Avid Edit: It's not just that though
21.2.16
AVID is very very difficult. I definitely struggled with it due to my familiarity with Premiere Pro but it was definitely interesting to begin to learn such a sophisticated piece of software. I apologise for the scarcity of this blog post but I was so intent on editing I forgot to screenshot my progress. However I will do my best to walk you through what I did step by step.
Following Victoria's advice the media and the project were saved onto separate drives as a fail-safe so that if one gets corrupted the other is still safe and sound on the on the :N drive and the :C drive (the drives we used in the Avid suite)
Once we wrapped on the studio shoot, we had to go over all the footage. As someone not hugely great at organisation I had my best shot at organising my footage into a usable format. I decided to name each shot and then colour code it depending on its usefulness to the edit, usually identifying the type of shot followed by the description of what happened in the shot itself. Pick up shots and master shots were difficult to categorise as the audio was not very usable, however they worked as great inserts. Clips that were cut or didn't make it into the edit were marked as red and were eventually moved to the 'don't move' bin as seen in the above screenshot.
I began by using the script as a framework for my edit, following it about 6 or 7 times but getting stuck at a certain cutaway or not being able to find the right dialogue to cut into. I eventually got frustrated and with each attempt I felt that the film lacked pace and so I decided to rework the way I tackled the edit. I opted to use repeating cutaways gradually increasing in speed to give an escalating feeling of tension eventually climaxing in a smash, allowing me to cut to a part that would normally be around halfway through the duration of the original script. I felt that this addition gave the edit a bit more flavour and variety, whilst making it altogether more streamlined. To locate my media I often used the Find tool that allowed me to search for my desired media clips which streamlined my workflow somewhat as my system of naming clips did not prove to be terribly effective.
For next time I feel that I should be more organised with my media - creating bins for the express purpose of differentiating between sound, inserts, scenes, trash and pick-up shots.
Something to consider for this edit was how the piece was paced and how that would relate to the outcome of the piece. I tried to combine smooth movements to create seamless cuts that continued the motion from previous shots. It was also paramount to me to not break the 180 degree rule, ensuring the camera moved around the room in small, smooth increments rather than enormous jump cuts. This showed me how important it is for one to know the footage one is editing and the ability to discern when and where to cut. Part of this comes when you shoot for the edit and I definitely realised the importance of this during this exercise. Realising that you spent 2 hours shooting one shot from four different angles and not using ANY of those in the film really puts how important it is to shoot for the edit in perspective.
Next on the list: Sound.
One problem we found that is rife throughout all of the footage is that the sound levels are rather low. You can see on the timeline above where I have attempted to compensate for this by adjusting the volume on the clip. This detracts slightly from the quality of the audio, but some of the atmos sound that was recorded covered all the noticeable parts.
NOTE: Our sound recordist recorded foley in our studio but then failed to transfer us the data so we were left only with a few atmos tracks and the audio recorded on set. This caused a problem and forced us to improvise with finding our own sounds from open-source archives online. In hindsight I realise we could have taken the initiative and assumed he wasn't coming back and recorded all the sound ourselves which meant we would have had a much richer soundtrack and sound design. The only sound effect I used that wasn't from on set was the sound of a glass shattering. I did not fade it in as I wanted the smash to be an abrupt end to the opening sequence and throw the viewer into this scenario.
One thing I didn't get a chance to do was colour grade. I feel like this would have been a useful experience because the images (especially the one seen above) have slight orange tones to them and so if I were to go back and re-edit I would increase the blues in order to flatten some of those orange tones.
Lastly I typed up the credits using the marquee tool. I found this tool rather intuitive and after figuring out how to do rolling tiles and adjust the speed of the scroll the edit was finished and I felt pretty proud of myself.
I found this task extremely challenging and I feel that even if I spent 10 years editing with this program I still would not learn every nuance of the software. This program was definitely a step up from other software's such as Premiere, but this unit definitely taught me the importance of branching out beyond our current skill set and acquiring and eventually building upon new and exciting skills. I really want to learn the innumerable amount of short cuts within this software so I feel like I am going to dedicate a considerable amount of time into practising my editing skills on both personal and commercial edits.
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