My take on Video Editing--- This is a Repost

Saturday, 7 September 2013

NOTE: All media within this post belong to their respective owners.

There are many reasons as to why Video Editing has evolved into its current importance. Every person sees it differently. But actually, there are only two views to it all. One being that of the watcher, and the other one being that of the editor.

The importance to video editing overall, for me that is, is to make the whole finished product more pleasing to the eye. Sure there are different ways to get a camera working, but it is mostly in editing that a product comes to life. The whole of idea of color grading, cutting, and dissolving may turn out to be alien terminology for some, or most, individuals. 

Then again, even in their point-of-view, they cannot help but stop and think: "Wow, how did they do that?" Which brings to light another importance of video editing, to make people wonder. More people will watch something and just go ahead and enjoy it. Others, however, will stop, think, and watch it again. It's like advertising. It gets people to stop for a moment just to reflect on whether or not the product is effective or not.

Products that have become the fruits of video editing come in various time lengths. The range from 30-second advertisements to five-minute long music videos, from short 15-minute films to one hour and 30-minute movies.

Of course, video editing is nothing without the usual techniques that have been used for who knows how long. These may include:

1. Cutting

Like the name suggests, this is basically when you have to either cut a video to a shorter duration, or to make room for more shots. It's mostly utilized when a scene has different perspectives. At one point there's a character talking, then next thing you know, you'll be seeing the person that character is talking to in the following sequence.

2. Dissolve effect/Fade-in or Fade-out

Okay, it's concept is basically obvious. This type of technique is used for when we sort of want some smooth progression from one scene to another. Most of the time, it's used after a scenario in one venue and fades out into another venue to continue the story.

3. Dip to white

This little trick is used when a character/subject goes all "flashback mode". Have that person say something, then while the audio keeps going, you dip to white, and have the memory play in the video.

4. Dip to Black

This one, on the other hand, gives a more negative feel to editing. You use this mostly when there probably is  an epic fight scene and you want to go all dramatic with the way the scene goes all black for one second to the next.

5. Color Grading

This is probably the best friend of every editor. When unsatisfied with the lighting of which the camera had filmed a scene, color grading is a great way to just, well, add color. It can be used to highlight certain aspects of a scene, as well as make a few elements, like sunsets, stand out in a sequence.