Editing Conventions of Music Videos

Today we had a lesson with Matt where he ran us through the editing process and gave us some top tips.

 Firstly, he told us the proper order in which to edit our music videos...
  1. First sync up all footage
  2. Do the performance cut
  3. Do the narrative cut
  4. Do the effects cut
  5. Do the colour grading
He also showed us the two different ways of syncing the music and footage together - picture syncing and sound syncing : 

Picture syncing
  1. Bins - camera - double click 1st video
  2. Click on the left screen at the same time as shown on the iPad and then click the same time on the bottom right on the track and drag the film down to the bottom right timeline
  3. Check that it is in sync
Sound Syncing. (this should only be used as a fallback, if the previous method doesn't work)
  1. Listen to clip, waiting for the loud drum snare in the audio clip - when you hear this, press space to pause and then use left and right arrow buttons to find the exact point. 
  2. Press the 'i' button for in - find moment on timeline that is the same
  3. Drag to timeline
  4. Check it is all synced up

As well as showing us the way to do these, he gave us some key pointers to follow during the editing process. I have outlined the most important ones below : 

  • When you first get the rushes, group all the  footage together and rename everything - i.e. mid shot of drummer - to make it easier to locate when you need to. 
  • Always be sure to make duplicates of the timeline before making any major changes
  • It is a must-have feature of music videos to have a close up of the main lip syncer on the first line of the song.
  • It is not always obligatory to cut to the exact beat of the song
  • Make use of 'graphic match' - cutting through movement so the movement continues to flow even when you cut to another clip of footage of something else - when you can as this looks very impressive. 
  • Create a clear editing plan with the members of your group, agree who is doing what when. 
  • Bring your own headphones to the edit suite, try and sit down for a long period of time and get as much done as possible, instead of just editing little and often. Buy headphone splitters so you can work with someone else in the group. 
  • Don't show anyone - friends, family, etc - your work until its finished (except Matt and Phil). 

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