Editing query

[Mike Nomic]

There's supposed to be a phone chat between two girls: I filmed all of one side of it, and then all of the other. Now I've got to try and split takes 1-5 and 6-10, and arrange them as say, 1, 6, 2, 7, 11, 8, 4, 9, 5, 10.

Any tips? I don't know if this process has a name.

I wish I'd known more about editing when I shot it.

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

"Any tips? I don't know if this process has a name."

Yup! It's called editing.

There are several ways you could proceed depending on exactly what you have on each take.  In its simplest form Take 1 is a clip..Take 2 is a clip....Take 3 is a clip   etc. In which case you will have 10 clips in the Video clip bin after loading them into VP.

• Right click Clip 1 and add it to the timeline using Place on Sequence at End
• Right click Clip 6 and add it to the timeline using Place on Sequence at End
• Right click Clip 2 and add it to the timeline using Place on Sequence at End
• Right click Clip 7 and add it to the timeline using Place on Sequence at End
•  Continue like this until all the clips are on the sequence

The timeline will come out something like this...

Etc.

That's the simplest way but a lot depends on exactly how the takes are arranged.

If Takes 1-6 are one clip and Takes 7-10 are another clip Then you will need to proceed in a slightly different way e.g.

• Place the clip for takes 1-6 on VideoTrack1
• Move the red cursor line to end of Take 1 then split the track
• Move the cursor along to the end of Take 2 then split the track
• Continue in this way until all the takes are separated.
• Move them apart if necessary to make gaps. (keep Alt down whilst you do this or they may snap back together again.)
• Place the clip for takes 7 - 10 on Video track2
• Repeat the steps above splitting Video track 2 up
• If you made the gaps in Video track 1 large enough you can simply drag the upper clips down into them  and join them up in the right order on Video track 1. This will produce a timeline similar to the image above
• You could also leave them on Video track 2 arranged over the gaps you created. They are overlays in this position and will play over any clip beneath them. You could then adjust any gaps so they just overlap... The timeline will then look a little like this...

Etc.

Such a lot depends on how you have the takes and clips arranged. The possibilities are wide. If each side of the conversation is a complete clip with pauses consistent with the replies you could use picture in picture  or split screen or a smaller insert for the clip of the person replying etc. Etc.

The above are the simplest. Try them and see what you get.

Good luck

Nat

 

[Mike Nomic]

Many thanks for that.

It's currently all the takes on one clip, with no pauses to speak of.

It runs like this ...

Take 1 - 0.00.00>0.22.25 Scrap

Take 2 - 0.22.25>0.35.25 Voice 1

Take 3 - 0.35.25>0.40.00 Voice 1

Take 4 - 0.40.00>1.14.50 Scrap

Take 5 - 1.14.50>1.21.00 Voice 2

Take 6 - 1.21.00>1.26.50 Voice 2

Take 7 - 1.26.50>2.06.00 Voice 2

Take 8 - 2.06.00>2.08.50 Scrap

Take 9 - 2.08.50>2.20.25 Use

Take 10 - 2.20.25>2.21.50 Scrap

Take 11 - 2.21.50>2.55.50 Use

etc, etc

What's wanted is ...

Take 5 - 1.14.50>1.21.00 Voice 2

Take 2 - 0.22.25>0.35.25 Voice 1

Take 6 - 1.21.00>1.26.50 Voice 2

Take 3 - 0.35.25>0.40.00 Voice 1

Take 7 - 1.26.50>2.06.00 Voice 2

Take 9 - 2.08.50>2.20.25 Use

Take 11 - 2.21.50>2.55.50 Use

etc, etc

I f you need any more info to understand it, feel free to ask.

Many thanks.

Mike.

 

[Nationalsolo]

Hi Mike

OK. Simplest approach......

• Place the whole clip on Video Track 1
• Play through it and split the timeline between each take. i.e. Place the red cursor line between Take1 and Take 2 and click the scissor icon. Repeat for the all the other Takes. (The split points will occur somewhere close to the timings you mention in your post

I have set up an example which shows you a timeline something similar to what you will obtain but all my "Takes" are the same length for simplicity. I have coloured them as follows following your list order....Scraps are yellow; Voice 1 are Red; Voice 2 are Cyan and USE are Green.

Having now split them up, the next step is to delete the Scrap Takes (Yellow in my example)  Don't bother to close the gaps.....

Now you are left with the usable Takes but they are out of order. So....

• Grab Take 5 and drag it up to Video Track2 and move it to the left end of the track. (the start)
• Grab Take 2 and drag and drop it so it follows Take 5
• Grab Take 6 and drag it up so that it follows Take 2
• Grab Take 3 and drag it up so it follows Take 6......Etc,

e.g. Position after Take is added..

Continue in this way until Track 2 contains all the Takes in the correct order...

You could now group them and pull them back to Video Track1 if you wish.

You may need to trim the clips a little;it depends on what you see and hear when you play the timeline. There are other ways of of getting what you want but this is the simplest. It might be cleaned up more e.g. with very short transitions...e.g. wipes or slides to give the impression that the voices are really in different locations etc.

Hope this helps

Nat