Film editing is an indispensable work in the process of film production, and it is also the last re-creation in the process of film art creation. Here are some practical movie editing techniques. Welcome to read!

Practical Skills of Video Editing: The Necessary Ability of Video Editing

1 the eyesight to find the best expression and action in limited material;

2. The ability to cut materials and find their connection with the next picture;

Ability to use images and choose music, and creativity to create melodies and plots.

The editor should also give the film composed of continuous still pictures a sense of jumping and inject life into the image.

Editors will naturally find the best expression in many shots and find out which point is the tangent point, which is the melody sense of the clip. At the same time, the whole picture of the work will be slowly presented in many photographic materials. Through the material, you can see what the work should look like.

The method of finding the shear point

Where should I cut and connect? Finding the tangent point is undoubtedly one of the important tasks of editing. One thing to pay attention to here is the vertex of the picture.

The so-called picture vertex means that the picture is the turning point of action and expression, such as the moment when the character's arm is fully extended, the moment when the bow action ends after nodding, the moment when the ball rises and is about to fall, and the moment when the smile is withdrawn.

The image is a series of still pictures, because the previous film will form afterimages in the human eye, so the pictures on the film look dynamic.

Therefore, the more intense the action is, cutting at the top of the picture or at the moment before the action begins will have a strong afterimage effect on the film behind, leaving a deep impression on the audience.

Tangent point of producing melody sense

Let's take the action of turning pages as an example to see how to find the starting point.

If you start shooting from the state where the action stops completely, faithfully shoot the action of turning the book from beginning to end, so that the audience can know that it is the action of turning the book at a glance.

However, the beauty of the image cannot be reflected only by clarity, and the sense of melody and comfort are equally indispensable. So what should we do?

We choose the initial cutting point in the state that the book turning action has started. If the page turning action is decomposed into 1 ~ 24 pictures, then the first 3 ~ 4 clips are cut off as the initial tangent point.

This change has no effect on understanding the action of turning pages. On the contrary, it can also show the melody and comfort of the action. This editing method can also be applied to other images.

There is more than one correct way to edit a movie.

One thing I hope you don't misunderstand is that the cutting point is not unique.

When the page turns to the middle, it can be used as a tangent point, and it can also be used as a tangent point at the end of the book turning action.

According to different works and different positive and negative diagrams, the tangent point can be changed. The correct editing method is not unique.

Of course, editing also has its fixed forms and conventions, which can be said to be the rules of editing. It is important to know these rules, but editing itself is a creative job, so sometimes you will break the rules and make some new attempts.

The purpose of editing

Free from physical constraints, free to control time and space.

In photography and production, it is sometimes necessary to divide the lens and make a plot later.

Omit the passage of real time in the story in the work.

Omit the movement of space in the story

Combined with the intention of expression, the plot is formed and the final appearance of the work is determined.

Connect the shots purposefully, and clarify and emphasize what you want to express.

Make the order and structure of the lens more rigorous and highlight the plot elements.

Fixed rules in action clips

Editing method when shooting object moves

Action connection refers to editing the action of the subject.

Once upon a time, it was often necessary to interrupt the shooting of an action because of changing films. However, the same action connected by different lenses looks surprisingly smooth and impressive. It is said that this is the origin of this editing method.

Action 7: 3 Connect.

First, let's look at the basis of action editing, "action connection".

"Action connection" refers to an editing method that connects an action with two pictures.

Theoretically, these two sets of images are just the difference in screen size and describe the same action at the same time, so you can edit from any point.

However, at this time, the actions will be inconsistent or repetitive. The final edited image lacks a sense of rhythm.

The general image editing method is to connect the actions according to the ratio of 7: 3 or 3: 7, so as to achieve the effect of smooth action. In this way, not only the front and back movements look coherent, but also the sense of rhythm and vitality arises spontaneously.

Of course, the ratio of 7: 3 is not an absolute truth. According to different materials and cutting points, human eyes sometimes have the illusion of repetition and jumping.

Therefore, deliberately cutting or overlapping some shots will make the movements look more natural and smooth. Try changing the cutting point in different images to see the effect.

Connect two actions into one.

Connecting multiple actions of different subjects into one, commonly known as "single action editing".

