19/08/2014

Making videos - part 2

Earlier this month I wrote a post about making videos. Or rather the post was about how I position the camera and film the videos. This part is about what happens next, about the editing. Just like in the previous post, this is just showing my way of doing things.

A horrible truth first: I'm very impatient video watcher myself. I'm guilty of jumping forward in longer videos when I've gotten the idea of the process or the technique is repeated in a larger area. So I guess that's partly the reason my videos are usually quite short. I edit all the gaps away and also shorten the long processes like doodling or drying the project with a heat tool. I usually show the start and then the finished look or then just jump straight to finished step. I'm hoping this way the viewer get the idea what I'm doing but doesn't need to watch the whole process. 

Ok, I've now recorded the video and then moved it to my computer. Next thing what I do, is to make the first edit. For that I use a program my husband bought me as a birthday present, Magix Movie Edit Pro. Before I had this program I did all the editing in the Windows Movie Maker and it kept crashing because of the large video files. 

What I then do in the first edit? Well, first of all I remove the sound, then I speed the video x3 and edit the lightness and colors if I need to. I can also rotate and crop if I need to, but usually nowadays I try to record the video so that it won't need any of that. The program also would allow me to add texts and what not, but I find Movie Maker quicker in those. Or rather I work faster with that.

When I then have the basics covered, I start the edit. I go through the whole video and edit any gaps away. Like if I'm cutting something away from the frame, I edit that out. Or if I go fetch some mists, I edit out the time the layout is just sitting there in the frame. Thinking back, it seems that I've learned how to work when I'm filming as in recent videos there has been a lot less to edit than in the first ones. I guess I've learned to stop filming if I'm rummaging through my stash for something particular or do bits and pieces off the camera so it's easier when I edit.

When the cut is done, I then save the video as MP4 and then open it in Movie Maker. In this program I do the final edit. The first thing is to rotate the frame 180 degrees. Now you want to know why I don't do that in the first program? The answer is simple - my computer can't handle that. I guess there's just too much information so the program or whole machine goes into a tilt if I try to rotate the film right way around.

Then I add the opening frame (yes sir, just a ready action from the options available), the photos of the project and start to write the texts. I've been meaning to do an opening photo to be used in the start of the video, but still haven't got that done so I'm just using the same opening I've always used. Also the structure of my videos is the same: the opening title, then a detail shot of the project, the actual video, then the photo of the project, more detail shots and the end text. 

When I have all the texts done and the video is almost finished, I add the last piece - the music. I guess most of you have noticed that there's a text in my videos stating that the music is by [ówt krì]. But who is this mystical person that allows me to use his art in my videos? Well, the truth is that I'm married to him. All the music you hear in my videos is done by my darling husband and most of the songs are done just for my use. Every time he hasn't got a deadline for another project, he makes me something new. He's a true gem. 

I have a few of songs in my computer and I try to choose the best one for the mood of the layout. Then I look through the whole video, adjust the volume of the music and also add the fade out in the end. The last phase is then just to save the video and upload it to my YouTube channel. I upload most of my videos "unlisted" and then publish them when the project has been revealed.

So there's how I do my editing. Any questions? Please either write them in the comments or mail me! Thank you for visiting today! I hope you find this post useful! 

2 comments:

Ebba said...

You said
“ I edit all the gaps away and also shorten the long processes like doodling or drying the project with a heat tool. I usually show the start and then the finished look or then just jump straight to finished step. I'm hoping this way the viewer get the idea what I'm doing but doesn't need to watch the whole process. “

Your editing process sounds good. You are not making your viewers suffer through “hours” of uncut mixed media tutorial highlights. So there´s no need to fast forward through the boring parts. Believe me we don´t want to listen to barking dogs, slamming doors, stalling lawn mowers, crying kids etc. And a teacher searching her craft tools is pathetic…

Best regards

Pirjo


Riikka Kovasin said...

It seems I'm on the right track, then :D Thank you Pirjo <3

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