CHAPTER SEVEN ..... VIDEO EDITING- Part 2 ARTISTIC

The purpose of this sheet is not to turn you into a video director, there are numerous books, and courses taught at University or College that will do a better job, but I hope it will give you a couple of tips to get you started, and help show you how much fun you can have.

Having watched film and television all our lives, we can understand film "grammar." We don't panic the way audiences did, early in the century, when they saw their first close-up of the head of an actor on a giant theater screen. We accept it in the same way we concentrate on a person's face when he is speaking to us, and don't insist on seeing all of him.

When we learn to use film grammar to help us tell a story, we can use little tricks like compressing time. Suppose your script calls for an actor to walk down a long hall. To shoot the whole action might take two minutes. Now suppose you tape him turning into the hallway and walking toward the camera; lets say ten seconds. Now we insert a close up of his face, or a shot of someone watching him go past. This is called a cutaway. Now we add a shot from behind of him reaching the end of the hallway and rounding a corner; maybe eight seconds. You have just saved about a minute and a half of time, and the action still seems natural.

Another trick, invented by Edwin S. Porter for the GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY in 1903, is parallel action. Just supposing your plot involves DAD telling JUNIOR that if he has the driveway all cleared of snow by the time DAD gets home from work, DAD will take him to a hockey game.

We start with a shot of JUNIOR beginning to shovel,  it=s a big driveway,  and after 12 seconds we cut to a shot of DAD leaving the office and starting his drive home.

NOTE: another trick that is part of this is to use fairly long shots at the beginning, and progressively shorter ones as you go along, thereby building up the tension.

Also NOTE: Those not fortunate enough to live in Canada could substitute grass cutting for snow shoveling.

Now you can see what happens. JUNIOR shovels, DAD drives, JUNIOR shovels, cut away to dog watching, JUNIOR shovels, DAD stops at traffic light. JUNIOR wipes brow. Well you can see how it goes. You can condense a chore that would take half an hour into two minutes, and make it look good.

Plotting out the story ahead of time is where all the fun comes in. Whatever the activity that is coming up- family picnic, little league baseball, etc. make a list of the shots you need to tell the story.

If you are really ambitious, make a story board with the camera angles, and the kind of shot you want. This isn't cast in stone, sometimes better shots come up, and you change direction, but at least you have some guidelines.

The last thing I want to mention is don't be afraid to keep your video productions short. A good three minute or five minute show will be better received by your audience than a dull forty minute one. They will be comparing yours with network TV, so keep it short and keep it moving.