Dear Friends

As I am still in the process of learning video editing, I have collected some notes on the subject. As I'm just starting to delve into post-production, the following is just a collection of recommendations from books, videos and podcasts. I have collected them here in the hope that they will help you. Please let me know if I have included any nonsense or misunderstood anything. Let me know in the comments. Thanks for your help!

“Filmmaking (story telling) is the art of withholding information” …

… imagine a joke that begins with the punch line … yep not working …

The person who mentioned the above quote said that you should create a question in the viewer's mind by withholding the right information, because they will then want to see more. 

I learned from a pre-production preparation video that “surprising your audience is key to keeping their interest”.

How to keep surprising the audience:

  • In the script, withhold any information that the audience does not need at the moment. Put the information in order. When do I need to reveal something? When is the last possible moment to introduce a person, a piece of information, a change in the plot? Work through your script. See where the revelations are, where the surprises are.
  • There needs to be a big key moment at the beginning of the video that grabs the audience and makes them want to know more.
  • Make sure you have a protagonist that the audience wants to root for.
  • You want the audience to be emotionally invested. If you as a filmmaker do not feel a connection, you will not be able to tell the story very well, and the audience will not be able to feel a connection with the protagonist either.
  • If you have the choice of revealing information by showing it, do it. It is better to show a prop, someone doing something, than someone talking about it.
  • Use sound to introduce something. (Use an J-cut) The audience hears it (whatever it may be) first and then sees it.
  • Use silence to enhance a moment.
  • Use camera movement to reveal persons, props, details or important information. The camera moves to reveal something, then moves again to reveal something else. That's where the magic happens.
  • Plan hard mood cuts before you shoot. A hard mood cut is (for example) from a very loud scene to a very quiet scene. Hard mood cuts keep the audience interested. But avoid a hard cut until you need it for a surprise. Use them sparingly, but when you do use them, the audience will wonder: How did that happen?
  • If you film an interview or a scene with actors, use two or more cameras at the same time. It will help to get different shot sizes at the same time. It will help the protagonists not to burn out. You will need the different shot sizes for the invisible edit in post-production.
  • Plan to have film props or details and use them to reveal the things that are not being said, but are important.
  • Use camera movement sparingly. When you watch blockbusters: The scenes that make a blockbuster a blockbuster are limited to very few. Those few blockbuster camera moves (on a crane or dolly, etc.) are shot with a wide lens.

Surprise your audience over and over again. The constant surprise will make it more interesting for the audience. It will create interest. 

Don't bore your audience - keep it fun to watch:

  • Cut the fluff... come late, leave early - skip the unnecessary introductions, don't introduce pointless details and information that doesn't help the story. Leave a scene at the earliest possible moment. This will help you keep the audience focused on what is important.
  • Is the shot essential to the story? If not, cut it.
  • Show, not tell. Let your audience see and experience for themselves. They're not stupid and you don't have to explain everything in words. Explain only when necessary, it is always better to show your audience with action.
  • Use insert B-Roll shots to show information and detail.
  • Just because you have a beautiful clip does not mean that it must be included in the final cut. Beauty is not the criterion that decides which clip stays or goes.
  • Do not use "news broadcast video editing" (wide, medium, close) to tell your story. This is exactly the wrong order. You are editing a story, not a news broadcast. Start with a close and then widen up. → keep surprising your audience in revealing information or detail, persons one after the other.

Capturing action:

Capturing action is not a foolproof way to entertain your audience, but it can help:

  • When filming action, use more than one camera so you can easily change the angle of the action in post-production. Use the second (and third) camera to shoot B-roll for inserts. (remember the 30-degree and 180-degree rules)
  • For action scenes or short films, the average length of a clip should be 4-6 seconds in the final cut (you will want to film it longer).
  • Research has shown that this (4-6 seconds) is the best length to hold the audience's attention.
  • More than 6 seconds can make the audience feel bored.
    Exception: The shot is meant to induce calm or tension.
  • Less than 4 seconds will leave your audience feeling anxious at best, and lost and confused at worst.
  • Think of a cut like a blink of an eye. Every time you blink you miss something. If you film action, add 3-4 frames in addition to your normal cut, just to make sure the audience will not miss the action.
  • But don't let the seconds dictate your editing, it should follow the rhythm of the story and the length of the clip should always add to the story.
  • Do not cut all the clips to the same length, it will look boring. If you change the rhythm, it will be more interesting and feel more important.

Note: Once you have started to surprise your audience, keep doing it. After being surprised 2-3 times, they will be looking forward to being surprised again. Do not disappoint them by revealing things too soon.

Take a break – see (editing) mistakes

Take regular breaks. Go out in the garden, on the balcony, have a cup of tea or coffee and two glasses of water. Relax, don't think about the edit or the problem with the last cut. Occupy your mind with something wonderful. Listen to classical music for a while. Do whatever relaxes you.

Seeing your own (editing) mistakes is difficult:
The mind is very powerful, it will let you bypass your mistakes. It is because if the mind sees a mistake over and over again, it will automatically bypass it. It renders you unable to see your own mistakes.

What might help so your mind is capable of seeing your mistakes: Make the whole video black and white. Remove all color. Look at your edit in reverse, play it backwards. Make sure you see it from a new perspective. Quickly export it and watch it in a different viewer, on a different device, imagining that your best friend or your harshest critic is sitting next to you watching it. Make sure your imagination is so strong that it makes you nervous to watch your work. This will help you notice your video editing mistakes more easily. Or simply invite someone you trust to watch it with you.

Do you know the feeling when you think your home looks decent and then you get a phone call and someone announces that they are just 5 minutes away from where you are and they would love to visit? Your home suddenly seems in dire need of cleaning and making it presentable. Use this phenomenon to your advantage.

On getting inspiration, what was missing and what footage would work:

For your mind to work in helping you find the right footage, you need to invest time and patience to review ALL your footage. Several times. You mind is great at solving problems, like finding the much needed clip. But if your mind has not seen all the clips available to you, it cannot suggest the right one. 

Learn from professionals:

I have seen several interviews with "trailer editors". I did not know it was a thing. But apparently there is. 

What trailer editors do is they are given a part of the film (the filming is still going on at the time) and they make a preview of the final film before the final film is made! They all said the same thing. They watched every scene, every clip, they wrote down every sentence, they analysed where the eyes went in the frames, they analysed how the light and colors were used. They spent a lot of time just analysing the footage they were given. Until they had an idea of how to tell the story in a 30 seconds short trailer.

I watched pre-production discussions and saw two storytelling experts mentoring a film director on how to improve his “camera blocking” and how to surprise and entertain the audience. I was amazed at how much knowledge and craftsmanship went into "blocking the camera" and how much time was spent planning every detail, every position of the protagonists, where the light comes from, where the invisible 180-degree line is, which shot size will be the most useful, every camera position and/or movement... everything in order to tell the story well and captivate the audience with it. (Many of my notes come from these videos and the books I own)

The interviews with the short-editors and the preparation videos made me think about how idle I was in planning my videos. 

So here I am, concluding my notes that I have a LOT more to learn to be better prepared for my next video.

I hope this note has been of some help to you.

Wishing you all the best

Simone

The tumbnail picture is called: “The fine behaviour” and the book is about how to behave in society and how to keep your guests entertained. Tubnail only shows part of the whole picture.

#filmmaking#storytelling#videoediting