1. EDITING THE PRODUCTION

2. TERMS 1)Clip: A video segment 2)Cut/Take: An instantaneous switch from one shot to another. 3)Dissolve: An effect produced by fading out one picture while fading in another. 4)Fade (a type of dissolve): A gradual change between black and a video image. For example, at the end of a program there is usually a “fade to black” or, if there is a “fade-up,” it means that the director is transitioning from black to a video image. A slow fade suggests the peaceful end of action. A fast fade is rather like a “gentle cut,” used to conclude a scene. 5)Linear editing: The copying, or dubbing, of segments from the master tape to another tape in sequential order. 6)Logging: Loggers view the footage and write down the scene/take numbers, the length of each shot, time code, and descriptions of each shot. 7)Nonlinear editing: The process where the recorded video is digitized (copied) onto a computer. The footage can then be arranged and rearranged, special effects can be added, and the audio and graphics can be adjusted using editing software. 8)Postproduction: Taking the video that was previously shot and assembling a program shot by shot, generally with a computer based editing system. 9)Timeline: Usually includes multiple tracks of video, audio, and graphics in an nonlinear editing system. 10)Wipe: A novel transition that can have many different shapes.

3. 11. Capture: Transferring video and audio information to a computer hard drive for non linear editing. Also called importing. 12. Source tape: The video tape with the original camera footage. 13. Source media: The media(video tape, hard disk, optical disc, or flash memory device) that holds the recorded camera footage. 14. Take: Any one of similar repeated shots taken during video recording or filming. Usually assigned a number. A good take is the successful recording of a shot. A bad take is an unsuccessful recording, requiring another take. 15. Time code: Gives each television frame a specific address(number that shows hours, minutes, seconds, and frames of elapsed tape).

4. Selecting the right image and skilful editing will make a vital contribution to a production’s impact. The way the shots are interrelated will not only affect their visual flow but will also directly influence how the audience reacts to what they are seeing: their interpretation and their emotional responses. Poor editing can leave them confused. Proficient editing can create interest and tension or build up excitement that keeps the audience on the edges of their seats. At worst, poor image selection can degenerate into casual switching between shots. At best, editing is a sophisticated persuasive art form. EDITING TECHNIQUES IN TELEVISION There are roughly two broad categories of editing:  Live editing: The director, using live cameras and other video sources, “live edits” (directs) a production using a video switcher.  Postproduction: Taking the imagery that was previously shot and assembling a program shot by shot, generally with a computer based editing system. One style involves a director with cameras and the other style involves a director with pre-recorded programming. It is all editing- you are deciding which shot the audience will see.

5. EDITING BASICS EDITING DECISIONS: During the editing process, a series of decisions need to be made: Which of the available shots do you want to use? When directing(editing) a live show, choices are irrevocable. You can select only from the shots being presented at each moment by cameras, pre-recorded material, graphics, and so on. When you are editing in post production, there is time to ponder, select, and to reconsider. What is the final shot sequence? The relative durations of shots will affect their visual impact. At exactly which moment in the action do you want to change from one shot to the next? How will each shot transition to the next shot? Transitions include cut, dissolve, wipe, fade, and others. How fast or slow will this transition be? Is there good continuity between pictures as well as sound that show continuous action? These elements may have actually been shot discontinuously or at different times/places.

6. Each of these decisions involves you making both a mechanical operation and an artistic choice. Even the simplest treatment (a cut from one image to the next) can create a very different effect, based on the point at which you decide to edit the action. EDITING OPPORTUNITIES How does editing significantly contribute to the success of the production?  You can join together a series of separately recorded takes or sequences to create a continuous smooth-flowing story line- even where none originally existed.  Through editing you can omit action that would be irrelevant or distracting.  You can seamlessly cut in retakes to replace unsatisfactory material-to correct or improve performance; to overcome camera, lighting, or sound faults; or to improve ineffective production treatment.  You can increase or reduce the overall duration of a program-by adjusting the duration of sequences, introducing cutaway shots, altering playing speed, or repeating strategic parts of an action sequence.  Library material can be introduced and blended with the program material-to establish location, for effects, or to introduce illustrations.  When a subject is just about to move out of shot, you can cut to a new viewpoint and show the action continuing, apparently uninterrupted.(Even where it is possible to shoot action in one continuous take, the director may want to change the camera viewpoint or interrupt the flow of the action for dramatic impact).

