Editing - First Steps

So you have written, planned and shot your film. Now you have to bring all the elements together and create something amazing. Because you will have most likely taken multiple takes of some, if not all, shots you have to start working your way through all your footage and choose the best takes. This can be done without even opening your editing software. Most camera's video files can be viewed on your computer with either Windows Media Player or VLC player which is a free download of a powerful, play anything, video player.

If you have used a clapper board you will easily be able to identify which shot is which. If you haven't you will have to work your way through each take individually. Make a note of which takes are the best, and you will find you start cutting the film together in your head. We call this a paper edit.

Once you have your paper edit it's time to import or link your video files into your chosen editing software. Some software will import each file individually, copy it and convert it to a new format so if you have only chosen the shots you want you will save a lot of time and hard drive space.

Now create a rough cut. Starting at scene one, you select the part of the first shot you want to use (usually just cutting out the director shouting 'action' and 'cut'). Place this on your timeline, Then the next shot and work your way through. Once you have 4 or 5 shots play it back and see what its like, if one shot doesn't work and you have it from another angle try that. This is when the creativity starts. Hopefully, as described in the production section, you have plenty of shots for coverage; wide, medium and close-ups for the scene so you will have plenty of footage to work with and more importantly, cover any mistakes.

Once you have completed this for every scene you have your rough cut. No sound edit, no VFX, no titles, But it's the first time you can watch all the hard work come together. The next step is fine tuning it and turning it into something great!