Here is an example of use: the pitcher and first baseman who got a home run looked back at the flying ball. Both players completed the action of "looking back" at the same time.

If you want to make full use of the thrown material, you will definitely use this connection: hit a home run-> the pitcher's turn-> the baseman's turn-> the ball that flies far away.

However, with this connection, the movements of two players turning around and retreating will be repeated, giving the audience a dull sense of approval.

A single action clip will combine these two back movements into one, and the time difference will be eliminated through editing.

Specifically, it is to cut off the first half of the pitcher's return and connect the second half of the first baseman's return, which can enhance the sense of speed and make the picture coherent. Action connection points

Two cameras took two images with different sizes at the same position and angle. If it is a different position and angle, this rule can also be used to deal with it.

Of course, if the material is not shot at the same time, as long as you change the angle and take the vertex of an action (a characteristic action) as the tangent point, there will be many ways to connect. For example, the moment before the release of the racket ball, the back hand of the racket ball pulls down and then connects them.

When editing with action as the center, we must pay attention to several aspects. The following are the main points.

① Take the lens that looks longer as the main lens. (2) Consider the top, bottom, left and right of the picture, so as not to affect the continuity of action. (3) Greatly changing the use and position of the camera will be the imposing manner of the picture. (4) According to the actual time, the connection will be more protracted, so we should compress the parts that can be omitted in the transition action. Especially in scenes with intense action, the lens length should be shortened. ⑤ The material shot at the same time can be edited at any point in theory, but choosing different editing points and repeating or omitting some shots will make the action smoother. ⑥ When using different pictures for the same action, try to connect them at the vertex of the action.

Purposeful overlapping actions are used to emphasize.

Through purposeful repetition, an action is emphasized This method is called double action or triple action.

In the example image, take the shot where the pitcher's arm is raised to the highest point as the tangent point, connect the front and rear action shots, and finally connect the side full shot where the hand retracts downward after pitching.

In this way, the action may not be so smooth for the audience, but the action of "throwing the ball" is repeated three times (triple action), which is very impressive.

Double action is only effective when you consciously want to highlight an action, and it should be as short as possible to avoid verbosity.

Intense action scenes may omit the middle part.

One of the purposes of editing is to omit in time and space.

If you edit according to the actual passage of time and the movement of space, no matter how much time is not enough, the audience will feel tedious.

At this time, the more effective method is to extract some intermediate shots of the same action and then connect them.

This method is also called intermediate extraction.

Its function is to greatly shorten the time, increase the sense of speed of the film, and make the audience never tire of watching it.

When using this technique, you must choose which shots to shoot, which is a difficult point.

The most important thing is not to cut off the vertex of the action (characteristic action). If you take away these vertex shots, you can't know which direction the action will go.

Jumping editing developed this technology, which is an intermediate extraction technology, which was founded by Golda and connects images by jumping like a phonograph needle.

Jump editing dares to break the taboo of traditional editing, making it possible to shoot impressive scenes.

When removing the middle lens to omit the time and highlight the sense of speed, we must pay attention to the choice of which lenses should be omitted. When other shots are omitted, when the arm position reaches the highest in the initial state and pitching, the arm droops, and only these three shots can show the pitching action to the lowest.

Connect frame input and frame output pictures.

The subject is in the shooting frame, which is called FRAMEIN.

On the other hand, when the subject leaves the shooting range, it is called frame out.

Walking or running people, animals, cars, trams, these moving objects can be edited.

Let's consider how to connect the frame in and out of the same subject under different backgrounds.

In the scene of a bicycle riding in front of the camera, two sets of shots of the same size were taken in different locations.

Of course, we can connect the bicycle from entering the empty stage (there is only background in the lens, and there is no object being photographed) to leaving the lens.

There is nothing wrong with this connection, but the space is too empty and the movement is not smooth enough.

An excellent and rhythmic action linking method is to link the shots in the latter group when the object is about to leave the shooting range.

The point is to use a picture in which the subject is half in the lens and half out of the lens. This will make the connection look smoother.

If the angle of the subject in the front and back shots is different, adding an empty stage shot between the frame entry and the frame exit will make the picture more coherent.

The action of connecting different subjects with a dark lens or the same point.

How to connect the actions of different subjects?

