Your efficiency methods for review and editing

[GPS]

Ok, another question for the bag of skills, from another angle.

You are shooting/editing a story and are under deadline. You need to produce the best piece you can in the time allotted.

What is your exact method, with steps, for fast, efficient review and edit of your material? What is your mental process for assessing what you have, and making editing choices, under pressure?

Also, what things might cut into your time and how do you mitigate that?

And just out of curiosity, what is an average time you might spend for a short form piece?

I'm curious to see people's different, various approaches to this.
Thx =)

 

[photoguy603]

For me it all starts when you get in the truck. Start thinking about and talking with your reporter about how you want the story to look. Of course it can all change when you get there but its good to have at least a general idea of what you want the end product to look like.

When shooting shoot in sequences, wide medium tight. Think of cuts in the camera, and always hold shots for 10 seconds, if you in a real jam to get something on air a 10 second shot can save your ass.

As for unforeseen circumstances that could be anything from breaking news, to producers adding, vo's, cold opens etc. to truck or equipment failures. Don't put something off because you think you'll have time later, as a reporter logs, go set up the live shot, don't wait til the last minute.

As for how much time, for editing, it varies everyday sometimes its an hour...but rarely any longer or it can be as short as 10-12 minutes to slam something together.

Time management is key. Good Luck!

 

[GPS]

Thanks...
So the major approach for you then, is having a general picture of what you are going for, before you go in?
That makes sense...
So then unless something really changes, you already pretty much have a storyboard in your head when you start to cut?
You probably know while shooting what your beginning and end piece will be.

Here's a question. Let's say you didn't shoot it, but you are handed a a set of media files, maybe an hour's worth, of shooting, which you have to review and edit a piece from, and let's say for this example no one has given you a story guideline.

What then would be your process for review and building a piece? How would you quickly assess what you had, and what factors would go into your editing choices?

Difficult question I know, especially for some folks it's probably a more intuitive process, but I'm just curious how people approach it.

 

[MidwestPhotog]

Quick clarification, when you say shooting /editing a story, do you mean a PKG or a vosot (or just generally)?
I'd echo 603 above, but suggest that the process starts even earlier, when you're shooting interviews. Keep your ears open and listen for those 2 or 3 nuggets that are (most likely) going to be the backbone of the story. Make sure you've got good b-roll, whether your subject gets emotional about the family farm or a favorite singer (or whatever it is). Basically, make sure you don't tune out during the interview.

As far as editing someone else's raw video, most editors will let you scrub pretty quickly through clips, so that definitely helps. You can sort things into bins by topic, but one strategy that can be helpful is dropping your 3 (ish) second clips right into a timeline as you see what's there. In a crunch, that means less scrolling and hunting , especially if the shooter has the habit of keeping the camera rolling between shots. It also gets you most of the way toward having a quick and dirty VO if you need it, plus most of your sequences are figured out before you even get a script.

Hope that helps a bit

 

[GPS]

Thank you Midwestphotog,
I guess just generally.
The context behind the question is that I have a habit of just showing up and shooting, say at an event, and end up with a lot of footage to pull a story from. There is generally a good mixture of shot types. But then I end up tasked with starting from scratch (sometimes months later if ti's a personal project), reviewing the footage, and deciding what to make of it. It's like being in a bakery's pantry with no recipe and ingredients for thirty different kinds of breads you could make. And then you get paralyzed not knowing where to start.

I shot a project last summer for an organization that was about six half-days of shooting over the course of a month. It was originally going to be camera practice, with something very basic from it for them, but it evolved from there to include more. Now it's interviews, b-roll, and a number of approaches to what could be the story. I was not sure what to expect when going in, since I was only marginally familiar with what they did. So I learned more as I went.

The interviews are a pretty straightforward place to start. But just going through the hours of b-rolll is sort of fatiguing. Even just cutting out the junk and finding the good parts.
There are about 20 interviews of different supporters, five days of b-roll, and so there are many ways the project could be approached. I could even do some creative, to-music things from some of the b-roll, or numerous serious approaches.