7.  By cutting between shots recorded at quite different times or places, you can imply relationships that did not exist.  Editing allows you to instantly shift the audience’s centre of interest, redirecting their attention to another aspect of the subject or the scene.  You can use editing to emphasize or to conceal information.  You can adjust the duration of shots in a sequence to influence its overall pace.  Editing can change the entire significance of an action in an instant-to create tension, humour, horror, etc..  By altering the order in which the audience sees events, you can change how they interpret and react to them.

8. NONLINEAR EDITING (NLE) The operational principle of NLE is selecting video and audio data files and making the computer play the back at a specific sequence. All NLE is done by selecting and sequencing shots that have been transferred from a camcorder to the computer hard drive of an editing system. Once you use editing software to transfer the source footage in the camcorder to the hard drive of the computer, you are engaged in NLE. If, however, the editing system uses VTRs for supplying the selected shots and another VTR for recording them in the desired sequence, you are doing linear editing. In NLE all that the computer really does is mark the files that contain specific clips and play the clips back in a particular order. Instead of editing one shot next to another, with NLE you are engaged in file management. NLE allows you to try, compare, and keep as many editing versions as you like, without being committed to any one. All you do is create edit decision lists (EDLs), which the computer remembers and applies when recalling the clips. Once you decide on a particular arrangement, you can output that version to the edit master recorder, which may use videotape or another digital storage media.

9. WHY NONLINEAR? When editing film and video tape, you need to start with shot 1, then add shot 2, then shot 3, and so fourth until you have added the last shot. The whole process is a linear affair that starts at the beginning title and ends with the closing credits. Even when looking for a particular clip in the source tapes, you cannot jump to it directly but must patiently roll through the footage until you find it. This is a trying procedure especially if the clip happens to be buried in the middle of the tape. Once the final cut is done and you change your mind, or if the director or client wants you to replace a shot or scene in the middle of the final cut, you may have to re-edit everything that follows the insert. On the other hand, the non linear editing system allows random access. There is no need to roll through a videotape until the desired shot finally shows up. Once the source material is stored on the hard drive of the editing system, you can access any frame or clip randomly and almost instantly. You can also insert or delete a shot anywhere in the edited sequence without affecting the footage preceding or following the change. There is no linearity in storing the source material, in retrieving it, or even in assembling the selected clips. Because even the final cut is non linear, you can accommodate the director’s or client’s request for a change in the middle of the production as easily as changing the opening title or last credit line.

10. There are many nonlinear systems in the market and you have to study each one of them if you happen to be a video editor. However the basic function is the same. NONLINEAR EDITING SYSTEM A nonlinear editing system consists of a playback facility for the source material; a high- speed computer and software for the capture, storage, and manipulation of video and audio clips; and a video recorder(VR) that produces the final edit master recording for broadcast or distribution. COMPUTER HARDWARE & SOFTWARE All nonlinear editing systems are basically computers that store digital video and audio information on high capacity hard drives and compatible software that allows the selection and sequencing of video and audio clips. An editing computer must have a large storage capacity and a fast enough processor to ensure smooth playback even if the video and audio files are only slightly compressed. Some NLE systems have their own computer configuration, and some have keyboards whose keys are marked with the various edit commands, but most edit software supplies stickers with symbols that you can apply to a standard keyboard. Although you may have a relatively large flat panel monitor that can be divided into two screens, a second separate monitor greatly facilitates editing. You can use a large one for the editing display, and the second one as a playback monitor of the edited segments.

