Editing Tips from Sonnyboo

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Basic Editing Advice

by Peter John Ross

You got to be organized when shooting a movie or video production. Pros understand the value of shot sheets, storyboards and other planning techniques. However, you aren't shooting digital beta or logging around 35mm film gear - you are shooting with light and "consumerish" DV gear.

However, just because it's DV doesn't mean you shouldn't log your shots during
principal photography.

Logging details about the takes, the camera angles and all the basic info can make your edit session more economical and timely. If you know there are only 2 good takes on an entire DV tape & you know from a log sheet where on the tape the good takes begin & end, you can just type that into the BATCH CAPTURE mode of most non-linear editing systems.

Then you can be creative with the footage at hand, and not waste time looking for the good shots, or filling up valuable hard drive real estate with gigabytes of in between and not so good takes.

For myself, I edit the whole piece together, not necessarily in sequential order, but from the most obvious scenes and takes and then assemble together a rough cut. From the rough cut, I then chisel away at the unnecessary lines or even whole scenes to get to the final edit.

About award winning filmmaker Peter John Ross & Sonnyboo Productions – Founded in 1999, Sonnyboo short films have played on 3 continents and at over 50 film festivals world wide. Projects directed by Peter John Ross have appeared on Tech TV, National Lampoon Networks, Movieola the short film channel, The “U” Network, and Vegas Indies TV. Sonnyboo films have been noted in such publications as RES Magazine, Ain’t It Cool News, Camcorder & Computer Video magazine, Film & Video Magazine, LA Weekly, Film Threat, the Village Voice, & Internet Video Magazine.

Now Available, a 244 page book by Peter John Ross, called TALES FROM THE FRONT LINE OF INDIE FILMMAKING. It features cautionary tales and tips for the Camcorder Kubricks and Backyard Spielbergs. CLICK HERE to purchase - only $14.99 (or CLICK HERE for a 9 page sample in Adobe Acrobat format)

The Sonnyboo DVD with over 20 short films is on sale now for only $7.99 plus shipping & handling. CLICK HERE TO ORDER NOW