Digital Learning Workshops

Think about the edit whilst you're filming

Organising the footage

The editing process

• Less is more – if you have a long interview, don’t be scared to take out big chunks.
• Don’t get bogged down in detail early on – try and find a shape for the video, get the content and narrative set first, then start refining.
• A good video is often informative but still to-the-point.
• Listen to your edit. This is important for 2 reasons: 
           It’s sometimes easier to check the narrative and content by just listening to the piece.
           Clean audio is very important. Any jumps or poorly edited audio cues can be distracting. 
• You don’t have to stick with the original storyboard or idea – the idea you have before filming is great to go into the production stage with a plan, but this can mutate through the different stages and that’s ok.
• Keep it simple – Try to avoid the use of fancy effects or transitions (I’m looking at you ‘Star Wipe’). You can colour correct the footage if you know how and use dissolves and fades appropriately. There are conventions around different types of transition etc and if used incorrectly can have a detrimental impact on your work.