Introduction to Editing (Avid)

As we have been filming different footage it was time to get introduced to editing and how editing program(Avid) works and what are the basic steps to get started with editing.

When opening avid you will get these two screens pop up on both of your monitors.

Firstly you will want to start a new project and import your video and audio files.

To choose a folder were your files will be saved. Click on to little box on the top and then a small box will pop up where you can find your files

To start a new project click ‘New Project’

After clicking new project this box will pop up, where you can choose the name and format for your project

To create a new bin click ‘New Bin’

First screen – your footage unedited

And also you need a bin for audio

Create a bin named Video. Where you will be able to drag all your video footage in

Create bin called ‘Edit’ where you can keep your already edited work

Second screen - Edited footage

Video footage - Green

This is your Timeline

Blue line shows where on the timeline you are

Audio footage – Light blue

To create different transactions and special effects for your edit you have to choose the Pink rectangle which brings up various options of different transactions and effects.

To change format of your edit you can go on the box called ‘Format’ where you will get a chance to change the format of your edit

To help you go through your video footage faster you can click the four squares at the bottom and it will bring out the thumbnails of all the video footages so you can find the one you need a lot quicker

Shortcuts

In editing program(avid) there have been designed shorcuts that will help you get done with editing a lot quicker. Each shortcut action has a different letter on keyboard.

However remembering them all in the head might by quite hard. So I am going to narrow down the most used and important ones.

K – Pause

L – Play forward(if clicked twice x2 speed)(holding K and L together will make the footage go in slow motion)

J – Play Backwards(if clicked twice x2 speed) )(holding K and J together will make the footage go in slow motion)

I – Starting point

O – Ending point

D – Clear the starting point

F – Clear the ending point

B – Cut the edit between the points into your timeline

Evalitation

I personally feel like that I have understood the basics of editing, however I still find it the editing to be the hardest task for me as it is completely new and It is a lot more complicated as editing can completely change how you see the film.

Also I feel like the editor has to be really creative as editing can even save the bad movies and turn them quite enjoyable. So I feel like editing can actually be one of the most important jobs in pre – production.