Editing - top tips

Editing Film | Top Tips

When teaching editing, it is best that you have a go too. If you have not done this before, and only know about editing a holiday home movie, here are a few suggestions to ensure that your students know what to look out for and how to improve their work:

1. Timeline | shots should make sense in the order they are placed. It might be that students download their initial films and the shots are not in chronological order. Get them to roughly cut them first, and pop them into order. They can then trim down each piece of continuous footage, or each shot as suits them. Encourage them then to ‘hack’ into it, rather than trimming it all down first and then arranging.
2. Continuity | They must make sure that if someone is wearing a black jumper, sweating or has a bruise over their left eye, that it looks the same in the next shot. The action in the shots must be physically continuous. This also applies to the weather. This can make it tricky, as sometimes the weather (and therefore light) can change in an instant. Get the students to at least plan for this, and then they will be prepared. There are now whole shows about this so it does happen (just not in your classroom with any luck!).
3. Selection | does it tell the story, does it create the message / pace / tension needed? Students should reflect, decide and revise shot choice. They shouldn’t just chuck all their footage in. This is easier if they have stuck to a storyboard. There is a process of selection here already. If they just go out and film, the footage can be bulky and meaning can be lost. By selecting shots, and being able to articulate the choices is a great skill for them.
4. Edit On The Action | if your subject is standing, then sitting and you have changed shots, you need to consider when you should change from one piece of continuous action to another. Is this once they have sat? As they are sitting? Or before (and they move into frame)? A good first lesson on editing and camerawork, is to get students to film one person walking into a room to talk to another person sitting at a table. This is very basic, but they will have to consider angle, and when to cut. This can help them to create meaning, ensure their work flows (the action is continuous) and that the audience is not confused. It is worth having a lesson where you introduce them to the hardware - either with yourself or a technician.
5. Wait until the action has finished to cut to a still shot | otherwise it looks like you have cut them off mid-flow. This can be as they run towards someone or even walk into a room.
6. Pace | sometimes you will want to hold a shot and therefore will edit after a longer period of time. A shot normally lasts more than a second and less than 10 seconds.  This is so the audience can focus on the action / dialogue / setting. If you want to create a sense of panic, danger or chaos (for example with a chase), you would jump cut.
7. Smooth vs Rough | If you want to shock or create rhythm, you can edit to sound. For example in a music video, it means sense to cut to the beat of the music. If you are editing a TV Period Drama, you would edit to create a more realistic feel to the piece and therefore use longer continuous shots.
8. Montage | series of shots together, rather than using continuous shots. It can give a lot of information, or illustrate time passing.
9. Editing Music | As said above, one way is to cut to the pace of the music. Normally this is on the first beat of each bar.
10. You can also edit if there is a change in music | from loud to quiet, or orchestral to electronic or from choir to orchestra.
11. Dialogue / voiceovers / narration needs to be edited to fit with the action | It could be that you have a voiceover for someone writing a letter to illustrate their thoughts; this is a simple case of adding the dialogue to the action (someone writing) and you may also have some music in the background. This means you will have three different areas to edit. You will need to ensure that the voiceover and music are balanced, so the audience can focus on the area you want them too. Or you may have asked one actor to sing, and have a different performer to act as if they are singing. Students will then have to lip synch - get the audio and action to fit. They will get extra marks for this, as it is tricker. Another area they may need to look at is having several voices at the same time (for a dream or chaotic scene), or they need to exaggerate a conventional noise (glass smashing for an explosion or a gun being fired for an action film). Again, this is just a case of balance.
12. If you want students to use slow motion or speed up the action for a music video, there is a simple way to do this | If they are singing at the camera, either make the song faster or slower and get them to lip synch it at this speed. Once the song is at its normal pace, they will look like they are singing in time but the movement around them is faster / slower. (If they lip synch to fast music, at a normal pace the action will look slower and vice versa).