VOLUNTUBE VIDEO TRAINING PROGRAMME

1.0 - INTRODUCTION TO VIDEO - FILMING BASICS

In this session we will talk about the basic tools of a videomaker and how to use them for our purposes.

1.1 CAMERA SET-UP

- VIDEO FORMAT

This is the first element that needs to be set before doing any other operation on the camera. We will decide, according to the equipment available to all the volunteers, which is the best HD codec , format (1080p, 1080i, 720p, 720i) and video system (PAL, NTSC) to be used as a standard for Voluntube.

For all those who have never heard of this technical stuff, we will briefly explain what's the meaning behind concepts like High Definition, resolution, the difference between progressive or interlaced shooting, video systems and compression codecs.

We want to choose a unique standard that could be the same for all the volunteers: HD 1920x1080, 25p, High Quality FH. Audio stereo 2CH. and NOT 5.1.

Setting up the format can be done just once at the beginning of the training and then kept the same throughout the whole period of participation to the project.

The choice of the right format is also very important in relation to the initial set-up of the projects in Wondershare Filmora.

- RECORDING MEDIA & FOOTAGE STORAGE

The card onto which the footage is recorded and stored (until editing) must be the first concern of our videomakers as they prepare themselves for a day of shooting, and also the last thing to check before they put their equipment back in place at the end of the day.

We will teach them:

- how to transfer the footage from the card onto the laptop using Sony Play Memories Home software (downloadable here for free:

http://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/www/disoft/int/download/playmemories-home/win/en/index.html) - how to empty/ format the card for a new use

It's important that volunteers always keep in mind the amount of footage they can shoot with one single card. We don't want them to get stuck with full cards in the middle of the day, especially if they are outside their workcamps, with no possibility at all to upload the footage to a laptop, or to an external hard drive.

We will recommend them to empty their cards every day and make a back-up copy of the footage in their laptop and in their external hard drives, so they can start a brand new day with renewed full capacity of shooting and a safe back-up of their previous footage.

- WHITE BALANCE & COLOR TEMPERATURE

White Balance is the parameter of the camera that deals with colors. More specifically, it is the parameter that sets how colors are interpreted by the electronic eye of the camera. A CCD or a CMOS (technical names of sensors which capture video images) don't work exactly as a human eye. Our eyes are very good at judging what is white under different light sources, but digital cameras often have problems when they are set in auto white balance mode, especially when they have to deal with different types of light sources in the same shot. As a result, the footage may have a bluish, greenish or other color casts. Understanding digital white balance will help volunteers avoid these color casts, improving their videos under a wider range of lighting conditions.

In order to better understand what we are talking about, we will show some examples of bad white balance set-ups.

After these examples, we will start explaining what is Color Temperature. We don't want to get too technical on this or other elements. Volunteers must know that Color Temperature is a way of measuring colors according to the light source, and it is a parameter universally measured in Kelvin degrees.

We will show them a detailed chart of different color temperature ranges that belong to specific light sources.

Depending on the brand/model, cameras usually offer a much more limited number of color balance presets, in comparison to the chart above. These presets are available for those who don't want to shoot in AWB mode: indoor, outdoor, and manual. The first two parameters are quite self-explanatory. We will focus on how to set white balance in full manual mode. We talk about white balance because white is the key-color upon which color temperature is set manually in any digital camera. In order to set this parameter correctly, volunteers will have to point the camera to a pure neutral white element whose surface is illuminated by the light of the shot, zoom the frame and then press the button to set the parameter. They can use a piece of paper, a wall, or any other white element that is available on location.

The situation gets more difficult when they have to deal with different light sources in the same shot. In this case, they will have to set the parameter for that part of the image where they think more color accurancy is needed. Alternatively, they can find a way to set the white parameter to an average value that is in the middle between two or more color balance ranges.

Even if some of the volunteers will be mostly shooting in AWB mode, in order to have more image quality, our workshop will suggest to all of them the practice and the use of a manually set white balance value. This because in many situations AWB mode doesn't work correctly or it just can't handle more complicated lighting conditions. For this reason, it's essential that volunteers know which is the right color temperature value they have to set on their cameras according to the filming condition they will be experiencing.

Some of the volunteers might also think that it's "cool" to have such extreme effects like a bluish or any other color cast on the image. We will explain that, if they want to try those effects for their videos, they can be better achieved through color grading in post-production. Shooting with a correct color balance parameter gives them the great advantage of always being able to change their minds about such extreme choices. It gets more difficult when they want to do it after shooting their footage with a completely messed-up white balance parameter.