So it got me to wondering what people's methods are. I know some editors would rip through this quickly and i want to know what their methods would be for doing so - their approaches to quickly reviewing footage, and especially their mental process for making decisions about where to start and what to use.


Essentially, workflow.

I asked about what people do under deadline, because it cuts right to the heart of someone's system.

Hope that clarifies.

 

[Lensmith]

Editing something shot by someone else?
With the added variable in your questions being you are "under deadline".
Your job is simple.
Make slot.
Much will depend on the script you get...and when you get that script.
If you have some time to review the material before editing, great.
But odds are you are going to be handed too much video to truly go through it and select the best of the best while still meeting your deadline.
Get the story put together first as fast as you can.
Get it covered.
Then, if time permits, go through and see if there's a way to improve it.
An hour worth of video for a story you have to edit but didn't shoot means only one thing to me.
The person shooting the story overshot.
Your top priority is to get that story done in time to make air and not cause issues for newscast producers.
Wasting time trying to craft some kind of artful story, then missing slot is not an excuse.
The job is to make slot. "Art" is icing...if you have the time.
Then...walk away from your efforts to the next story.
Any problems with the story not living up to someone elses expectations is their problem.
Whether it is the photographer shooting too much material to go through in a reasonable amount of time or a reporter taking too long to write a script.
They didn't do their job correctly and put you in a no-win situation.
That is all on them.
Not you.

 

[cyndygreen1]

Thank you Midwestphotog,
I guess just generally.

I shot a project last summer for an organization that was about six half-days of shooting over the course of a month. It was originally going to be camera practice, with something very basic from it for them, but it evolved from there to include more. Now it's interviews, b-roll, and a number of approaches to what could be the story. I was not sure what to expect when going in, since I was only marginally familiar with what they did. So I learned more as I went.

The interviews are a pretty straightforward place to start. But just going through the hours of b-rolll is sort of fatiguing. Even just cutting out the junk and finding the good parts.
There are about 20 interviews of different supporters, five days of b-roll, and so there are many ways the project could be approached. I could even do some creative, to-music things from some of the b-roll, or numerous serious approaches.

Sounds as if you overshot...and the way to handle that is to find one person who can (off-camera) give you a summary of what's going on. Otherwise you don't know enough to say no to all of the requests to interview this guy and that gal and anyone they feel "must" be in the piece. You have to say no - of if forced to include too many people, have each focus on a specific aspect of "what's going on". No wonder you're paralyzed. Too much "stuff" and no focus.

 

[GPS]

Thank you,
Yes, 'Make slot" and "make art later" are probably good policies to keep in mind
I guess I did overshoot. Each half day was a special ed session and I wanted to see what stories might present themselves in it, and then began to interview staff and parents when the opportunity presented itself, for story use on my part, and fundraising use on their part.

So what I"m hearing here is, don't go in without a plan, even a basic one.

(EDIT) This brought to mind a post in my last thread from filter4preset:
>> The most important thing to be looking for is your ending. Everything else will build to that. Then identify your main character and your beginning will start to fall in place. ....
Just remember that you are there to shoot a story. Not to shoot a whole bunch of images and hope that you can somehow find a story in the edit bay.<<

So.. you've got all this footage in front of you. You have to make a story rise up out of it. What's your workflow/approach?

Here's mine: (Premiere CS 5.5)

- Imported in the AVCHD files, each date in a separate bin
- Created a sequence in the bin and dragged the footage into the timeline
- Cut out the junk in the timeline
- Color- labeled timeline clips - good (someone speaking or something interesting (red) fair (orange) b0-roll (aqua) alternate angles (blue) crap (gray) no video, but audio bite (green) technical issues that can maybe be fixed(yellow).
- Create individual projects for each potential story
- Copy the red (best) clips to the beginning of each sequence, and try to find a story contained within, filling in with the rest of the clips, seeing if there is an interesting way they can go together. Looking for a logical beginning and ending clip.

- Many of them will require interview clips to make them come together though. The interview clips are in a separate bin from another shoot, so maybe I'll start with those as a foundation instead.