11. HOW LINEAR EDITING WORKS The basic principle of linear editing is selecting shots from one videotape and copying them in a specific order onto another tape. It is called linear because once the footage is recorded on tape, you can no longer retrieve it randomly. To locate shot 25 on a videotape for example, you need to roll through the previous 24 shots before reaching shot 25. You cannot simply jump to shot 25, skipping all preceding shots. All tape based editing systems are linear, regardless of whether the tapes contain analogue or digital video and audio information. However complex tape-based linear editing systems may be, they all work on the same basic principle: one or several VTRs play back portions of the tape with the original source footage, and the other VTR records on its own tape selected material from the source tape. The different tape-based systems fall into two categories: the single-source system and the multiple source systems.

12. SINGLE SOURCE SYSTEM This is a basic system that has only one VTR supplying the material to be edited. It is also called a single source, or cuts-only editing system. The machine that plays back the tape with the original footage is called the source VTR or play VTR. The machine that copies the selected material is called the record VTR or edit VTR. Similarly, the videotape with the original footage is the source tape, and the one onto which the selected portions are recorded in a specific editing sequence is the edit master tape. To see what is on both the source and edit master tapes, you need monitors for both VTRs. When doing the actual editing, you use the source VTR to find the exact in-and out-points of the source footage you want to copy to the edit master tape. The record VTR does the actual copying of the material supplied by the source VTR and joins the frames at predetermined points-the edit points. You have to tell the record VTR when to start recording (copying) the source material and when to stop recording. An in-cue (or entrance cue) tells the record VTR when to start recording the source material; an out-cue (or exit cue) tells it when to stop.

13. EDIT CONTROLLER Assisting you in this task is the edit controller or editing control unit. This unit automates editing to a certain extent. It memorizes your commands and executes them with precision and reliability. A basic edit controller performs the following functions:  Controls VTR search modes(variable forward and reverse speeds) separately for the source and record VTRs to locate scenes.  Reads and displays elapsed time and frame numbers or time code(frame address) for accurate cueing of the source and edit master tapes.  Marks and remembers precise edit-in and –out points(cues).  Backs up or “backspaces” both VTRs to precisely the same pre-roll point (on some edit controllers, a switch gives you several pre-roll choices, such as a 2- second or a 5-second pre-roll; pre-roll helps the VTRs achieve optimal speed for jitter free recording).  Simultaneously starts both machines and synchronizes their tape speeds.  Makes the record VTR perform in either assemble-or the insert –edit mode.

14. MULTIPLE SOURCE SYSTEM The tape-based multiple-source editing system consists of two or more source VTRs (generally labelled with letters A, B, C, etc), a single record VTR, and a computer assisted edit-controller. Multisource systems can, and usually do include an audio mixer, a switcher, and special effects equipment. The computerized edit controller directs the functions of the source A and B VTRs, the character generator (CG) or effects generator, the audio mixer, and the edit and record functions of the record VTR. The multiple source editing system allows you to synchronously run two or more source VTRs and combine the shots and /or audio tracks from any of them quickly and effectively through a variety of transitions or other special effects. The advantage of this system is that it facilitates a great variety of transitions (such as cuts, dissolves, and wipes) and allows the mixing of audio tracks from two or more source tapes. Another advantage is that you can you can arrange all even numbered shots on the A-roll (the tape used for the source A VTR) and all odd-numbered shots on the B-roll (the tape for the source B VTR). By switching from the A-roll to the B-roll during editing, you can quickly assemble the “pre-edited” shots.

15. ASSEMBLE EDITING When in the assemble mode, the record VTR erases everything on its tape(video, audio, control, and address tracks) just ahead of copying the material supplied by the source VTR. When you use a tape that had a video of you and your pals on holiday last year to record your holiday again this year, the camcorder will, in effect, use assemble editing every time you shoot a new scene: it will simply erase what was there before and replace it with the new video and audio. INSERT EDITING For insert editing, you need first to record a continuous control track on the edit master tape. The simplest way to do this is to record “black,” with the video and audio inputs in the off position. The “blackened” tape has now become an empty edit master, ready to receive the momentous scenes from your source tapes. You do not have to blacken any of the source tapes you use in the camcorder but only the tape onto which your selected shots are copied.