- FOCUS

Focus is the parameter of the camera that sets the sharpness of the image. With the introduction of High definition, it has now become a priority for all videomakers to shoot with a precise focus value. This because High Definition, with its extreme detail display, makes more evident when an image is out of focus, even when we are talking about slight mistakes, not to mention when shooting videos with DSLR cameras.

First, we will teach our volunteers how to generally set a manual focus for their shots, by zooming and adjusting the focus value according to their distance from the person or the subject filmed in the shot.

We will also explain how to use the "focus peaking" tool. It's a focusing aid in electronic viewfinders of digital cameras that places a white or coloured highlight on in-focus edges (contours) thanks to an edge detect filter. It's a very important tool, because small viewfinders often display images with a very limited definition, and this can frequently lead to focus errors. Shooting in manual focus mode can be very difficult, especially when you're shooting handheld or when the subject of the shot is moving fast. For this reason auto focus mode will be likely the most common situation our volunteers will end up experiencing during their work.

We will explain how auto focus works according to the equipment that the project will make available to the volunteers. We will also point out the most common problems linked to this function.

If possible, we will promote and suggest the use of manual focus at least in those situations (like interviews) where the camera and the subject in the frame are not changing position during the shot.

- EXPOSURE

Exposure is the parameter of the camera that determines how light or dark the video image will appear when it's been captured by the camera sensor. This parameter is determined by three different camera settings: aperture, ISO and shutter speed.

Even if the cameras provided for the project only have one single manual adjustment for exposure that automatically changes all the three parameters at once, we will briefly explain to the volunteers what are the functions of aperture, ISO and shutter speed, using the following images.

Aperture controls the area over which light can pass through the camera lens. It is specified in terms of an f-stop value, which can at times be counterintuitive, because the area of the opening increases as the f-stop decreases. Cameras offer different ranges of f-stops, according to their professional level, but generally speaking it's good to know that the availability of a greater range of f-stops does provide for more creative flexibility. We must also say that a camera's aperture setting is also what determines the depth of field of the image of our videos. Depth of filed is the range of distance over which objects appear in sharp focus. This means that lower f-stop values correspond to a lower depth of field.

A camera's shutter determines when the camera sensor will be open or closed to incoming light from the camera lens. The shutter speed specifically refers to how long this light is permitted to enter the camera. "Shutter speed" and "exposure time" refer to the same concept, where a faster shutter speed means a shorter exposure time. Shutter speed's influence on exposure is the simplest of the three camera settings, because it correlates exactly 1:1 with the amount of light entering the camera. For example, when the exposure time doubles, the amount of light entering the camera doubles. It is also the setting that has the widest range of possibilities and it is a powerful tool for freezing or exaggerating the appearance of motion.

If a properly focused video comes out blurred, this means you'll usually need to either increase the shutter speed, keep your hands steadier or use a camera tripod.

The ISO speed determines how sensitive the camera is to incoming light. Similar to shutter speed, it also correlates 1:1 with how much the exposure increases or decreases. However, unlike aperture and shutter speed, a lower ISO speed is almost always desirable, since higher ISO speeds dramatically increase image noise. As a result, ISO speed is usually only increased from its minimum value if the desired aperture and shutter speed aren't otherwise obtainable.

- FOCAL LENGTH

The most important element we have to discuss about lenses is focal length. Our volunteers will be mostly working with zoom lenses, this means they must know how to use focal lenghts offered by zoom lenses in relation to the different shot sizes we will discuss afterwards in our programme.

The most common mistake people make is to think that focal length only affects the perspective and it must be changed to obtain different shot sizes, as represented in the image below.

This is quite misleading and only partially true, because focal length is, more than anything else, a powerful indicator of the distance of the camera from the subject. The truth is that different focal lenghts don't necessarily mean different shot sizes. You can obtain the same shot size also by using diferent focal lengths, as shown below.

The images above all represent the same subject framed with the same shot size. In this case, differences arise because the focal length is getting longer (zooming in) as the camera moves further away from the subject.

We have to make clear for our volunteers that it's not the focal lenght, but it's the distance from the subject that will change the perspective of the image. Focal length is just used to compensate for this.

In the following sessions of the training we will get deeper on when to use a focal length instead of another to get the same shot size, and we will also discuss, in terms of film language, all the creative possibilities offered by zoom lenses.

