{"id":9130,"date":"2013-08-12T11:42:37","date_gmt":"2013-08-12T16:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/?p=9130"},"modified":"2023-09-07T19:15:48","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T00:15:48","slug":"a-video-editors-delimma-to-delete-or-not-to-delete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/a-video-editors-delimma-to-delete-or-not-to-delete\/","title":{"rendered":"A Video Editor&#8217;s Dilemma:  To Delete or Not to Delete?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sSFQy_cLvLU\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">?<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Video editing<\/strong> is probably the single most powerful skill to perfect if you want to tell a good story with video.<\/p>\n<p>Compared to all the other tasks needed to make a professional-quality video and using all the techniques available to the filmmaker, editing is where much of the magic happens. \u00a0It&#8217;s the icing on the cake! \u00a0 Of course to make it all work well, you have to have good-quality story elements to begin with, but you can make or break your movie in the editing room.<\/p>\n<p>Novice filmmakers tend to think of editing as a way to cut out mistakes and bloopers. \u00a0 Of course, you do that, but in truth, the main purpose of editing is to arrange all of your elements in order to tell and refine the story for your viewers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_15702\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15702\" style=\"width: 438px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-15702\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/fcp-x-timeline-300x145.png?resize=438%2C212\" alt=\"fcp timeline video editing\" width=\"438\" height=\"212\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/fcp-x-timeline.png?resize=300%2C145&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/fcp-x-timeline.png?resize=600%2C290&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/fcp-x-timeline.png?resize=150%2C73&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/fcp-x-timeline.png?w=980&amp;ssl=1 980w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 438px) 100vw, 438px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-15702\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The timeline pictured here is from Final Cut Pro X. The timeline is where you build your movie. \u00a0The storytelling elements are color coded in FCPX so you know at a glance what type of clip it is. \u00a0Video editing stacks elements on top of each other as you can see here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ideally, editing should be a planned process, so you shoot things the correct way for your planned final look. \u00a0 \u00a0How you shoot things makes a huge difference in what you have to work with during the editing phase.<\/p>\n<p>The process of editing boils down to combining the many different <a href=\"http:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/everybody-loves-a-good-story-storytelling-for-video-production\/\">storytelling elements<\/a> onto the timeline. \u00a0The timeline (picture above)\u00a0 is a visual representation of every element of your movie. \u00a0This is what your final product looks like while still in the video editing program.<\/p>\n<p>Just like how a chef combines the different ingredients in a recipe to make a scrumptious supper, so too, the video editor (you) combines the available storytelling elements to make a charming story. \u00a0How well you do it largely determines whether your finished video is fun to watch.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-15699 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/food-ml-024-300x205.jpg?resize=365%2C250\" alt=\"a banquet to feed many people\" width=\"365\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/food-ml-024.jpg?resize=300%2C205&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/food-ml-024.jpg?resize=600%2C409&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/food-ml-024.jpg?resize=150%2C102&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/food-ml-024.jpg?resize=1024%2C699&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/food-ml-024.jpg?w=1442&amp;ssl=1 1442w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 365px) 100vw, 365px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Things like the shots within a sequence, the order of sequences, the pacing, the sound effects, the special effects, the dialogue etc. all go into your final product. \u00a0Editing is where all things are blended together. \u00a0How it&#8217;s done makes a world of difference in the final analysis of effective storytelling.<\/p>\n<h2>One of a video editor&#8217;s main decisions is whether to actually include a shot\/scene or not.<\/h2>\n<p>To decide, ask yourself these questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Does the scene\/shot add to the story, or does it detract?<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Is it well-lit with good sound?<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Does it fit well into the sequence?<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Is it meaningful to advance the story?<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Is there a better choice?<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Does it evoke emotion on the part of the viewer, or is it boring?<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Does it make the finished movie or sequence too long?<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Those are the types of things that run through an editor&#8217;s mind.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0 Whether one is editing a Hollywood blockbuster or home movies from the cruise, storytelling decisions determine whether your final movie is fun to watch or not.\u00a0 Does anyone, including you, really want to watch four hours worth of footage from your vacation?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 That would be long and boring.<\/p>\n<h3>Not Always an Easy Decision<\/h3>\n<p>As an example of how tricky this decision can be, I want to present two instances from a film you are no doubt familiar with, <em>The Wizard of Oz.