| Simple
video editing is now so easy that there's almost
no excuse for not shaping your raw footage into
snappy programs that keep your viewers cheering,
or at least awake. To achieve this, you need to
start editing in your head while you're shooting,
in order to produce raw footage pre-designed for
smooth cutting.
Shooting
to edit can be a sophisticated craft, but the
basics are so simple that you can remember them
with just three words: "coverage," "continuity"
and "cutability." So let's add these
Three C's of Shooting to Edit to Videomaker's famous Seven Deadly Camera Sins (Camera Sinners,
Repent! - September 2002 issue) and Seven Golden
Rules for Composition (The Seven Golden Composition
Rules - November 2001).
Coverage-
Exterior establishing shots help to set the scene
for shots that follow. |
Coverage
Coverage
means providing the editor with enough footage
to show viewers all the essentials of the place
and events you're taping. (For clarity, we'll
refer to the editor in the third person, even
though you probably edit programs yourself.) Good
coverage means:
- Orienting
your viewers
- Capturing
essential shots
-
Including telling details
Let's
run through them.
Remember
that your viewers can't see anything outside the
frame. So, be sure to include an establishing
shot, a wide-angle view that takes in the whole
scene. (If the locale's a big one, you may need
to pan across it.) Once viewers see that the birthday
girl is here and the gift pile is there and the
guests are over there, they'll have a mental picture
of the whole party. When you show them details
of the action, they'll instinctively place them
in your orientating wide shot.
Include
an establishing shot, a wide-angle view that takes
in the whole scene.
Incidentally,
the editor doesn't have to start every scene with
an establishing shot - that's become a cliche -
but a wide view to orient viewers should be somewhere
near the beginning of each new sequence. |
With
the orienting (establishing) shot on tape, the
next part of coverage involves shooting essential
shots. These are shots that viewers must, or at
least should, see in order to be satisfied. If
you tape someone blowing out the candles, the
essential shot shows the candles going out. Typically,
shots are essential because they show some kind
of payoff that satisfies your viewers.
Essential
shots are usually one type of close shot. After
a good establishing shot, move in close. Screens
are small and video is a low-res medium, so viewers
get more involved in a scene if you bring them
up close and personal. As a rough rule, try to
capture lots of medium (waist-up) shots and closeups.
Tight two-shots (two subjects) also work well,
and you can move back occasionally to remind viewers
of the bigger picture. Fortunately, telephoto
lens settings and image stabilization let you
frame tightly without obviously intruding on the
action.
After
you've got your essentials, start thinking about
the details. Another kind of close shot is the
insert: a really close detail inserted for the
information of viewers. When the wrapping comes
off that special present, viewers want to see
what it is. So, get a tight closeup of that model
rocket box-cover picture to use as an insert. |
