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FilmEditingTutorial

Quickstartguide!
TerriMeyerBoake
1.Preparingyourselfandyourfiles:

Thisinformationisvalidforallfilm
editingsoftware:FCP,Premiere
(theversionofFCbeingusedis
FCExpress 4.01orFCP5orlower)
Remember:
Garbagein=Garbageout!
Videoandimagequalitymustbegood.
Lightingandcolourmustbegood.
Organizeyourself
Beforeyoustartediting
Planyourfilm
Understandyoursequence
Getyourmediaready
Makesureyouhaveenoughspaceonyour
drivetostoretheproject
Prepareanystillimages
Checkallofyourformatsforcompatibility
2.PreparingyourVideoFiles:

Ifyouneedtodownloadmaterialforthetutorial
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15256893/filmtutorial.zip
VideoFormats
Videofileformat
Thishasbecomeverycomplexduetothe
greatvarietyofvideocamerasandformats
Theshape(aspectratio)ofthevideoas
takenbyyourcameraneedstodeterminethe
shapeofthefinalvideoyouaremaking
ExamineaclipofyourvideoinQuicktime Pro
Inspectortobesureoftheformat
Commonformats
TheoldMiniDV tapecamerassetthestandardfor4:3
ratio=640x480pixels
MostcurrentvideocamerasareshootingWidescreen
(16:9),butthepixeldimensionsvary
Anamorphicisanotherproportion
YouneedtoknowifyouareshootingSD(Standard
Definition)orHD(HighDefinition)
ireferstointerlacedfootage
preferstoprogressivefootage
Ifyoudontknowwhatyouareshooting,use
Quicktime Inspectortolookupthedetails

Infotakenfrom:http://library.rice.edu/services/dmc/guides/video/VideoFormatsGuide.pdf
Interlacedfootagei
Acommonwaytocompressvideoistointerlaceit.
Eachframeofaninterlacedvideosignalshowsevery
otherhorizontallineoftheimage.Astheframesare
projectedonthescreen,thevideosignalalternates
betweenshowingevenandoddlines.Whenthisis
donefastenough,i.e.around60framespersecond,
thevideoimagelookssmoothtothehumaneye.
Becauseonlyhalftheimageissentwitheachframe,
interlacedvideousesroughlyhalfthebandwidththan
itwouldsendingtheentirepicture.
Progressivefootagep
Aprogressivescanpicturedrawseverylinein
sequence.Therefore,aprogressivescanvideosignal
sendstwiceasmuchdatathananinterlacedsignal
eachtimeitdrawsanimageonthescreen.
Still,ifaprogressivescanandinterlacedimageare
bothprojectedat60Hz,theprogressivescanimage
willusuallyappearslightlysmoother.Videothat
containsfastmotionmakesthisdifferencemore
noticeable.Forthisreason,theDVDandHDTV
standardsweredevelopedtosupportprogressivescan
videosignals.
Whenyouseevideoformatsdescribedas
480por720p,thenumberindicateshow
manyhorizontallinesofresolutionthevideo
signaluses,whilethe"p"indicatesitisa
progressivescansignal.Similarly,the1080i
formatcontains1080linesofresolution,butis
interlaced.Both720pand1080iareusedby
HDTV.
FrameRates
Differentcamerashavedifferentframerates
Mostcommonis29.97(30)FPSforvideo
cameras
24and25canbefoundinmanyDSLRtype
cameras
Makesureyousetupyourprojectfilmwith
thematchingframerate
YoushouldnotMIXframerateswithinafilm
Thetwomostcommonformatsare4:3and16:9
16:9
4:3
16:9
.avi formatscause
problemswiththe
Quicktime systemas
theyrequireodd
codecs
MixedFormats
Mixedvideoformatscancausetroubleif:
Thepixeldimensionsdonotmatch(1:1vs 1:1.2121)When
exportingrectangularpixelstheycanbecomesquareand
squishthevideo
A4:3segmentina16:9filmwillhaveblackbarsattheside
A16:9clipina4:3filmwillbecutoff
Someeditingprogramsaremoreaccommodatingof
differencesinframerates,butyouwontknowtil youare
doneandexportifthereisanissue
WhenyouexportyoucanaskQuicktime toletterboxand
thiswillputblackbarsonthemovietofitthechosenfilm
size
3.PreparingyourImageFiles:
Importingfiles
Putallofyourimages,clipsandmusicinafile
folder.
YouneedtoIMPORTtheseintoyourediting
programusingtheIMPORTcommand.
Ifyoudraganddroptheminfromyourdesktop,
andthenmovethefolder,theimageswill
disappearfromyourmoviebecausetheyhave
been"disconnected".
Someclipsmustbeimporteddirectlyfromyour
videocamera
Imagefiles
makesurethatyourimagesareat72dpi
atleastaslargeasthevideosizeyouareusing
inJPEGformatforFCE;Premieresupportsa
multitudeofformats(notPDF)
YouwillresizeinFCtoadjusttoyourscreensize
Iftheyareanysmallerandyouneedtostretch
them,theywillbeblurry(insufficientdata).
Youcaneasilyuselargerimages,butnot"huge".
Therenderingprocessinfilmeditingwill
resolvedifferencesinresolutionforfinaloutput
PSDfiles
IfyoubringaPSD(layered)fileintothe
softwareanddropitonthetimeline,it
(should)breakoutintoitslayers,sothatyou
canmanipulatetheimagelayerbylayer.
Thisisgoodformakingmasksormakingthe
differentlayersintheimagedodifferent
motionactions,opacities,etc.
4.PreparingyourAudioFiles:
AudioFormat
ChecktheQuicktime
Inspectortoseethe
audioratethatyourfilm
isusing
Mostcommonis48kHZ
Mostshouldbein
stereo,16bit
AddingMusic
ThenaturalsoundsinyourvideoandthekHzof
yourmusicneedtomatch.
FinalCutProisfairlypickyaboutwhatsortof
audiofilesyouuse.Theyhavetobeat48kHz.
StandardCDfilesareinm4aormp3formatand
recordedat44.1kHz.Youneedtoconvertthese
withQuicktime Proto48kHztopreventpotential
poppingnoisesinthefinalvideoinFCE
AdobePremiereseemstoaccommodatemore
varietyinternally
.m4a

