VIDEO EDITING

FILMS BEGINNINGS
The first known celluloid film was created by Eadward Muybridge in 1888. It was called Roundhay Garden Scene and was a 2 second film of people walking around an English garden. The invention of film, or motion pictures became one of the most important cultural inventions in history, creating new possibilities for journalism, entertainment, and artistic expression. However, in the beginning, the technical challenges of combining audio with film meant that early films were all silent.

Roundhay Garden Scene

TELLING A SILENT STORY

Because there was no sound in early films, intertitles , also called title cards, were used to present important plot points or show dialogue. These were edited into the shots of the film. Because of this, the title writer was an important job during the silent film era.

Since no one could talk, story lines had to be very simple, and the acting used lots of overemphasized gestures and facial expressions. It looks silly today, but back then, it was considered dramatic art. A lot of films back then were accompanied by live piano or organ music to set the mood.

TALKIES
In the late 1920s, the golden age of silent films ended when talkies started appearing.

The first successful talking pictures was 1927s The Jazz Singer.
However, silent films launched the film industry and created many film techniques that are still used today!

FILM GENRES
Nowadays, there are lots of common genres, or types, of movies. Some examples:

ROMANCE
SUCCESS/OVERCOMING OBSTACLES HORROR DRAMATIC RETURNS (Getting back to where you want to be)

CONVERSION (Becoming a different, usually better, type of person)

FAMILY ADVENTURE/ACTION COMEDY DOCUMENTARY (Telling real life stories, like nonfiction)

THE 4 CS
There are 4 elements that are common to great stories.

CHARACTER: Most movies have a protagonist, a main character. The audience wants to care about the lead character. Heroes and heroines inspire us. We want to see them succeed. Its important to have a character that captures the audiences attention.
CONFLICT: There is also usually an antagonist, who works against the main character. Great villains make you hate them. Sometimes, a villain isnt even a person, but maybe an oncoming disaster of some sort. Conflict can be physical or emotional, but should always be interesting. CLIMAX: This is the big moment, the resolution of the conflict. CONCLUSION: The ending needs to satisfy the audience and make them glad they watched the whole movie. Storylines and conflicts need to be wrapped up, and the audience should be satisfied. Conclusions can be happy or sad and can even leave questions unanswered, as long as they make sense.

THE PROCESS OF MAKING A MOVIE

First, there needs to be a story, this usually comes from the script.

Then you plan out the visuals that go at different points in the script, by using storyboards.
Once the film is planned, it can be filmed. After filming, the movie needs to be edited. Well review these steps in more depth now.

STORYBOARDS
Sometimes, you need to tell part of a story without anyone explaining it. The story needs to be told visually, which isnt written in a script. To plan out the visual part of the movie, the production team uses storyboards. Storyboards plan out where the actors will be, what the setting will be, what angle the camera will film from, and more. Each shot is drawn out, and the dialogue (if any) is written below the picture.

INTERESTING FILMING
An important idea, both in your storyboard and when you move on to filming, is to make your shots varied, which means not all the same.

One way to do this is different SIZED shots, like close ups and long distance shots.
Another way is with MOVING shots, like panning across a scene (going from one side to the other). Its a good idea to use a TRIPOD to hold a camera steady. Another version is a tilt shot, where the camera moves up or down to show a whole person or scene in more detail.

Another way is different ANGLES. Shooting from above makes someone look smaller, while shooting from below makes them look larger or more important.
All of this should be planned in your storyboard and then appear in your filming.

EDITING
Good movies require good editing.

Its not unusual to shoot 10 minutes of film for every minute of the finished movie. The rest gets edited out so that only the high quality moments remain. Also, sometimes a scene has to be filmed more than once to get it right.
Scenes are often not shot in the order they are seen in. Its often easier to shoot all the scenes that happen in one place at the same time, instead of moving back and forth. Editors later move the footage around so that the story goes in order. Editors decide how long each shot will be, the order in which they appear, how transitions will happen between scenes, and how sound and music fit in. There are editors in charge of all of this, and sometimes they have specific jobs, like sound editing or effects editor.

EDITING OUT THE BORING

Editors also cut out a lot of boring, extra footage.

For example, if someone is walking down a long hall, they may take a long time to do it. That might be boring for the audience. So the editor might cut out the middle parts, and just show a short shot, or the beginning and end of the walk.
They might also put in other shots of the area around the hall, or close ups of the actors face. Editors spice up a shot with extra angles, extra actors, shots that add more information to tell more of the story, etc. Planning carefully and using only the best parts keeps movies interesting!

VIDEO EDITING TOOLS

Before computers, film editors would literally cut up pieces of film with scissors and glue or tape them together. Now, we can use computer programs to edit videos. There are a lot of different programs that can be used, and professionals often use different programs than you might use at home. Examples of home programs might be Vegas Movie Studio or iMovie (which youll be using). All video editing programs have a few common elements: 1. A storage area for all of your movie elements, like movie clips, sound effects, audio clips, etc. 2. A timeline to assemble your movie (put it together) 3. A window to preview (watch) the movie while youre working

EXAMPLES OF VIDEO EDITING WINDOWS