An example is the connection between a running figure and a speeding car. Let the running figure run closer and closer until it fills the whole picture and turns it black, and then connect the subsequent shots. Although the running speed of the character is different from that of the car, the black screen (or very dark lens) between them successfully reproduces the smooth movement.

Fixed a rule in a conversation clip.

The editing method of characters' lines, in which the dialogue refers to lines.

Dialogue editing refers to editing the lines of the characters in the scene.

It ranks as the most representative editing method with action editing, and it is an indispensable factor to show the story.

The seemingly simple dialogue fragments are actually some fixed rules used to express special effects.

The lines are connected by 1: 3.

Between the lines, except SE and BGM, everything else is silent.

For video editing, it is important to create this silent state and use it to express the rhythm of the film.

In this example, two people are chatting in the car. The key to editing is how much space there should be between two people's conversations. One conversation scene after another was shot with a camera instead of another character, so there was no real conversation between the two people (= interval). When editing, it is important to have a natural interval between conversations. Generally speaking, the intervals between dialogues will be more coherent if they are connected according to the ratio of 1: 3.

If the gap after each line in the previous shot is 1 length, then a gap of 3 lengths should be left before the dialogue in the subsequent shot begins.

Move the lines up and down to increase the dramatic effect.

Move the dialogue up and down, that is, insert the lines into the previous shot (move up) or drag them to the next shot (move down).

Its function is to highlight the changes of characters' expressions and actions caused by the dialogue content.

Mr. a was stopped by someone. Mr. B greeted him and said "Hello, Mr. A", moved this part up, and then Mr. B's lens appeared, and then Mr. A's moved line was inserted, "Isn't this Mr. B!" .

This makes the whole scene more fluent and coherent.

For example, in the previous shot, the key name of "I have someone I like" moved down, highlighting the expression change of the protagonist under the influence of this sentence. This is the intention of this technology.

For example, in order to highlight the expression changes of the heroine before and after the hero invited her for a ride, the actor's lines were moved up and appeared with the heroine's facial lens. If you don't move the lines up, there will be a silent face shot of the heroine in the picture, and the film will look very long and have no sense of rhythm.

It is not the length of the lines that determines the cutting of the lens, but the purposeful cutting while considering the plot, which is very important.

Express your mood with embedded montage.

In order to make the above scene more dramatic, you can use the method of inserting other shots between lines. For example, you can also show a little follow-up shots. In the previous group of shots, when the heroine's lines are in the middle, the facial shot of the hero is inserted, which can not only show the strong expression change of the hero after listening to his girlfriend's answer, but also emphasize the calm and happy state before.

Editing methods of non-action and lines, scene change and manufacturing connection points

Beginners can use the traditional O.L method to gently transition shots.

O.L. (overlapping photography) is a very common transitional effect, just like fading in and out.

It represents the passage of time and the movement of space, and can also be used to express mood.

Similar transition methods are wiping method and dissipation method.

Connect different scenes with shelter! Change the window

Window changing refers to the editing method that when there is a shelter in front of the subject, the screen is blocked by the shelter and transitions to the subsequent shot.

Shelters can be roughly divided into two types, immovable shelters (walls or other big things) and movable objects such as pedestrians.

Both can be connected directly, but it is more natural to connect with shelter.

Connect different scenes with blurred images.

Aggregation and non-aggregation refer to the gradual synthesis of a clear image from a blurred image, or the gradual transformation of a clear image into a blurred image.

Because it is a very abstract picture, it is very natural to use it to connect two different shots.

However, it should be noted that if there is no similarity in color and image between the front image and the back image, the final effect will look very disharmonious.

For example, from the red rose to the signal light of a police car, or from one person's face to another person's face, blurred images should be associated with specific scenes and can only be used when the stage or subject has the same color and shape.

Connect shots with blurred effects caused by motion.

Fast moving photography refers to moving the camera around (or up and down) at a very fast speed to shoot.

When using this method, there will be a fuzzy effect, connecting different shots.

This technique gives people the impression that they attach importance to space movement and pay attention to the use of very short and fast lenses. If you use a long lens, it is difficult to use it as a connecting lens for scene change.

Note that the background in different scenes should also change greatly.

Connect the shots of the same scenery.