There you have it - welcome any improvements on it.

Note: I'm also a FCP refugee so I am just learning to get around in Premiere.

 

[cameragod]

An interview should be no more than 5 questions or you are wasting everyone's time. GV's think 4:1 shooting ratio, shoot 4min to 1min on air. Edit with your camera.
Separate bins, colour coding??? Save it for the documenery, you need to think about the story not the process.
Some stories are a case of suck it and see but if you don't know what the story is before you finished shooting you never will.

As a rule of thumb get the interviews first, then shoot the pictures you need to help them tell their story. Lay down their grabs and fill in the gaps, open and close with your strongest pictures.

 

[cyndygreen1]

GPS - what is your news background? Many of the questions you're asking, while well-phased, seem to aim at what most shooters learn in the first few years instinctively. Not getting on your case but trying to figure out how best to fill in your gaps.

 

[GPS]

No ENG, just studio. Now I"m on my own, independent.
Most of these questions I could work out my own answers to, but the purpose for posting is to get other perspectives.
I'll get it done, I've already pulled two nice pieces out of it. Just want to see the ways others would approach it. A lot of times you don't know what you don't know, until you discover it when drawing on another's experience.

 

[cyndygreen1]

Got it. Studio camera is an entirely different beast. Much more support and teamwork (in a different way) than working in the field with a reporter or alone.

 

[GPS]

I actually prefer working this way; I'm quite independent and freedom-based by nature. It would be a goal to work with another news organization in the future. But if that doesn't happen for whatever reason, I will be doing this work, (storytelling in this style), independently if need be. I'm just too driven to do it and can't seem to walk away from it (despite my best efforts), so sometimes you just have to listen to that and find a way.
Most people don't relate to this, but news people do for the most part.

 

[MidwestPhotog]

Thanks for the followup, GPS. The context you're working in really helps. I've got a couple more thoughts to just add to what everybody else has said.

First, before I start sorting broll, I log my interviews, doesn't have to be word for word, but it's so much easier to have talking points in front of you, rather than endlessly scrubbing through hours of interviews and trying to find that perfect gem again. Bold the best bits as you go, throw asterisks by the amazing stuff, and throw some all caps in (GREAT LAUGH, TEARING UP) so you can see it easily later. Getting the a-roll and story figured out is the first priority - beautiful broll slapped randomly doesn't get you anything.

But long before that, editing starts while you're shooting. Be in the moment, get cover video of the people you interviewed. Or broll of people who look like will be good interviews. Take a minute to survey the room, wherever you are - you'll get the hang of reading who might be decent on camera.
When it comes to interviews, "I'll see what happens" is a great way to get a whole bunch of disjointed content, but it's hard to turn that into a story. Even a vague plan will help you immensely.

 

[GPS]

Thank you Midwest,
Just curious, what program are you working in? How exactly do you log your footage? With markers? Lognotes?
I've been in Premiere cs5.5, which is a bit limiting. Nowhere to see markers that I'm aware of, pre cs6. I ended up cutting the footage in the timeline, dragging clips back into the bin, adding the dialog summary in the lognotes. and using list view to see them (no ithumbnail option in the bin).
Either way yeah, I'm with you on that - it's important to physically see what everyone said. Takes time to log but it's less frustration later.

It's a tendency, as an auditory person, to rely on the interviews or music as a default bed. I"ve been challenging myself to pull a story just out of the clips as an exercise - (these were short special ed sessions so there were people talking in the clip). Still lacking a bit though, but it takes the crutch away. That's going to be the big focus from here on out - how to tell a story. (Posted another thread on that) and am n the process of really breaking that down and looking at it.. Because it's the strength of that that will make the difference. If you don't have that you don't have anything. Also have been turning the sound off to just look visually at the clips to see how that works or doesn't.

 

[filter4preset]

GPS, There is a simple exercise that photographers have been using for decades to train themselves to shoot sequences, look for stories and edit in camera. Simply take your camera out into the world and give yourself :30 seconds or tape/media to tell a simple story. No editing. No staging. It has to be laid down in order in your camera. Then go back and watch your end product with a critical eye. Write a script in your head using each shot and see if the story makes sense.

