Lower thirds & Transitions

 The Goals of Editing  There are many reasons to edit a video and your editing approach will depend on the desired outcome.  Before you begin you must clearly define your editing goals, which could include any of the following:

 Remove unwanted footage  This is the simplest and most common task in editing.  Many videos can be dramatically improved by simply getting rid of the flawed or unwanted bits

 Choose the best footage  It is common to shoot far more footage than you actually need and choose only the best material for the final edit.  Often you will shoot several versions (takes) of a shot and choose the best one when editing.

 Create a flow  Most videos serve a purpose such as telling a story or providing information.  Editing is a crucial step in making sure the video flows in a way which achieves this goal.

 Add effects, graphics, music, etc  This is often the "wow" part of editing.  You can improve most videos (and have a lot of fun) by adding extra elements.

 Alter the style, pace or mood of the video  A good editor will be able to create subtle mood prompts in a video.  Techniques such as mood music and visual effects can influence how the audience will react.

 Give the video a particular "angle"  Video can be tailored to support a particular viewpoint, impart a message or serve an agenda.

 Tape to Tape (Linear)  Linear editing was the original method of editing electronic video tapes, before editing computers became available in the 1990s.  Although it is no longer the preferred option, it is still used in some situations.

 Digital/Computer (Non-linear)  In this method, video footage is recorded (captured) onto a computer hard drive and then edited using specialized software.  Once the editing is complete, the finished product is recorded back to tape or optical disk.

 Live Editing  In some situations multiple cameras and other video sources are routed through a central mixing console and edited in real time.  Live television coverage is an example of live editing.

 Cut  The most common transition — an instant change from one shot to the next.  The raw footage from your camera contains cuts between shots where you stop and start recording ▪ (unless of course you use built-in camera transitions).

 Mix / Dissolve / Crossfade  These are all terms to describe the same transition — a gradual fade from one shot to the next.  Fade  Fades the shot to a single colour, usually black or white. ▪ The "fade to black" and "fade from black" are ubiquitous in film and television. ▪ They usually signal the beginning and end of scenes.

 Wipe  One shot is progressively replaced by another shot in a geometric pattern.  There are many types of wipe, from straight lines to complex shapes.

 The Jump Cut  A jump cut is a transition between two shots which appears to "jump" due to the way the shots are framed in relation to each other.  Jump cuts are usually caused by framing which is quite similar, such as these two:

 Lower Thirds  In video and television, the lower third refers to the lower portion of the frame which contains graphical information such as station ID, name/title keys, etc.