Re: Methods of editing?


"Brian" <bclark@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:e0vh85tm111eibpp6r911rl78j51lkh1j9@xxxxxxxxxx
"David Ruether" <d_ruether@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Brian" <bclark@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:8hug85p50iolsr0v3buloavd9pf1mek3al@xxxxxxxxxx
"David Ruether" <d_ruether@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

This is where taking a few "junk" clips and putting them in a project
and going through ALL the program menu items (there aren't that
many - but don't forget right-clicking on things to bring up many...)
to see what they do *before* starting even a simple "finished" video
would help. Everything you want to do is in the program, and easy
to do. Don't forget about things like "snapping", "ripple edit", setting
50% transparency, etc. It does look like you need to learn the very
basics of using Elements, but the good news is that there is not all
that much to learn...
--DR

Thanks David.
At least Adobe Preimere Elements is not as difficult to learn as
Premiere 6. I got a book out of the Library a while ago on Premiere 6
to find out more about it.

I never read anything on any editing program (I'm not a "reader"...;-),
but I got pretty good first with Premiere 4, then 5.1, then 6/6.5 just
by "messing around". 'Course necessity can speed learning... When
I first started with Premiere 4 (and a Spark card, and unnecessarily
expensive [and small] hot-running SCSI drives), I got an assignment
to produce three 5 minute story videos for a major bank for an
employee get-together - with a two-week deadline! I finished them
JUST in time (shooting, editing, and delivering copies). They were
"funny" versions of "Star Wars", "Beauty and the Beast", and "Wizard
of Oz", complete with voice-overs, yellow text going off into space
(WITH stars! ;-), a light-saber (WITH proper sound, made from
"brown" noise and a name, modified), and R2D2 (made from, and
credited to, the men's room waste container), a giant teapot, a moving
view of the yellow brick road under the titles, the spinning and crashing
house - with dog, tornado, properly attired green witch, etc., etc., etc.
WHEW!!! I'm tempted to put two of them on YouTube, but I'm
not sure about property issues with them.

Sounds like you have a lot of fun.

Talk about pressure on that one! I was learning the editing program,
and also at the same time learning about some of its less usual features
in order to do some of the special effects. Fun?! FUNNN?!?!?! Is
NO sleep and constant work, not sure if you have what you want, with
no time for retakes, and not being sure that you will finish more (or less...!)
than at the very precise deadline, let along with "breathing space"
FUN"??? 8^) I was so tired when I delivered it that I shot the short bit
before the meeting that was needed, made the transfer to tape during the
introductions, delivered it and left immediately to go get sleep... The client
liked the result so much that they paid a considerable amount extra.

Let me know (and others know) if
you are able to put them on Youtube. It seems like the type of thing
they would do when putting together a video for a rock band.

They were not like music videos...

I've read most of the Adobe Premiere 7
manual including the chaper on video editing (ripple effect etc) but
I'll read it again as sometimes things make more sense the second time.

I (personally...) learn much better by doing/experimenting/playing-with
the software - but good video guides can be excellent help.

I've found that there is usually is some hidden command that's very
powerful to use which would save me time and I prefer to know about it
now than later by reading the manual. At least the Adobe Premiere
Elements 7 manual is not just a few pages of text that some programs
offer.

I sometimes find those accidentally while "messing around" with the
program, or by reading posts here...;-)

There seems to be a lack of support for Adobe Premiere 7 in books and
on the internet where there is more support for Adobe Photoshop
Elements 7. I did learn a few things not taught in the manual by
downloading a few Youtube videos. A step by step guild on making a
special effects movie was useful.
A few things seem to be lacking in Adobe Premiere 7 such as dragging
the last thumbnail of a video clip to near the beginning of the main
movie. It's a pain in the neck when you have many thumbnails. There
doesnt seem to be a cut and past for this in the thumbnail mode
(unless I missed seeing it in the manual).

I'm confused. I just tried putting a clip at the front end in a track that
was occupied, and Premiere moved the clip (and the others after it that
were at the left end) just enough to let in the new clip [automatically, when
the material was inserted]. Is this what you meant?

The problem is holding down your mouse button and trying to drag a
thumbnail [clip?] to the left pass [past?] about 40 or so other thumbnails and
having to wait a while until you have dragged it to the start of the movie.

Elements on some computers does seem rather slow while trying
to move rapidly along the timeline (and you can sometimes crash the
program if you go too fast). You can turn off the full thumbnail view
when you want to move around quickly. You can also copy the clip
("Ctrl+C"), then go to the beginning of a track above and hit "Ctrl+V"
to put a copy there. Then insert the copy where you want it, and delete
the original.

If I move a video clip on the time line to the right to full a gap
then only the video clip moves and not the reat [rest?] of the video clips
that are to the right of the moved video clip. I'm think there might
be a way around this in the manual (maybe holding down a key on the
keyboard while dragging perhaps).

Take the mouse and surround (or at least enter) all the clips you want to
move as a unit with a rectangle that appears when you drag the mouse
around them, as in the below.....\/ \/ \/

Also, without needing to select anything, you can draw out a
rectangle with the mouse around as many adjacent clips as you want
to select them all to move them as a unit.

I have not tried that yet but it sounds useful.

It is VERY useful!!! ;-)

(I sure do like Elements for
Mini-DV - too bad it mangles HDV. Once used to HD, it is VERY
hard to look at Mini-DV again - but Elements is such a nice, "clean"
program for editing that...)

I brought my Sony DV-mini camera about 5 years ago and it was the
latest in technology at the time, technology sure races ahead.

The Sony VX2000/21000 was pretty much the pinnacle of "handycam"
Mini-DV technology, and it appeared many years ago (but it is still sold,
and used where low light reach is important). I owned three, but its good
Mini-DV image is FAR short of what the cheap Canon HV20 can
produce (but in good light only...). See my reviews/comparisons here -
http://www.donferrario.com/ruether/Canon_HV20-HV30.htm
http://www.donferrario.com/ruether/sony_dcr-vx2000.htm
http://www.donferrario.com/ruether/camcorder-comparison.htm
Plus more on video, at -
http://www.donferrario.com/ruether/camcorder-comparison.htm

So is HDV format similar to broadcast quality and can it be recorded
on to DV tape?

Yes, and yes. Much HDV is broadcast in HD programming now, and
it is well above the quality standard needed for SD broadcast.

Increasing or descreasing
an effect (such as volume) on the time line by selecting a keyframe is
not easy to get the exact value you need and you have to be careful
not to change the position of the keyframe so the effect does not
occur too early or too late. If I was able to move the up and down
arrows then this would have helped.

Regards Brian

Increasing magnification of the timeline helps, and raising and lowering
the keyframe position gives a readout of the value and position of
the keyframe. The exact values for these are rarely critical...
--DR

I remember reading in the manual about a popup box that allows you to
type in a value when changing things such as the amount of volume but
I'll have to go back to the manual to find out how it's done.

It is easy to just grab and move the point or the line and move acceptably
specific amounts.

I think I'll need to either get closer to my 17 inch LCD monitor or
buy a 22 inch monitor as some things are difficult to see on the
screen.

I would HIGHLY recommend getting a 24" LCD instead (generally better
color than 22" screens, and all the major editing programs fit that size ideally).
They're about $300 in the US). See screen captures at 50% of three programs,
here on a 24" - http://www.donferrario.com/ruether/video-editor-screens.htm

Thanks David.
My reply is between the text you wrote (above).

Regards Brian

That's the way I like it - so one can have a "conversation". I hate top-posting,
since it destroys the logical time-order of the posts and prevents "interleaving".
Fortunately, no one here does it...! ;-)
--DR


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