Proper editing process?

[JPW]

I suspect others may be similar to me when preparing footage and editing, but even though I've been using VideoStudio for some time I think there is a good chance I'm not leveraging the most efficient technique. Here is sort of my situation. My scenario typically is I'll collect maybe a week's worth of footage. I may have 100+ clips ranging anywhere from 15 seconds to 8 minutes long each. You could just dump everything in to a timeline, but I've got to believe that is a very laborious process since you aren't going to have anything organized and you won't be able to easily move clips around. So I've come up with my own process, but again, I suspect it isn't the best. Could anyone comment what they do in scenarios such as this?

[asik1]

The workflow is a matter of the subject in hand, the purpose of the video and the time you want to spend.
Throwing 100 clips to the time line isn't a good start no matter what.

[JPW]

The workflow is a matter of the subject in hand, the purpose of the video and the time you want to spend.
Throwing 100 clips to the time line isn't a good start no matter what.

Again, you have 100+ clips ranging anywhere from 30 seconds to 8 minutes. Your goal is to create a 10 to 15 minute long video from all these clips. The purpose of the video is to create viewing pleasure for others and myself. The time I wish to spend is at the very heart of the question. What workflow / process might be most efficient to create a quality product?

And for the sake of complete clarity let's say this does not include any transitions, titles, f/x's, etc.. This is a curiosity around general (macro) editing technique using this scenario as an example.

[canuck]

Obviously your first step is to look at each clip and decide which ones are good enough. Even if each of the 100 clips were only 15 secs long, that would still add up to 25 minutes minimum. So you have to do some serious pruning before you even start with VS.

[MrJohnny]

Perspiration, insparation and persiverance.
Sorry, you have got to review/mither and discuss with colleges, the wife, and who ever else is to hand. It is a long and tedious job, needed yesterday, if memory serves.Go for it, then review and notice the gotcha - we have all been there. But, if you are a hobbyist - enjoy, professionals, not so much.

John

[Davidk]

As canuck says, serious pruning before you start. So, some suggestions:
1. You will probably have several clips and/or photos of the same scenes. Don't use them all, just pick the best.
2. Organise the time flow of material - the start , middle and end. It's a story - make it flow.
3. Balance short text and short voiceover to complement clips or photos for the best composite result: people are good at multi-tasking visuals and audio as long at it isn't too fast or take too long.
4. Limit the length of the result. Viewers get turned off looking at the same thing for too long - no scene even with action in it longer than several minutes. Maybe even the whole mini-movie not much longer than this. And the pruning of material to achieve this is hard. For example, 2 years ago I took a group tour thru the highlights of South America. 3 weeks in all. I'm currently putting together a (one) DVD of the trip, and any one place - memorable tho it was, like Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca or Iguazu falls - can't take more than 5-6 minutes, or either the intended viewer loses interest, or the whole thing gets out of hand, possibly both. More than one interesting place is going to miss out. It's one reason why that exercise has taken me so long, and its not finished yet.

[Terfyn]

Following on from DavidK's excellent advice, there a number of books on the subject of editing and creating a viewable video. I suppose I use about 30% of the original "raw" video, I leave out some shots altogether, shorten the cut-aways but ALWAYS include them. Then I run through the video ( before rendering ) a number of times to see if it flows. Another tip is to watch a documentary on TV and analyse what the editor has done to make the thing interesting.

[lata]

Obviously your first step is to look at each clip and decide which ones are good enough. Even if each of the 100 clips were only 15 secs long, that would still add up to 25 minutes minimum. So you have to do some serious pruning before you even start with VS.

Unfortunately, it is a laborious process..............

I place all clips in the timeline in chronological order.
Play the first clip then remove any unwanted frames, Usually for me the end frames need a trim.
I may decide remove the full clip. I do on occasions record my feet????

I repeat for all clips, if I need to remove a section from the middle, I use the scissors to cut the clip, then treat the separate clips to remove the end frames.

Once complete I return to the beginning to add an intro, text, images, audio etc. Progressing along the timelines.

Once I have added all my clips I create a Smart Package, Something I find useful, this combines all my clips used in the project to a new folder, I can then delete the original files, cleaning my hard drive.
I then complete the editing using the Smart Package files.

[JPW]

My apologies to the group here and thanks for the input thus far. I haven't explained what I'm looking to understand here clearly enough. Let me elaborate.

What I'm looking to understand is what my be the most efficient process in VideoStudio for something like this, not generally speaking. So here is an example of what I do today and previous people have mentioned, it is laborious, but I'm wondering if there is a more efficient way of going about it.

