Editing...

What is Editing?

Editing is improving and modifying footage so that it could make sense and create meaning for the people watching the video, which is the audience. For example, it allows the editor to remove unwanted footage, add special effects such as colour, animations, explosions, flashing lights, and change the pace of the footage, and add transitions in between each clip to make it look professional and many more exciting things to make the video look as best as it could potentially be!

Why it is Done:

Editing is done to make the film more interesting and appealing to the audience. With editing, you could include the impossible. This includes special effects such as animations, flashing lights, you could slow the video down or speed it up and many more exciting things. 

Firstly, editing allows you to remove unwanted footage. This could be seen as the most easiest  thing to do in editing. For example, when editing my music video, I created a bin folder which made it easier for me to get rid of footage that was of no use to my footage. Many videos could be significantly improved by simply getting rid of unwanted clips because it allows the best clips to stand out in order to make the final product of the video as best as it could potentially be.

However, putting unwanted footage in a bin folder doesn't mean you've lost it completely, as it is not deleted. This is beneficial, because for instance, when I was editing, I went to my bin folder and found bits of my unwanted footage that was of good use to my music video. Therefore,  editing allows you to choose the best footage. This is because by separating the unwanted clips from the best clips, the best material remains, which is available to use.

Additionally, editing allows you to add special effects and as much exciting things as you can. This would make the video look of a professional standard, interesting  and stand out. For example, this could be special effects such as transitions, explosives, colours, animations, flashing lights and much more. You could also choose to speed up the video or slow it down.

This was the most fun part of my editing process and it made it look more appealing to watch. 

This is an example of editing using a range of special effects is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NpAXMdBWTQ  This is some before and after footage from Pirates of the Caribbean. In this video, it shows that editing allows you to actually add things that were not even shot in the actual footage and also change and modify things that are in the actual footage that may look impossible to change. For instance, in this video, there are explosives on a normal boat which they made look like it was a historian boat from which the vikings used. Moreso, in this video, editing allowed them to even change the setting of the location, making it more icy and cold trying to tell the audience that it is winter. Therefore, editing gives an opportunity to let you choose what the audience would like to see as there are no restrictions or limitations depending on the software. 

This is good because editing not only allows you to add special effects, it also allows you to tell a story, not just the acting. Therefore, editing can make a lot of difference even to the narrative of it. This is also good because every music video has a different target audience depending on the genre. Therefore editing would allow you to only show what the specific target audience would want to see to keep them interested and enticed in order for them to keep buying the music. 

Furthermore, editing also allows you to change the pace of the video. For example, during my editing process, there was a clip that  really wanted to use but it was a bit slow. However, I was able to speed it up by changing the duration of that specific clip so it could be in sync with the track and looked realistic.

Moreover, when filming, you are free to take footage of various angles and in various movements and put it together during the editing process

. 

An example of this is the 180 degree rule that we learnt in media studies before we started filming. It is when two people are having a conversation and we film the whole conversation behind the shoulder of the actor and do the same to the other. This is an effective tactic because it was be too time consuming to keep going back and fourth when one actor says something. This could be easily cut and put together when editing to make the conversation look more realistic.

How it has Developed Over Time: 

Above is Edward Muybridge who created the first moving image. His concept came about by drawing different images of the same thing and played it really fast so it looks like its actually moving.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOBjgaHnU5c This is because, in those times, technology wasn't really advanced and there was no such thing such as macs or computers to undergo special effects such animations or transitions. 

Soon after this developed, camera editing developed. In camera editing, you create a film by filming a sequence of shots in the order that it will be screened, leaving out post production. Editing in the camera just means planning ahead the shots you will be filming. This editing style might not result to a perfect finished product but when you have a deadline to meet this type of editing is successful.  

Shortly after this splicing developed. 

In the past, films used to be edited by literally cutting out bits of the film with a pair of scissors and rearranging them with Sellotape in the order that they want the film to be played. This process could be very time consuming because for example, if the film is 2 hours long and editing could take a a very long time to cut  bits and put back together. Moreover, if the editor cuts out bits of the film and places it in the wrong place, the film would not be productive enough because it would not match the narrative and therefore the film may not be showcased.

The most recent development is non-linear editing.

This development has become well known because technology has become so advanced and has improved significantly over the years. In this method, video footage is recorded onto a computer and then edited using software such as Final Cut. Once the editing is complete, this software allows you to upload the final product on to websites such as Youtube. Non-linear editing makes it so much easier to edit music videos than the traditional methods such as splicing or camera editing because there is no need to cut footage with a pair of scissors or start all over again if you make mistakes. Non-linear editing allows you to add special effects such as flashing lights, transitions, animations, change the pace of the video and could be used to transform a music video to a much professional standard and make it look realistic.