- BATTERY

Batteries are usually the most underestimated elements of a videomaker's equipment. They are instead very important, because ending up with no available charged battery means that your day of filming is over. If a videomaker doesn't remember to charge his batteries at the end of each day of filming, he is more likely to get stuck the day after in the middle of the shooting.

Videomakers must always know how long their batteries will really last once they start filming, because the on-screen timing indicated in the viewfinder is not always so accurate or fully reliable.

It is very important to point out that our volunteers must never keep filming while the charge level of the battery is critically low. When a camera suddenly shuts down in the middle of recording, there's a high risk of not being able to use or recover the footage that was being filmed before the shut-down. We will teach them how to measure the charge level of their batteries and how to manage their total power capacity in relation to the amount of footage they need to film without being able to recharge.

CAMERA SHOTS

A camera shot is a name that describes the amount of space that is seen in one shot or one frame. The language of film editing is built upon a sequence of camera shots, so it's very important to teach our volunteers how to film their videos through the use of different camera shots.

First of all, they must know that, according to framing and space composition, there are conventional names given to different types of shots. In addition to this, they must also know when they'll have to use one type of shot rather than the other.

We will show them some examples of camera shots, explaining in which situations they are most used in film and video.

- EXTREME WIDE SHOT (EWS)

In the extreme wide shot, the view is so far from the subject that he/she/it isn't even visible. The point of this shot is to show the subject's surroundings. The EWS is often used as an "establishing shot" - the first shot of a new scene, designed to show the audience where the action is taking place and it is also useful in scenes where the action is very spread out.

- VERY WIDE SHOT (VWS)

The very wide shot is much closer to the subject than an extreme wide shot, but still much further away than a wide shot. The subject is barely visible, but the emphasis is very much on placing him in his environment. This type of shot often works as an establishing shot, in which the audience is shown the whole setting so they can orient themselves. The VWS also allows plenty of room for action to take place, or for multiple subjects to appear on screen.

- WIDE SHOT (WS)

In the wide shot, the subject takes up the full frame. Obviously the subject doesn't take up the whole width and height of the frame, since this is as close as we can get without losing any part of him. The small amount of room above and below the subject can be thought of as safety room — you don't want to be cutting the top of the head off. It would also look uncomfortable if his feet and head were exactly at the top and bottom of frame. As with many shot types, the wide shot means different things to different people. However, we can generally say that, differently from EWS and VWS, where the attention is more driven on the environment rather than on the subject, in a wide shot we have a more balanced relation between these two elements.

- MID SHOT (MS)

The mid shot shows some part of the subject in more detail, whilst still showing enough for the audience to feel as if they were looking at the whole subject. The MS is appropriate when the subject is speaking without too much emotion or intense concentration. It also works well when the intent is to deliver information, which is why it is frequently used by television news presenters. As well as being a comfortable, emotionally neutral shot, the mid shot allows room for hand gestures and a bit of movement.

- MEDIUM CLOSE UP (MCU)

The medium closeup is half way between a mid shot and a close up. This shot shows the face more clearly, without getting uncomfortably close.

- CLOSE UP (CU)

In the close up shot, a certain feature or part of the subject takes up most of the frame. A close up of a person usually means a close up of their face (unless specified otherwise). Close-ups are obviously useful for showing detail and can also be used as a cut-in.

A close-up of a person emphasizes his/her emotional state. Whereas a mid-shot or wide-shot is more appropriate for delivering facts and general information, a close-up exaggerates facial expressions which convey emotion. The viewer is drawn into the subject's personal space and shares his/her feelings.

A variation is the chocker shot which is typically framed on the subject's face from above the eyebrows to below the mouth.

- EXTREME CLOSE UP (ECU XCU)

The ECU (also known as XCU) gets right in and shows extreme detail. You would normally need a specific reason to get this close. It is too close to show general reactions or emotion except in very dramatic scenes. A variation of this shot is the choker.

- CUT-IN

Like a cutaway, but specifically refers to showing some part of the subject in detail. Can be used purely as an edit point, or to emphasise emotion etc. For example, hand movements can show enthusiasm, agitation, nervousness, etc.

- CUTAWAY (CA)

A cutaway is a shot that's usually of something other than the current action. It could be a different subject, a close up of a different part of the subject (eg. the subject's feet), or just about anything else. The cutaway is used as a "buffer" between shots (to help the editing process), or to add interest/information.

