Things to Remember

At the end of the day, your content rules, so the more pre-planning and preparation you do before you shoot, the more secure the editing process can be. If you are unsure how to handle a scene, then take some risks and try some new ideas and shoot more than you need. Editing should serve the story, but should also reveal new ideas and new structure that may not have been anticipated before shooting. I see editing as possibly the single most important part of the filmmaking or videography process. In editing many problems can be solved and new options can be explored.

Once you understand which tool serves which purpose, editing efficiency simply becomes a matter of necessity. First you preview your material, then begin assembling it in a linear fashion. Using the Insert, Overlay, Extract, and Lift functions you can add or change the order. Moving a step further, use the timeline tools to make any small or large adjustment in relation to the accuracy and details of your edit. If you want a bit more control and details from your editing modifications, target specific tracks and use the Trim panel to adjust the cut point further.

When working with multiple scenes or different sections of a large project, I always find that the first and most important step is to roughly put together one scene in its own sequence. Instead of adding other scenes to the same sequence, make each new scene its own sequence with another sequence that is used to tie all the scenes together. The nesting of individual scenes reduces clutter and enables you to control and better manage the individual pieces of the project. For this workflow, I also make individual bins for each scene, with each holding the scene sequence and sub-bins containing all the footage for the scene.

In the next chapter, you will get your hands on some bona fide multi-cam material and edit a live three-camera shoot into a seamless sequence of shots.