Audiofiles!

.mp3
Changeto48
5.SettinguptheFilmforEditing
AdobePremiere

NotetheFPS
areroundedup
tothenexteven
number

DVNTSC
Widescreen
48kHz
Isthemost
basic
widescreen
setting

Notethepixel
aspectratiois
1:2121
AdobePremiere

NotetheFPS
areroundedup
tothenexteven
number

Notethepixel
aspectratiois
SQUARE
ImportingyourVideoFiles
Onceyouhaveyourprojectinitiated,importyourfiles
VideowilleitherbeimportedasclipsfromyourDSLR
Orloggedandcapturedfromavideocamera
Oracombinationofthetwo
Shootmorevideothanyouneedtoallowforediting
andloss,butdontshootahugeamountoritgivesyou
moreworktosortthroughit
Clipsareeasiertomanagethanacontinuousshoot.
Goodtostartandstopyourcameratocreateclips
EditingBasics
EditinginFCP,Premiere(andiMovie)isallnon
destructive
Changesmadetofilesonthetimelinedonot
affecttheoriginalfile
Clips,images,soundfilescanbeusedoverand
over
Audiofilesonmultipletimelineswillplayallat
once
Image/moviefilesonmultipletimelinesare
layered(likeinPhotoshop) theoneontopis
readfirst
TheSequenceLine
InbothFCandPremiereyoucreateaseriesoffilm
sequences
Thesequencelinehasvideotracksontopandaudio
tracksonthebottom
Unlimited(to99)ofeach
iMovie islimitedtoonevideotrackandtwoaudio
tracks
Forcomplicatedmovies,createmultiplesequencesand
useoneinsideofanother
Youcanlockthetracksthatyouarenotusingsothat
youreditingdoesnotinadvertentlymovepreviously
finishedcontent
TitleorImageSafeAreas
Oldertelevisionswillcutoffsomeofthearea
ofthefilmwhenitisprojected
Findthetitlesafesettingonyourediting
softwareandkeepyourimportantmaterial
andtextwithintheseframes
Thisisalsoimportantwhenyouareusingyour
DVDmakingsoftwarewhenlocatingtitles
KeyFrames
Keyframesarepointsonthesequence
timelinethatareusedtostartandstop
motionactionsonclipsorimages
Yousetthekeyframeforeachtypeofmotion
oropacitychange,setthevalue,thenset
thekeyframewherethismotionisto
terminateandsetthevalue
Thesoftwarecreatesasmoothtransition
betweenthetwopoints
TextandTitles
InFCEtextisgeneratedinthevideoeffects
windowunderapulldownfoldercalledVideo
Generation
Thistextispulledintothetimeline/sequence
onceitiscreated
InPremierethereisaspecialwindowfor
makingtext.Oncecreateditwillresideinyour
menuoffilesandyoucanpullitintoyour
timeline
ExportingyourMovie
Whenyouarefinishededitingyouneedtoexportyour
movie(FinalSequence)
InFCEuseExport/Quicktime conversion
Makesurethatyoursettingsmatchtheinitialsettings
forthemoviethatyousetup
Youcanchangetheoverallsize,compressionatexport
time
UseeitheriDVD orEncoretocreateaplayableDVD
versionofyourmovie(compressesit)
ThefilecreateddirectlyoutofFCorPremierehasnot
beencompressedandisverylarge

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