Blank editing means that when two different scenes are connected at the same time, the camera is raised in the front lens to shoot the sky, and then the camera is put down to become other scenes, not blue sky. You can use lens editing methods such as moon, sun and stars.

The scenes in the two shots can be far apart, but there must be a * * * connection point (such as the sea).

Connect the lens with exposure effect

Just like shooting with a strong flash, the method of connecting different lenses with a flash (fast flashing all-white lens) is called flash effect.

Even if the lenses without * * * connection points are connected, there can be no sense of disharmony at all.

This technology is often used in advertisements and music videos.

Switch to a subsequent shot with a split picture.

The general practice is to separate the shots taken at the same time and put them together. If you don't do this, it will be difficult for the audience to understand the picture.

Separate the right half of the lens and insert other lenses to form the whole picture. Very useful when representing synchronous events.

Other representative editing methods, video products can be said to be a collection of montages.

Finally, representative editing methods, such as deletion, are introduced. Editors can greatly change the plot, the mood of the characters and the meaning of the images through different editing methods, and some works even make a 180 degree turn.

Montage is to create a story through the combination of pictures. Here, I want to introduce this very effective editing method.

Let different shots appear alternately at the same time

Making things happen alternately in different places is called anti-cutting (also called crosscutting).

Backcutting not only emphasizes the continuity of the scene, but also enhances the tension and expressiveness.

By changing the shooting speed of the lens (slow motion), the plot can be more expressive.

It will be better to let the shots from different places appear alternately in flashback, and finally both sides will appear in the same place.

For example, if you are late for an appointment, the scenes of men running fast and women waiting at the appointed place alternate. Finally, whether the two finally meet or the man doesn't arrive, the lens effect of the woman shopping alone will be very good.

There is also flashback, an editing method similar to flashback.

Flashback is to insert a large number of ultra-short shots when expressing the memories or psychological descriptions of the characters on the stage.

When the connection is difficult, insert a picture similar to adhesive.

CUT AWAY is an editing method that connects the front and rear shots like an adhesive. It is an anti-traditional theoretical method. Connecting two pictures of the same size has a great shock to the whole audience.

For example, when shooting the scene of two people in a coffee shop, the specific shots of the two people are not connected together, but the shots of coffee squares are inserted in the middle to make the film more rhythmic.

As long as the inserted lens captures the objects that have appeared in the previous lens.

For example, connect the lens of a woman looking at a gem, a close-up of a gem with the lens of her shopping in other stores. Please feel for yourself, if there is no lens of this gem, what is the difference between the rhythm and shock to the audience.

Connect the lenses of different frames to create a sense of rhythm!

Zooming in and out is a common way to bring freshness to ordinary lenses.

It is usually divided into three stages, and the mood shots of different pictures (usually close-ups that can express the mood of characters) are connected with the scene shots (situational shots, usually distant shots or super-distant shots). Note that the pictures of different lenses are different.

For example, approaching a smoking man three times (zoom in). You can also gradually reduce the lens in three times.

This method can be used if the same frame is monotonous.

The wonderful thing about "backcutting" from movies is that backcutting is a editing technique, which makes two or more different scenes appear in some related wrong way.

This method seems difficult. In fact, we often see it in TV dramas and movies. This is a very common editing technique.

For example, men and women appear alternately on the phone, which is a very common shot, but it uses the reverse cut method.

The advantage of backcutting is to make the passage of time appear repeatedly, giving people a sense of time closer to the movie.

For example, when describing the murderer and the police chasing him, using the method of reverse cutting will make the film enter * *, improve the sense of speed and give the audience a higher sense of tension. The plot of * * in The Silence of the Lambs is skillfully unfolded by using the method of backcutting.

The technique of reverse cutting can give the lens new meaning.

For example, in Hitchcock's film Catch a Thief, Kelly Brand and Grace Kelly are talking in a hotel room when fireworks are set off outside the window. Fireworks are a metaphor for their love here. Here, fireworks are cut, making the plot of the film more expressive.

In Coppola's film "Silent Record of Hell", flashback has become somewhat philosophical again.

In the picture of Willard's assassination of Colonel Carter, the scene of aborigines sacrificing cattle to the gods was inserted. This scene is easy to understand, but Clapaud made it from the perspective of cultural anthropology.

From Movie Network | Author Osiris

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