A guide to SIMPLE video-editing.
... By Ray Bradley
Video editing equipment and Computer programmes to control video recorders for programmed editing are advertised widely.
They all require lots of study and practice and are capable of producing excellent results.
However, for most Home Camcorder users the requirement is normally to assemble a copy tape which carries only the selected shots, perhaps from a number of tapes.
Sound dubbing with commentary and music and the addition of titles are the normal extra requirements.
It is not generally realised that anyone who has access to a camcorder and a normal domestic recorder can perform a satisfactory edit by following a simple routine - based upon the facility built into any machine to transfer from the normal
PAUSE/PLAYBACK to PAUSE/RECORD.
The technique is simple.
1. Find the START point of your material from the Camcorder and hold it in PAUSE.
2. On the Recorder - find the point at which you want to join the new material and press PAUSE.
3. Then whilst recorder is in PAUSE mode, Press RECORD on the record machine. (At this point the source video will be seen on the monitor)
4. Release the PAUSE on both machines - normally simply by pushing the two PAUSE buttons simultaneously, though in some cases the Camcorder pause may be cancelled by pushing the PLAY button instead of merely re-pushing pause.
5. Record slightly more than is required then stop both machines repeating subsequent edits from 1.
With the addition of a simple audio-mixer, and lots of practice, it is obviously possible to add music and commentary to the audio from the existing tape as you go.
With practice a quick assembly can be built up containing all the required material in your selected order.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Though this procedure is simple, it does not provide for the slight delay between putting a machine into record and the start of the actual recording. On most machines this delay is about 2 seconds and will cause an apparent chop at the start of each sequence. Where accuracy is required, this can be avoided by finding the start point (IN POINT) on the camcorder and taking it back to pause at 2 seconds before the required point. Many Camcorders have time display in the viewfinder and are therefore it is simple to find the minus 2 seconds point.(The 2 seconds delay enables the recording vtr to lock to the incoming video, thereby avoiding the objectionable picture disturbance on edits,)
More sophisticated facilities are available in some cases.
Some machines provide for Audio-Dubbing which provides for the replacement of the existing audio track by a new track. Most machines completely erase the existing track though some early VCR's did provide for only partial erasure of the original which gave an acceptable mix when a commentary or music was added.
Stereo Recorders with Audio Dub give the best facility. When used with an audio mixer the machine can play back the recorded sound from the HI-FI tracks into the mixer where it is mixed with Commentary and Music to provide a new sound out which is dubbed on to the Standard (longitudinal) track of the machine. Monitoring is difficult in this condition as the VTR obviously has to be set to replay the HI-FI tracks. Some audio mixers do provide for headphone monitoring of their output., most do not, so it is necessary to feed the headphones from an amplifier strapped across the output of the mixer (-- which is the input to the vtr.)
Next step up is vtr with INSERT Video facility. This enables sections of Video to be replaced without damaging the STANDARD track. However, since the HI-FI track is recorded with the Video Signal then this track is re-recorded.
Insert Video also allows for Captions to be inserted later and it is recommended that Master recordings therefore start with three minutes of unwanted material, preferably black, over which a title sequence can be subsequently recorded.
My preferred build up technique therefore is, using a HI-FI Stereo VHS recorder:
a) Assemble edit all the video with its sound.
b) Audio Dub the Standard track with Commentary and effects added.
c) Insert Video cutaways and Captions as required.
d) Put a prominent note on the Master tape. "If this tape is played back on a HI-FI video machine then select the STANDARD track for replay. The HI-FI track will not include commentary and music and will have objectionable sound edits where the picture has been replaced ".