situations. It has external mic capability and produces beautiful video.

Click to see in full

Panasonic DMC-DH1

Still camera with great video properties.

Click to see in full

EOS 5D Mark II

This would be my pick for a still cam to take video. No point telling you why… just watch this video shot with one. The final episode of “House” was shot entirely with one of these. By the way, take note in the video of the way it is edited. Look at just how they go from one shot to the next.

Click here to see in full