Introduction
In this lesson, we were practising video editing in Adobe Premiere Pro.
Video editing is the compiling of media into a linear format. This is done using software like Premiere Pro and After Effects. Examples of video editing include TV shows, FIlms, Youtube videos and VFX.
When editing videos, it is important to consider:
- The choice of shot types being used
- The pacing and positioning of the edit
- Different types of cuts and transitions
- Music and sound effects
In this lesson, we focused on cuts and transitions in video editing.
Cuts
Cutting is the technique of trimming the excess footage from the beginning and end of a clip, and placing it into the sequence.
Important cutting techniques include:
- jump cut
- match cut
- cutting on action
- cutting to the beat of music.
Transitions
Transitions are the techniques used to blend two clips together. This is often done with additional effects.
Important transitions to note are:
- fades
- wipes
- slides
- dissolves
- speed ramping
J/L Cuts
A J cut is where the audio of the next shot in the sequence preceds the visual cut from the previous shot.
An L cut is where the audio from one shot is carried over to the next shot in the sequence.
J and L cuts are used very often in conversations, to show each character’s reaction to the other’s words. These can be very subtle.
A more obvious example is this scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey where Dave turns off HAL the computer:
Editing Cuts into Video
In this part of the lesson I was tasked with cutting a movie trailer in time with the cuts from a scene in Hot Fuzz.
Here is the scene:
You can clearly see the pacing – a lot of fast cuts in quick sucession followed by slower shots that fade in and out. I put this video into Premiere Pro and marked where each of the cuts were in the timeline. This would allow me to emulate the cuts of this scene using the shots in the movie trailer that I chose, which was the trailer for Dune (2021).
Here is the trailer for Dune:
This screenshot shows my Premiere Pro project file- you can see where i marked the cuts in the hot fuzz scene above the timeline. The right side shows the hot fuzz scene, and the left side shows the trailer I am editing. For each shot, I made cuts where the markers were, and removed the excess footage between each shot before putting them in sequence.
And here is my final edit:
Overall, I think that the editing style worked in some parts of the trailer – but not in other parts where there was dialogue, or a black screen or establishing shots , all of which were supposed to go on for several seconds. The style of editing works quite well in the beginning shots with Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya. I excluded the audio, as it was completely cut up and unusable.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I was able to practise using Premiere Pro in this lesson – a program that I haven’t used much before. I also learned about some cutting techniques and applied them to footage.