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The first video posted on the top of this page is the incredible dance sequence (<a title=\"wiki article on ray bolger actor who played scarecrow\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ray_Bolger\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ray Bolger<\/a>) of the scarecrow as he laments not having a brain.\u00a0 In the final movie, this dance ran about 2:40.\u00a0 In the clip containing the deleted portion, it runs about 4 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>You decide.\u00a0 <em><strong>Does that extra one minute and twenty seconds deserve to be left on the cutting room floor?<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 Did it slow down the action and make you yawn?\u00a0 It&#8217;s some of the most spectacular dancing I&#8217;ve ever seen, but regardless, the editors cut it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I wasn&#8217;t there to participate in the debate of course, but I bet the main argument for deletion was that increasing the sequence by about 30% in overall length made it too long which translates into a bored audience.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Believe it or not, <a title=\"wiki article judy garland\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Judy_Garland\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Judy Garland<\/a> singing &#8220;<em>Somewhere Over the Rainbow<\/em>&#8221; was nearly cut.\u00a0<\/strong> \u00a0 Using 20-20 hindsight, deleting the song which made Judy Garland a legend is a terrible idea. Such an overwhelmingly dumb idea, it might even qualify its maker to be fired and banished from the industry!\u00a0 But imagine yourself in the shoes of that decision maker,<em><strong> before<\/strong><\/em> the public had even heard of her.\u00a0\u00a0 They felt like a sentimental song slowed the pace and stopped the action.\u00a0 They were in a hurry to get to the action-packed tornado scene.\u00a0 Who could blame them for that?<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PSZxmZmBfnU\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Makes you wonder what other treasures have been left on the cutting room floor over the years!<\/p>\n<p>I hope these examples help you better understand the process of decision-making while editing video. \u00a0Editing is much more than a mechanical process of finding the right effects and transitions. \u00a0Most novice filmmakers concentrate on the mechanics of editing.\u00a0 Certainly you have to get the mechanics down, but ultimately, video editing is all about storytelling, blending together the best elements in the best way to communicate a story that causes an emotion response.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks for reading <em><strong>Video Production Tips.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>P.S. \u00a0 I am a HUGE Wizard of Oz fan.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42 \u00a0Can you tell?<\/p>\n<p><strong>FOOD FOR THOUGHT<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How important is editing for effective storytelling?<\/li>\n<li>What is the man purpose of editing?<\/li>\n<li>Why did the editors of the movie <em>The Wizard of Oz<\/em> argue that the iconic song, <em>Somewhere Over the Rainbow<\/em>, should be cut out?<\/li>\n<li>Do you agree with their ultimate decision?\u00a0 Why or why not?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-15711 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Wizard-of-Oz-lollipop-guild-300x219.jpg?resize=300%2C219\" alt=\"munchkins wizard of oz lollipop guild\" width=\"300\" height=\"219\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Wizard-of-Oz-lollipop-guild-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C219&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Wizard-of-Oz-lollipop-guild-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C438&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Wizard-of-Oz-lollipop-guild-scaled.jpg?resize=150%2C109&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Wizard-of-Oz-lollipop-guild-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C747&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Wizard-of-Oz-lollipop-guild-scaled.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-15712 size-medium alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Wizard-of-oz_hologram-300x225.jpg?resize=300%2C225\" alt=\"wizard f oz giant head inside wizard's chamber\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Wizard-of-oz_hologram.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Wizard-of-oz_hologram.jpg?resize=600%2C450&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Wizard-of-oz_hologram.jpg?resize=150%2C113&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Wizard-of-oz_hologram.jpg?w=768&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-15713 size-medium alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Wicked_Witch_Melting-300x189.jpg?resize=300%2C189\" alt=\"wicked witch of the west melts \" width=\"300\" height=\"189\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Wicked_Witch_Melting.jpg?resize=300%2C189&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Wicked_Witch_Melting.jpg?resize=150%2C94&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Wicked_Witch_Melting.jpg?w=466&amp;ssl=1 466w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>? Video editing is probably the single most powerful skill to perfect if you want to tell a good story with video. Compared to all the other tasks needed to make a professional-quality video and using all the techniques available to the filmmaker, editing is where much of the magic happens. \u00a0It&#8217;s the icing on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2731,363,6],"tags":[667,2274,562,609,2275],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Wizard-of-Oz-lollipop-guild-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1868&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9130"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9130"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19178,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9130\/revisions\/19178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}