What is editing?

Research on Editing

I researched into the meaning of editing before taking a role in editing, to gain a better understanding of what i want to achieve.

Editing is the process of manipulating and rearranging video shots to create a new work. Editing is usually seen as part of the post production process. Other post production tasks can include for example: sound mixing and colour correction. Editing is a term which is used to describe all the post production work, this usually occurs in more non-professional situations and amateur film producers.

Although there are many reasons why editing may be done, it really depends on the desired outcome. Before you begin editing, it is important to understand which editing goals you aim to achieve at the end:

Removing unwanted footage- This is the easiest and most common task in editing, as many videos can be dramatically improved just by removing unwanted footage.

Choosing the best footage- It is a good idea to film as much footage as you can, so that you can choose the best footage to use for final editing. There is much more choice, if there is enough footage and often cameramen will shoot the same footage several times to get the best shot.

Creating a flow- Editing is important to making sure that the video serves the purpose of what it wants to achieve, so that the audience understands the message that is aimed to be given across. This is the same even if the video is telling a story or providing information.

Adding effects, music, graphics ect.- By adding extra elements you can improve most videos and give a 'wow' factor to the viewer.

Altering style, pace or mood of the video- Editors who are experienced, will be able to create a specific mood to a video which can influence the audience to react in a particular way.

Angle of the video- Videos can be tailored to support a particular viewpoint, give a message or serve a agenda.

There are also different types of editing:

Film Splicing- A more traditional method, which was the first method developed for editing moving pictures and conceptually forming the basis of all video editing. This process involves cutting sections of the film and rearranging or getting rid of them. It is a very mechanical and straightforward process. In theory a film could be editing with a pair of scissors and tape, although a splicing machine would be the only practical solution. Because it holds the film in place and lined in order, while it is cut and spliced together.

Tape to tape (Linear)- Before editing computers became available in the 1990s, linear editing was the original method of editing electronical video tapes. Although it is a less prefered option for more professional work, it has its place and sometimes is a better option.

In Linear editing, footage is copied from one footage to another. It needs atleast two machines connected together, where one acts as the source and the other as a recorder.

1. Place the video to be edited in the source machine and a blank tape in the recorder.
2. Press play on the source machine and record on the recorder.

The idea of this method is to record parts of the source tape you want to keep. This way the desired footage can be recorded in order from the original tape to the new tape. So that the new tape becomes the edited version.

Digital/ Computer (non-linear)- Recorded footage from a camera is put onto a hard drive on the computer then edited using specialized software such as Finalcut Pro. Once editing is complete, the finished product can be recorded on to a CD, DVD or other forms of media.

An advantage of using this method, is that it is more flexible in terms of time and being able to change parts of the video anytime. However a disadvantage would be setting up the editing system can be a challenge, or losing edited footage because for example the computer froze.

This method is easier to learn than the linear method and after mastering, you can work much faster and efficiently.

Live editing- Multiple cameras and other video sources are routed through a central mixing console and edited in real time. Live television coverage is an example, but this method is more specialist and won't apply to most people.

- Myung -