Want great video? It's all in the edit ... er ... no!

Fantastic shoot, great footage and logged/transferred to FCP. Not much left to do completing the video, right? Well, er ... no. In fact the serious work has just begun. The organising.

Not many people appreciate the amount of effort from an editing perspective that has to go into any creative piece such as a music video. Yes you could put two cameras on a live band and switch between angles and close ups but I think we would all get pretty bored having seen that so many times. Unless of course the music it is promoting is really great, in which case footage of a goat grazing in a field could be used. But the edit is only the final part of the jigsaw.

With the temperature averaging just above freezing over the past few days in January my evenings after work and the weekends have been spent reviewing footage, laying out the main clips and testing effects and looks that will add that bit of fairy dust. In fact my plans are always:

First step
- log and capture/transfer: depending on tape or card;
- identifying best takes;
- naming the files;
- organising them into appropriate bins;
- Colour coding fro best takes references

Second step
- reference to the storyboard (for a music video usually reference to the song, unless one is really arty and does a contrast),
- identify the best performance clips of the artiste (it is their promo after all ),
- choose the cut away shots that reference the story,

Third step
- ensure that all shots selected are well composed and recompose where necessary using basic motion,
- basic colour correction and white balance if required

Fourth step
- the above may already include some insertion to the time-line,
- if not, set up the sequence including compression settings,
- ensure syncing to the music
- identify edit points/cut ins by placing markers on rhythmic points  along the time-line
- insert clips to time-line (moving around clips, etc to taste, look and feel)
- duplicate the sequence (tip after every change 'save' and after every major edit duplicate). This means you always have a back up should you make a major error.

Fifth step
- take a break

And that's what I did. In fact I went to Trinidad for Carnival 2013. More of which next ...

T

February ... I blinked and missed it

Looks like my new year resolution was broken after the first month. I wanted to keep my entries to this blog weekly but failed miserably in month two, February. I've got a good excuse and I'm sticking to it. A dirty four letter word with an o and a k in it ... WORK.

The video work which is taking over more of my life than I expected. During February we arranged to complete the last days filming for my music video which included shots in the Caribbean. We also were planning the edit and organising some of the footage already taken.

So I went on my annual pilgrimage to Trinidad and Tobago for Carnival 2013. It was awesome! I took for company my Canons 7D and 600D as well as 24-70mm USM II lens and a nifty fifty. I also took along a shoulder rig, filters and Macbook for ingesting and storing files. Collectively they weighed more than my usual Z1 stuff. However, the quality of footage captured made up for all the hassle received at customs and bruises on my shoulders.

There were three phases to my holiday. The video shoot, the parties and the carnival shoot.

For the video shoot and for continuity we used the 7D and the zoom lens to get some tropical and beach shots. The artiste wasn't in the mood on the morning I met her and she decided that to relax the vodka I had would be her breakfast, lunch and ... well there was none left for dinner. Rock-star stuff but it worked. We got some marvellous shots and I hope the final edit proves that. Can't wait to get that finished this month.

The parties aka fetes were great! A little expensive ... but great. Army, Shades, Beach House, Soca Monarch, Calypso Monarch, etc. were all fantastic. On nights where I did not go to parties "the Avenue" (formally known as Ariapita Avenue) is the place to hang with its Uptown Bars and nightlife.

I got an idea for a documentary whilst there and tried out my three key questions on a few friends. The answers they provided gave me confidence that I had a good basis for a documentary. I took along the 600D with the nifty and an EV eng mic to the Avenue and interviewed a few of the local people. I also took that camera with me most places to get cut away shots, etc. The low light shots gave me incredible satisfaction.

I also got a nudge from a friend who belongs to the committee of one of the masquerade bands, Bliss, that it would be possible to have exclusive access to the band whilst they were on the road for Carnival Monday and Tuesday. How could I miss such an opportunity? A phone call and visit to the office to share my credentials resulted in a media pass and identification T shirts.

It was an enjoyable experience having the opportunity to have such unfettered access and the resulting footage was magnificent. Well you can judge for yourself here .... Savage Tuesday (Diary of a Mas Band) This was filmed using the 600D and the zoom lens with shoulder rig. The viewfinder helped greatly with the framing of shots and positioning of the camera at low angles, something that would not have been possible with the 7D.

Overall a great holiday with my DSLRs and a productive February 2013. Music Video and Olympic edits my work for March ... all work and no play.

Tony