Sliding into Video Editing

Water shoots out at a sprinkler park in the center of Downtown Silver Spring.

The generosity of a Boston University professor and a class soundslides critique marked my day, but we spent the majority of our time learning to edit and tackling our projects.

Professor Olmsted appropriately began with a speech about not fearing new technology. From there we went right to a class on Final Cut Pro basics led by Rob Roberts. He stressed organization and saving as we followed his lead in a simultaneous practice edit.

We then returned to the theater to critique our soundslides. This forum, led by Professor Hatch, proved very useful in our later video editing — what we learned about matching video to audio and blending natural sound with interview tracks translated easily across platforms.

This later video editing would of course not have been possible without the kindness of Eric Bullock of Boston University’s Center for Digital Imaging Arts. After witnessing Tauren and I leave our camera on the Metro, he returned the equipment to our media production center. A huge thank you to Mr. Bullock. I know my luck won’t be as good for a long time.

Shy children created a missed opportunity for colorful audio.

A lack of close-up shots became apparent immediately as Tauren and I logged our tape. The close-ups we did capture were a little shaky because we didn’t have a tripod, and we had to resort to zoom often to avoid splashing on the equipment.

But biggest challenge we encountered in our first phase of editing was our lack of meaningful, clear audio from children.

While we attempted to interview several kids at the pool, we did not find a child who was receptive to the camera. We knew that a kid-oriented story would suffer without this voice. But we didn’t have an option, and we moved on.

Both of these obstacles were a little daunting as we began to edit, especially after a morning of editing lecture. But if there’s anything I’ve learned from today, it’s that you learn from your mistakes, and sometimes it just takes a little luck to set things right.

My stories won’t always be in sprinkler parks. The kids I interview won’t always stare blankly into the camera. And just like I (hopefully) won’t leave my camera on the Red Line again, I’ll learn to shoot and interview better.

Advertisement