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Good Editing Tips Please!

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fr33sk13r
Posts: 27 - Karma: 244
Hey so I am new to editing. I know how to do the basics (slowmo, black and white, etc) I use imovie... is there any other cool editing things with imovie that would make my edits cooler?
Oct 26 2012 5:38PM
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ThundaKilla
Posts: 2859 - Karma: 3,781
Go browse around the Media and Arts forum, they have tons of helpful stuff.
Oct 26 2012 5:40PM
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parkpanda
Posts: 17 - Karma: 11
Ehrm dont overedit, dont use songs that are way overplayed. yeaahhh thats all i got.
Oct 26 2012 5:41PM
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ColinB
Posts: 1452 - Karma: 2,236
focus more on the filming. good editing can look horrible if it isn't filmed well
Oct 26 2012 5:56PM
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450out.
Posts: 596 - Karma: 517
This. I'd rather see a well filmed edit, with small tricks, than a shaky, grainy ol' piece of shit with awesome skiing.
Oct 27 2012 5:01AM
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buttrapinpirate
Posts: 497 - Karma: 225
To start, don't use overplayed songs with your slomo shots (Awolnation's song Sail isn't original), and don't try to use all those cheesy transitions like the wavy mix, or the flipped video cube shit. Also don't use the iMovie metal mesh backgrounds for your titles. Can't stress enough that the shots have to be good to begin with, you can't use shaky footage, stuff that's way off in the distance, filler footage, or footage that you know straight up just looks lame to begin with (like you "hucking it off that fifty foot booter" that unfortunately looks about as lame as you trying to jump the step up to a knee high rail, even though it felt huge at the time). Also don't use 30fps footage for your slomos so it's like frame by frame nastiness. And lastly don't do all that work only to have your movie exported to youtube in 360p. Most people don't have dial up anymore.

Sparknotes: Open Chrome>thepiratebay.se>finalcutpro>getconfused
Oct 29 2012 3:58AM
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buttrapinpirate
Posts: 497 - Karma: 225
To start, don't use overplayed songs with your slomo shots (Awolnation's song Sail isn't original), and don't try to use all those cheesy transitions like the wavy mix, or the flipped video cube shit. Also don't use the iMovie metal mesh backgrounds for your titles. Can't stress enough that the shots have to be good to begin with, you can't use shaky footage, stuff that's way off in the distance, filler footage, or footage that you know straight up just looks lame to begin with (like you "hucking it off that fifty foot booter" that unfortunately looks about as lame as you trying to jump the step up to a knee high rail, even though it felt huge at the time). Also don't use 30fps footage for your slomos so it's like frame by frame nastiness. And lastly don't do all that work only to have your movie exported to youtube in 360p. Most people don't have dial up anymore.

Sparknotes: Open Chrome>thepiratebay.se>finalcutpro>getconfused
Oct 29 2012 3:59AM
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Tikayt
Posts: 1031 - Karma: 1,543
I study cinema and editing is the moment of you project where you can either make the movie of the year or screw it.. for skiing, i'll advice you to stay sober (if the shoots enables it).
Oct 29 2012 4:14AM
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Linked
Posts: 325 - Karma: 216
When your filming focus on stable shots and your framing, then pick a song that suits the edit (song choice is the hardest and most important part for me) when you edit stay away from crap slow motion/ twixtor, don't be afraid to not use a lot of your shots, only use the best, basic colour correction can go a long way, final have clean cuts, and titles nothing cheesy, on mobile hopefully it makes sense
Oct 29 2012 5:48AM
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alexg1687
Posts: 1505 - Karma: 1,581
Get a copy of final cut pro. It's made by Apple so it looks kind of similar to Imovie but it's a lot better. Don't colour balance until you have all your shots in place. If you want to edit to the beat then you get a really good feel to the edit. Eg. Change shots on a major beat (4/4 for house music). That means you'll be starting with a song on the timeline and you'll be listening to it a LOT so make sure it isn't a song you'll get sick of quickly. This was my pretty shitty attempt from Japan earlier this year but it might give you the idea of what I'm talking about:


Oct 29 2012 7:05AM
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buttrapinpirate
Posts: 497 - Karma: 225
Hey! That was a pretty good edit actually! I actually liked it a lot. What definitely sets that apart is filming. You have really good shots that are nice and stable and easy to watch so don't be so harsh on yourself because it's better than any of my edits to date haha
Oct 29 2012 9:53AM
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RagingBuffalo
Posts: 143 - Karma: 151
Just going off of my early mess ups
-Don't overedit
-Don't use a lot of transitions, and if you do, make them non cheesy
-Color correct
-No filters
-Use that B-roll, it makes the video a lot better
Nov 1 2012 3:33PM
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Skibumsmith
Posts: 5432 - Karma: 11,823
the very first step is to pick your song and put it into the timeline. you have to edit around the song or it's shit.
Nov 1 2012 3:45PM
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fr33sk13r
Posts: 27 - Karma: 244
Thanks for all of your input!
Jul 11 2013 6:42PM
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Wolfgang.
Posts: 807 - Karma: 866
Also, make it on point with the song. Thats make it or break for me.
Jul 11 2013 11:07PM
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jibbpeter
Posts: 1613 - Karma: 4,083
Watch a ton of the edits that's in the "Top Rated" section, and try to pick up how the pace is holding up with the song, where they use slowmo/fastmo, fillers and so on...
The important ting is knowing what you want to make, and having a song in mind before you start the editing to kind of visualize wich direction you want it to go.
Just watch a lot of edits and try to pay attention to all the tecnical stuff. If your a beginner, you can allways watch some action editing tutorials, or websites that post triks and tips.

PS if u dont have a clue where to look for sites like that, and dont find anyting usefull at google, just PM me and ill link u up with some really usefull sites :)


Jul 11 2013 11:19PM
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YungTabitha
Posts: 239 - Karma: 1,646
Visualizing how the edits gonna unfold and how the song will play along with it helps you figure out how you want to take your shots and what features you want to film.
Jul 11 2013 11:54PM
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Gooskin
Posts: 138 - Karma: 1,633
I think you should wait until the perfect song comes along, maybe spend a few hours browsing sites like bandcamp.com or soundcloud.com to find edit-type music that would fit you, if you don't want to have to go buy a song off iTunes. The song makes or breaks the edit (usually). Then envision your edit. Also, try to balance the action/filler shots, because you don't want it to be too choppy with no transition shots, but you don't want there to be too many fillers with a little bit of action. Also, you don't have to keep your cuts in line with the song. Used appropriately it can look really good, but it gets a little predictable if you use it too much.
Jul 12 2013 12:15AM
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-WZ-
Posts: 3600 - Karma: 6,582
my tip: get After Effects
Jul 12 2013 4:09AM
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-WZ-
Posts: 3600 - Karma: 6,582
that song actually made me cry i hate it so much but everything else was sick
Jul 12 2013 4:11AM
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