Keep it simple. Go to a bus stop and tell the story of people getting on the bus. Go to a baseball game and tell the story of one pitch. Example: A bus pulls up to a crowed bus stop, the doors open, a line forms, feet step into the bus, a man swipes his fare card, the last person steps onto the bus, the door closes, the bus pulls off down the street.

You will start to think about how shots relate to each other. How they progress into a story. You will learn how to shoot clean tape without a lot of wasted media to have to sort through later.

The goal is to start thinking about how shots relate to each other to tell a story. Action-reaction, wide-medium-tight-tight-tight. You create these stories in the camera and not the edit bay.

Then when you are shooting real assignments you can use the same thinking. Obviously hold your shots longer but shoot in the same types of sequences. Telling little stories. When you go to edit it becomes very simple. You don't have to log and color code sequence that go together. They are already on order in your bin.

 

[MidwestPhotog]

I hope some of that advice helped, GPS.
I'm on Premiere CC, and I think CS6 is the last version I've used, so I don't have any 5.5-specific advice for you. however, a quick search for 'premiere cs5.5 workflow' turned up quite a few results, including videos from adobe.

As far as markers go, I've never tried adding markers to clips in a bin, but you can pretty easily right-click a clip and select 'New Sequence From Clip'. As a sequence, you can add markers, and conveniently, you can log to the sequence time, rather than timecode - personally, logging an interview that starts at 00:00 and goes to 9:40 is more intuitive than one that starts at 8:54:32 and goes to 9:03:14, for instance. Either way, though, I'll find the byte in my notes, look at the approximate timecode, and it's easy to find anything without scrubbing all over or watching a dozen marked spots on the timeline.
-This is my workflow, mostly because I shoot with 2 DSLR cameras and a separate audio recorder, so I've got to sync things up. It's less necessary if you're shooting with one camera that has decent audio built in.

I'm in the middle of a project that involved shooting 70+ interviews in 4 cities, and creating 2 or 3 videos from everything. Having things organized is the only way I haven't gone crazy.

I'll second Filter4. Shooting sequences in the camera will help immensely, and having even a vague idea of the flow of your story is pretty much critical. Editing your own stuff will really help there; after a few 'man, this would work if only I would have shot ____' moments, you're definitely going to remember those things the next time.

 

[GPS]

Thanks guys,
I got called away for some issues at home and am just back to the thread.
That exercise is great. I've done something similar, but never given it a 30 second limit. That would really boil it down to basics. I'll get out and get started on it, thanks very much.
For this case, the project started as a practice gig and just grew from there.
Midwest, I did manage to just move up to CS6, but the project really didn't import correctly, so I'll starting in CS6 for the next one. But a quick look shows that the markers feature really isn't that useful anyway, although CS6 does have a lot of other cool features.
I was dragging subclips back into the bin from the timeline, and logging dialogue in the log notes. Which allowed for individual color coding. But was still hard to work with. Writing the script out did help.
I also watched an online tutorial this week where the guy wrote out his scripts, then bolded the important bites for easy visual reference. So that was a handy dandy tip.
I'll try your workflow and that may be the best solution. Sounds like you do a lot of interviews, and have an organized system set up.

 

[canuckcam]

Here's a youtube video that Dave Wertheimer showed at NPPA years ago.


As much as some people here hate the NPPA, the NPPA Workshop in Norman got me my start many years ago. Join as a shoot & editor. There are a lot of seasoned pros there (some grizzly hardened ones some may add) that'll show you how to put a story to air efficiently, from shooting to editing. It's money well worth it especially if you don't have experience in ENG style.

https://nppa.org/training/news-video-workshop

FWIW, cameramen got 400 feet film loads for a story. That works to just over 11 minutes.

 

[GPS]

Thanks,
i've been meaning to get more involved with them. Can you elaborate on why everyone seems to hate the NPPA?