Editing A Feature

[moonshieldmedia]

Well I've done it! It wasn't easy, but I successfully shot my first feature film....

Now I've got a ton of footage and sound files backed up on 2 hard drives, so what's the best way to proceed from here?

I'm too broke to hire anyone to help in post at the moment, so I'll be editing (the first cut at least) myself. I'll be using FCP7.

All of the footage is already in Prores format, what's a good workflow? How do I get organized? Easiest way to sync sound? What exactly is "logging?"

I've edited plenty of 2-4 minute videos, but with a project this big I want to do it right from the start. Any info or experience you have will be helpful.

 

[harmonica44]

Okay I spend way too much time on the shot then. Like making four cuts of the same shot, just have the cuts, begin and end on different frames to compare. I guess I just need to make one cut and be done with it, then tighten after.

 

[Sweetie]

I don't know how it is with visual editors, but audio post can sometimes be extremely time consuming.

It's different for visual editors, especially when you're talking about a rough cut.

The visual editing takes as much time as you're allocated. There are always improvements you can do. Shave a frame or two here and there, trying a different cut, trying a different insert, altering the sequence order and so on.

When you get it as an audio guy, the film you're working on should be locked, so you're essentially polishing the audio to match and carry the video. A rough cut for you would be something like, "Fix the obvious crap in (3-4 times the length of what you have), so we can get the client to take a look at it before you finish it"

For me, it can also depend on the quality of the work and how organized it is. For instance, I'm still working on a mess of an edit. It took a couple days to organize and simply think of the best way to tackle a corporate video directed by an actor (I think it was his first time), written by a computer programmer. An interesting experience, but painful. The people are great, they're just weren't aware of the consequences of their decisions during filming. It just takes a lot longer to work out edits that work where the footage is a mess as opposed to editing work that has proper coverage.