Im back at home from that lovely little shit hole,the middle east.You guys have given me some really great advice.Ive been unwinding for a couple of days and looking to get started on what seems to be a big job of editing.Im really excited but Im completely lost on HOW to get started.I have sony DVD architect and would like to make a DVD.Has anyone used this software before?I have about 15 hours of footage to review and Im assuming I should just breeze through it and make a story board for starters?Maybe someone has a good approach to go by.Once again its great to be home and you have made a big difference with your tips and advice while I was over there.Im sure with out your help I would have had 15 hours of junk to try to work with.I hope to share my advice someday when Im a little seasoned.USA
USA - USA I love home!
- Thread starter airbayforce
- Start date
Welcome back soldier!
I interviewed a friend of mine when he was on his 15 day R&R from Iraq. I shot almost 2 hours of footage and had to cut it down to 5min TOTAL including credits.
What I did was watch everything. It was easy for me since it was only two hours. For you, I'd recommend taking notes for each tape. You'll start to see stories develop after watching things. You have to figure out where you want to go with your footage. What kind of product do you want to produce? Who's the audience?
The first thing that's the easiest is to figure our what you DON'T want. Then start developing a story out of the rest. If certain people talk about the same ting, then you could fpollow that, if a certain thing happens to a bunch of people, use that. If you want to tell the story of how a soldier feels, then take all the footage of emotion and use that... you could probably produce a few story lines out of your footage.
I interviewed a friend of mine when he was on his 15 day R&R from Iraq. I shot almost 2 hours of footage and had to cut it down to 5min TOTAL including credits.
What I did was watch everything. It was easy for me since it was only two hours. For you, I'd recommend taking notes for each tape. You'll start to see stories develop after watching things. You have to figure out where you want to go with your footage. What kind of product do you want to produce? Who's the audience?
The first thing that's the easiest is to figure our what you DON'T want. Then start developing a story out of the rest. If certain people talk about the same ting, then you could fpollow that, if a certain thing happens to a bunch of people, use that. If you want to tell the story of how a soldier feels, then take all the footage of emotion and use that... you could probably produce a few story lines out of your footage.
Welcome home and thank you. 
Create an 'edit decision list' EDL of your footage. Dup it to VHS and then play it with the counter on so you have a time code of sorts for reference. Make notes as to original tape # and counter timecode for the start and finish of each clip you want to use. Then you can use that log to make your capture to the computer for your NLE (non linear edit) faster- it also creates MUCH less wear and tear on your camcorder. I think you can find a sample EDL at www.sonnyboo.com (he's a guru here too).
Create an 'edit decision list' EDL of your footage. Dup it to VHS and then play it with the counter on so you have a time code of sorts for reference. Make notes as to original tape # and counter timecode for the start and finish of each clip you want to use. Then you can use that log to make your capture to the computer for your NLE (non linear edit) faster- it also creates MUCH less wear and tear on your camcorder. I think you can find a sample EDL at www.sonnyboo.com (he's a guru here too).
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