Module 58

Updated: 04/05/2010

Video Editing,

Part IX

On-Line

and Off-Line

Editing

The basic goal of off-line editing is to create a list of edit decisions.

Before digital and tapeless camcorders, this involved using a copy of the original videotape footage.  This was important in protecting the original videotape from damage during the often arduous process of making edit decisions.

Off-line editing involves reviewing footage and compiling a list of time-code numbers that specify the "in" and "out" points of each needed scene.

In this phase a rough cut (an initial rough version without visual effects, color corrections, etc.) is assembled.  This version can be shown to a director, producer, or sponsor for approval. Typically, at this point a number of changes will be made.

In on-line editing (at least in the traditional sense of the phrase) you are using original footage to create the final edited version of a program, complete with audio and video effects, color correction, etc.

Since this process can be rather expensive if full-time engineers and costly, high-quality on-line equipment are involved, an off-line phase will reduce editing expenses and allow time for greater experimentation.

An important part of the creative process is trying out many possibilities with video, music, and effects. Hours can be spent on just a few minutes, or even a few seconds, of a production.

When time is limited, such as in preparing a news segment for broadcast, you generally can't afford the luxury of an off-line phase.

A laptop computer equipped with one of the many available editing programs can control an on-line edit for a ▲news package.

Digital Editing With a Video Server

Once video editing becomes totally digital with equipment that can handle video with minimal compression, there will be no need for the traditional on-line and off-line editing phases  -- ▲ it can all be done on-line.

Digital recordings can be made in the studio or on location and uploaded (transferred) directly to an editing computer or video server for editing. Once this transfer is made, there will be no danger of tape damage in editors, no matter how many times the footage is previewed. (Digital information stored on a computer disk does not gradually degrade with repeated access the way it does when it's recorded on videotape.)

When a video server is used, the original footage can be viewed and edited by anyone with a computer link to the server.

This is generally someone within the production facility; but, thanks to high-speed Internet connections, it could even be someone in another city-or even in another country. In the case of animation and visual effects, which are labor intensive, projects are often electronically transferred to countries where labor is less expensive.

The two main approaches used in newsrooms in editing server-based footage are covered here.

The latest non-linear editors have many features that both speed up and improve video and audio editing. We'll just give two examples.

Some editors can "read" or understand the spoken dialogue in video footage and match it up with a written script or with words you type in.  If you happen to have hours of video footage and are looking for the point where someone said, "Eureka, I found it,"  the editing system can search through the footage the cue up the part of the video where that phrase is spoken.

Another useful feature that is briefly touched on elsewhere is image stabilization.  Let's assume you have some shaky footage  -- possibly involving a moving vehicle. 

The first thing you do is freeze the beginning of the footage on the screen.  Then you find a clearly defined object near the center of the scene and draw a box around it, as shown on the left. (Note motorcycle headlight.)  This becomes an anchor point reference.

Then you crop the whole image slightly to give the process "working room." 

Once you roll the footage the editor holds the selected area still, eliminating the shake and movement in the original scene.

Creating a Paper-and-Pencil Edit

Regardless of what approach you take in editing, previewing footage and making a paper-and-pencil edit can save considerable time.

For one thing, you may not really know what you have -- what to look for and what to reject -- until you have a chance to review all of your footage.

By jotting down your tentative in and out time codes, you will also be able to add up the time of the segments and get an idea of how long your production will be.

At that point, and assuming you have to make the project a certain length, you will know if you need to add or subtract segments. Having to go back and shorten or lengthen a carefully crafted project is not most people's idea of fun!

A form for a paper-and-pencil EDL (edit decision list), such as the abbreviated one shown below, will give you an idea of how this data is listed.

There are also computer programs designed for logging time-codes and creating EDLs. By using a mouse, the indicated scenes can be moved around on the screen and assembled in any desired sequence. The programs can keep track of time-codes and provide total times at any point.

There are EDL programs and time-code calculators available as software for PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), such as the Palm Pilot shown on the left. If they are not available for the iPhone and iPad yet, it's probably just a matter of time.

If you are preparing a news script on a computer, the time codes and scene descriptions can be typed in while you view the scenes on a monitor. When you finish logging all of the scenes, you can split the computer screen horizontally, putting the time code and scene listings on the top, and your word-processing program for writing your script on the bottom.

By using a small camcorder and a laptop computer producers have been able to create an entire EDL while flying from the East to the West Coasts of the United States.

Once the EDL is created, it can be uploaded from a computer disk directly into a file server or editor for final editing.

A savvy editor can take the same script, footage and on-camera performances and subtly or even dramatically change the meaning of a video piece. So, in a sense, editing has the potential of being the most creative phase of the production process.

The writer learned a major lesson about this (and about humility) early in his television career.

This brings us to the end of the modules on editing.  With the move to tapeless production well underway, this is an area that will see major changes in the next few years.

At this point in this cybercourse you should be able to write a production proposal, do a decent job on a script, plan out a production, shoot on-location footage, and assemble what you shoot into a logical and coherent "package."  

In the next module we'll move into the TV studio where the production process takes on a number of new dimensions.