1. I create a single folder and bring in all my clips in to it.
2. I take a few clips and drag it in the timeline and wait. This allows Smart Proxy to build files for them so they can be more easily edited.
3. Once the first clip is done I start to scan through it, take out portions that aren't needed and keep only the valued portions on the timeline.
4. Then depending on what the context of the clip might be, I create a new folder and title it. So if I'm doing a skiing video I might have a folder called "Scenic shots" and another called "on the lift shots" and maybe another "actual skiing"...etc..
5. Then once I've edited all the clips on the timeline I go back to the original folder and delete the thumbnails associated with each. Unfortunately, for each clip you delete it gives you a confirmation box asking if you really want to do this so it becomes very repetitive. This helps me understand what I've already edited and what remains to be edited.
6. Then I click on NEW PROJECT to wipe out the timeline and start fresh with a blank timeline. This again provides a confirmation box asking if you really want to do this so you have extra mouse movements and clicks here as well.
7. Go back to 2.

Once all the clips are done (I call it something like macro-editing) then I can drag exactly what I want in to the timeline in an organized fashion based on the title of each folder. Everything is organized for me so this is the quicker part of the process and definitely the most enjoyable. Fine tuning can then be done from here to finally render a nice finished product.

Is there a better way?

[asik1]

There are so many unnecessary mouse clicks in VS ... it's because some stupid notion that keyboard shortcuts are "only" for the pro. A complete shortcuts revised VS can speed workflow 10 fold.
** But we do have FF template maker.

I don't understand step 5, why you need to delete those thumbnails?
make new folder and drag from timeline your trimmed clips there.

**** Are you doing your videos for fun/hobby/your boss/cash/.... each should receive totally different attention.

[canuck]

JPW, your step #3

3. Once the first clip is done I start to scan through it, take out portions that aren't needed and keep only the valued portions on the timeline.

What do you do with the clip that you edited? Do you export to a new video, save as project file or what?

[lata]

Hi

Yes that’s about it, just what I do, and sometimes I do remove clips from the library that have had the treatment.
If I have a very long project I will add a colour clip to the overlay timelines to indicate how far I have reached on the timeline, then when I start again tomorrow I can remember just how far I have progressed, a chapter point on the top timeline also works well for that indication.

Library Clips
To remove multiple / adjacent thumbnails use Shift + Click
If you are removing all then you can delete the actual folder from the list on the left.
Create a new folder with a new name.

As for 6, why do you start a new project, why don’t you simply add more clips and continue editing, building up the timelines with more clips. Unless of course you are creating separate projects?

But what you do seems ok, you may be able to cut down on a few mouse clicks.

You do not need the library, for me its just a convenience.
Add all clips straight to the timelines, start from left to right deleting the clips or frames as you go.
When you get to the end what remains is what you need, with no libraries to worry about.

[JPW]

I don't understand step 5, why you need to delete those thumbnails?
make new folder and drag from timeline your trimmed clips there.

**** Are you doing your videos for fun/hobby/your boss/cash/.... each should receive totally different attention.

Those thumbnails need to be deleted to understand what you have already edited and what you haven't. This is an intermittent process that might take days to go through.

I do this for fun / hobby.

[JPW]

JPW, your step #3

3. Once the first clip is done I start to scan through it, take out portions that aren't needed and keep only the valued portions on the timeline.

What do you do with the clip that you edited? Do you export to a new video, save as project file or what?

Sorry, this wasn't perfectly clear. The individual clips are then moved to different folders based on their content. For example, a single skiing clip might have a scenic shot, a shot going up the lift, and a shot of actual skiing. I'll break that clip apart in to clean individual clips and then move them to folders that would be labeled scenic, lift shots, and skiing. This way when I go to actually create a final product everything is organized and I know where to go for what.

[JPW]

Hi

Yes that’s about it, just what I do, and sometimes I do remove clips from the library that have had the treatment.
If I have a very long project I will add a colour clip to the overlay timelines to indicate how far I have reached on the timeline, then when I start again tomorrow I can remember just how far I have progressed, a chapter point on the top timeline also works well for that indication.

Library Clips
To remove multiple / adjacent thumbnails use Shift + Click
If you are removing all then you can delete the actual folder from the list on the left.
Create a new folder with a new name.

As for 6, why do you start a new project, why don’t you simply add more clips and continue editing, building up the timelines with more clips. Unless of course you are creating separate projects?

But what you do seems ok, you may be able to cut down on a few mouse clicks.

You do not need the library, for me its just a convenience.
Add all clips straight to the timelines, start from left to right deleting the clips or frames as you go.
When you get to the end what remains is what you need, with no libraries to worry about.

A color clip on the overlay to understand your progress is pretty brilliant. Thanks for mentioning that. This would help me for smart proxy too since I can add all the clips to the timeline and then it will start to build the files.

I start a new project just to get a clean timeline again. I could just delete them, but I like the thought of truly starting fresh. I don't know what VS is doing behind the scenes like building a bunch of undo files or something like that. But your color on the overlay will really help with something like this. It can have me remove this step in this process.