141 Part One: Technical Editing Basics

Capture

With all the aural and visual elements assembled, and with a log and EDL to get started, the actual editing session (whether offline or online or combined) begins by capturing the footage onto a computer drive. If the footage was acquired on videotape, such as Mini-DV or DigiBeta, a VTR or camcorder must be connected to the computer, usually by FireWire (IEEE 1394),

Universal Serial Bus (USB), or Serial Digital Inter- face (SDI) connections. If the source material is on a disc, such as Mini-DVD or Mini-CD, the disc must be placed in the disc drive. If the original files are on a

solid-state medium, such as a memory card, Flash de- vice, or computer drive, that medium needs to be con- nected to the computer.

After launching the editing software program, one of the menu items—often under the “File” menu—is

tocapture. Capturing is the process of transferring the footage from its acquisition medium to the computer drive from which you will edit. A capture window typ- ically prompts you to name each file and to select a drive and folder to store the captured clips. Capture all the elements you plan to use in editing your project. Note that by logging your footage in advance, you can save time and drive space by NOT capturing the shots that are no good and that you do not plan to use.

Import

Once the footage has been captured onto your com- puter drive, you need to import it into the software program for editing. Some programs automatically import the clips when they are captured; others do not. Look for the “Import” command—usually under

Figure 7-3 A screenshot from Final Cut Pro. In this arrangement, the clip storage area (browser) is bottom left; source mon- itor (viewer—here a quad split) top left; record monitor (canvas) top center; audio mixer top right; and timeline bottom center and right. (Courtesy of Apple)

142 Chapter 7: Part One: Technical Editing Basics

the “File” menu—which prompts you to go to the folder where you stored the captured clips. Click on the clips you wish to edit and import them. Most soft- ware interfaces have a clip storage area (bin, browser, or whatever your software calls it), which is a window that contains the icons and/or names of the clips you import. (See Figure 7-3.) Note that importing does not actually move a clip to a new place on the com- puter drive; it merely creates an icon in the software in- terface’s clip storage area that “points” to the actual clip. Note that if you move that clip to a different folder or location on your drive, or if you rename it or delete it, the software will not be able to find the clip. When that happens, you will be prompted that the clip cannot be located.

Trim

Once you have imported the clips, you need to trim

each one. Trimming refers to cutting the head—front or beginning of a clip—and tail—back or end of a clip—so only the frames you want are seen or heard in the final project. Most editing software gives you at least two ways to trim. One is to drag a clip from the bin to the play monitor (viewer, source, whatever). Usually at the bottom of the monitor window are but- tons to click for the in-point and out-point. (See Fig- ure 7-3.) The in-point is the frame on which you want the clip to begin playing in the final edit. The out- point is the last frame you want. Play the clip and click on the buttons for the in- and out-points on the frames you desire.

For example, imagine a clip that begins with some shaky footage as the camera operator attempts to pan and zoom onto a subject. Eventually, the shakiness stops and the subject is seen in a steady shot with good focus, lighting, framing, composition, and audio qual- ity. After the desired soundbite, the subject ad-libs some irrelevant comments. You only want the part of this clip with the steady shot and the usable soundbite, so you mark the in-point for a frame AFTER the shak- iness and BEFORE the subject speaks the soundbite. Likewise, you mark the out-point AFTER the sound- bite but BEFORE the irrelevant ad-lib.

The second way to trim a clip is to drag it to the

timeline (sequencer, whatever). (See Figure 7-3.)

Once the clip is in the timeline, you can move the cur- sor to the head of the clip, and the pointer changes to another icon for trimming. Click and drag forward, or right, to lose the unwanted frames: the shaky footage in our example. To trim the tail, place the pointer at the end until it changes to the trim icon, then drag back, or left, to lose the unwanted footage at the end: the ad-lib in our example.

Sequence

The timeline (sequencer, whatever) is the window you use to arrange the clips in the order, or sequence, you wish. If you trimmed a clip in the source monitor, you can simply click on that image in the monitor and drag it down to the timeline. If you already dragged the clip to the timeline and trimmed it there, it’s ready to go. You can watch your edits as you build them on the timeline by looking at the record monitor (canvas, playback, whatever). (See Figure 7-3.)

Arranging clips is as easy as clicking and dragging on their icons in the timeline and dropping them where you want them. This works the same for both video and audio clips. Usually, you will experiment with different arrangements of shots, continuing to trim them a bit here and there until the sequence of shots plays back with a clear storyline and smooth flow. An important feature in most software programs is the “Undo” function, usually under the “Edit” Menu. When you trim or move a clip and decide you don’t like what you’ve done, you can select “Undo” and voila, you are back to the way things were before you made the trim or move!

Layer

On the timeline, you can add more video and audio tracks. The new video tracks stack on top of the exist- ing tracks, and the new audio tracks appear under the existing tracks. These multiple tracks allow you to

layer new video and audio into your project.

Typical uses for multitrack layers of video elements are matte shots, which are images that key orsuper- impose one image into another. Another use is for ti- tles that are keyed into other shots, such as lower-

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