Nonlinear Video Editing Styles and Approaches

Most professional editors take one of the three primary approaches to the editing process, often described as the documentary, narrative and music video methods. All three are valid, and you can decide which way is best based on your individual preferences and thought processes, as well as the nature of the project.

THE DOCUMENTARY APPROACH
The first approach many editors take is to create a rough cut of the entire sequence by bringing in the clips and finding the basic order that the clips will fall in. Then the editor will go back and finetune each cut, making each clip just the right length and tweaking the juxtapositions so that they flow with the desired effect. This "rough cut" approach is often best if you're working on a project that is less clearly mapped out from the beginning, as in a documentary. Much of the structure of a documentary is discovered in the editing room/bay, so it's good idea to play around with the whole structure before you make fine edits.

THE NARRATIVE APPROACH (Short Film Project)
The second approach is to make finer adjustments from the start, so that the sequence builds from one clip to the next, and a lot of time is spent adjusting each edit before moving on to the next one. To follow this approach, you will need to use the Final Cut Pro editing tools that we have explored recently (the edits). This narrative approach is best when you've got a very specific outline of how the shots are going to be put together, as in a fictional film that has been storyboarded. (Storyboarding is a process of making drawings of the shots in order before filming.)

THE MUSIC VIDEO APPROACH (MTV Project)
This style combines the previous two, and is often used to create a music video that intercuts that musicians performing with other, non-synch footage. First, you'll place the performance down as you would in the narrative approach, making fine cuts and adjustments with each clip. Second, once you've laid down the performance footage, you can go back and start laying in the "B-roll" footage in between or even on top of the performance. The B-roll footage will often be used to set moods or convey information that does not require exact synching with the audio (for example, atmospheric shots of city streets). It's a good idea to use a second video track to lay the B-roll. Here, you'll use more a documentary approach, laying in clips in a rough order, seeing how they work, repositioning, and so on, until you have a sequence that captures the mood and rhytm of the music.

It's up to you to decide how to work. Just find the strategy that is most comfortable for you. And remember, Final Cut Pro offers an extensive number of Undo steps (see Setting Preferences), so use them.You can experiment with a cut and, if you're unhappy with the outcome, use Command + Z shortcut key to undo back to your original edit. It's a good idea, however, to save your Timeline whenever you get a point where you are satisfied with the cuts you've made so far. Then, if you become dissatisfied with the work after that, you can always restore the last save. Another strategy is to save different versions of your work (duplicate your sequence) as you go along, giving each a unique filename so that you can compare different versions of the edits.

In case you need me outside of our class schedule, do call me at (82) 2212411 local 8302 or email me at jseliab@gmail.com.