Editing FAQ's
Tips For Shooting And Editing Video
Make a plan for your video
Ideally, you should plan your video out before you start shooting. Think about how the final project will look and sound (perhaps use a television commercial or movie as an inspiration) and then plan the shots that you'll need on that basis. Here is a Storyboard Sheet to help you out.
The more that you can tell us about your project and how you want it to look, the better. Perhaps use a logbook to write out a list of the shots that you'll use in the order that they will be seen. If you're going to use graphics, titles, transitions, narration, voice-overs, pictures, sound files, music, special effects, or anything else that's not in the video that you recorded, we'll need to know that at the beginning of your project. We can then help you budget your time wisely and allow you incorporate all of these things in your work. Some of these extra elements are easy and quick, others take more time (and you will be doing the work, with our assistance).
Talk to us early in the process and please ask questions. We can help you realize just about anything that you can imagine given enough time.
TIME ESTIMATE: As a rule of thumb you should budget 1 hour of editing time per 1 minute of finished video. So with a well thought-out plan, you can create a 2-minute video in about 2 hours.
Before you start to shoot
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Equipment- It is recommended that you use video equipment from the MSB Media Services check-out. They have Mini-DV cameras available which are compatible with the equipment used in our lab. However, while we can't guarantee it, we can usually accommodate most modern video cameras if you'd prefer to use your own.
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Format- The Media Lab's editing decks can only accept Mini-DV and VHS or S-VHS tapes. If you use your own video camera for your project and it uses a format incompatible with ours you will need to bring your camera and its accessories (power supply, cables, etc.) with you to your edit session.
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Final- Remember to bring a flash drive (~250mb) or a blank CD or DVD to the editing session so we can record your finished video to it. A 10 minute video encoded as a full-screen Windows Media file will be about 120mb so plan accordingly. Typically your iMovie or Final Cut project files will be too large to put on anything other than an external hard drive, so if you want to take all of your source footage and project files with you as well as the finished video, bring along an external USB or Firewire drive with around 50gb of free space. A large iPod can serve this purpose if you've got a lot of free space on it.
Test a recording before your video shoot
You can save yourself a lot of headaches by doing a test shoot. Record 30 seconds of footage from the camera, rewind, and play the tape back to make sure that it is recording properly and you are getting good video and sound. This technique is especially important when using a Media Services checkout camera as the person who had the camera before you might have employed settings (such as widescreen, black and white, etc.) that you would find undesirable. During the shoot, let the camera start recording at least 10 seconds before your actors speak or move, and let it record 5 seconds after the action is over. This will help during editing.
Narration and voice-overs
You can record narration and voiceovers in the Media Lab when you are editing your footage. We recommend that you set aside extra time to do this, and that you have a script prepared beforehand.
About our computer editing stations
The Media Lab is equipped with 10 Mac and 4 PC computer-based editing stations. Computer based means that your video and audio material is digitized on the computer's hard drive with a software program which allows you to construct your video complete with titles, music and graphics. We will store your video project on our hard drives for the duration of your editing process and for two weeks after your project is completed. After your video is completed you have the choice of recording it to a DVD or encoding it to a computer video file.
Ask us for more information
Please approach one of the lab proctors with questions or if you would like to reserve our facilities (for reservations email medialab@mccombs.utexas.edu). You don't have to make a reservation (you can just check in and sit down at an empty workstation), but during the end-of-semester project period a reservation is a necessity that ensures that you'll have use of the resources you want and that we'll be available to help you.