- OVER THE SHOULDER SHOT (OSS) & THE 180-DEGREE RULE

This shot is framed from behind a person who is looking at the subject. The person facing the subject should usually occupy about 1/3 of the frame. This shot helps to establish the position of each person, and get the feel of looking at one person from the other's point of view. It's common to cut between these shots during a conversation, alternating the view between the different speakers. This shot can be varied quite a bit to include the shoulder or back of the person facing the subject.

This type of shot allows us to talk about the famous 180-degree rule, a basic guideline regarding the on- screen spatial relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene.

An imaginary line called the axis connects the characters, and by keeping the camera on one side of this axis for every shot in the scene, the first character is always frame right of the second character, who is then always frame left of the first. The camera passing over the axis is called jumping the line or crossing the line. Breaking the 180-degree rule by shooting on all sides is known as shooting in the round. The 180-degree rule enables the audience to visually connect with unseen movement happening around and behind the immediate subject and is important in the narration of battle scenes.

- POINT OF VIEW (POV)

This shot shows a view from the subject's perspective. It is usually edited in such a way that it is obvious whose POV it is. This type of shot allows a strong identification of the viewer with the subject whose POV is represented in the frame, especially when people/actors are looking straight inside the camera's lens.

CAMERA ANGLES

Our volunteers must also become familiar with the concept of camera angles because, together with camera shots, this is another very important element of Film Language.

The relationship between the camera and the object being photographed (the angle) gives emotional information to the viewers, and it also guides their judgment about the character or the object in the shot. The more extreme is the angle, the more symbolic and heavily-loaded the shot will be.

Here are the most relevant types of camera angles.

- THE BIRD'S-EYE VIEW

This angle shows a scene from directly overhead, a very unnatural and strange angle. Familiar objects viewed from this angle might seem totally unrecognisable at first (umbrellas in a crowd, dancers' legs). This shot does, however, put the audience in a godlike position, looking down on the action. People can be made to look insignificant, ant-like, part of a wider scheme of things.

- HIGH ANGLE

This angle is not so extreme as a bird's eye view. The camera is elevated above the action using a crane to give a general overview. High angles make the object photographed seem smaller, and less significant (or scary). The object or character often gets swallowed up by their setting - they become part of a wider picture.

- EYE LEVEL

A fairly neutral shot; the camera is positioned as though it is a human actually observing a scene.

- LOW ANGLE

This angle increases the perception of a person's height and it give a sense of speeded motion. Low angles help give a sense of confusion to a viewer, of powerlessness within the action of a scene. The background of a low angle shot will tend to be just sky or ceiling, the lack of detail about the setting adding to the disorientation of the viewer. The added height of the object may make it inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on the screen.

- OBLIQUE/CANTED ANGLE

Sometimes the camera is tilted (not placed horizontal to floor level), to suggest imbalance, transition and instability (very popular in horror movies). This technique is often used to suggest POV shots.

CAMERA MOVEMENTS

Our volunteers will deal with limited options in terms of camera movements, but they must know that this is the third key-element of Film Language involving directly the camera that is available to them, together with camera shots and camera angles.

Videomakers may choose to move action along by telling the story as a series of cuts, going from one shot to another, or they may decide to move the camera with the action.

Moving the camera might make the action seem slower or faster, depending on how the movement is performed. Not only the style of movement must be chosen, but also the method of actually moving the camera must be selected too. Here are seven basic methods.

- PANS

Pan is a movement which scans a scene horizontally. The camera is placed on a tripod, which operates as a stationary axis point as the camera is turned, often to follow a moving object which is kept in the middle of the frame. We can use this movement to stay with a subject who is moving horizontally, or also to unveil more portions of the location where the shot is being filmed.

- TILTS

A Tilt is a movement which scans a scene vertically, otherwise similar to a Pan. The functions and the use of this movement are exactly the same as Pans.

- DOLLY SHOTS

Dolly Shots are sometimes also called tracking shots. For these shots the camera is placed on a moving vehicle and it moves alongside the action, generally following a moving figure or object. The camera might be mounted on a car, a plane, or even a shopping trolley. A dolly shot may be a good way of portraying movement, the journey of a character for instance, or for moving from a long shot to a close- up, gradually focusing the audience on a particular object or character.

- HAND-HELD SHOTS

Hand-Held shots are the most common shots in the field of documentaries and reportage, for two main reasons. The first reason is purely technical, because it deals with the compact size and the light weight of filming equipments used for these types of productions. The digital revolution allowed cameras to become so small, that it is no longer a problem now, for videomakers, to spend hours filming hand-held. The second reason deals with language, because this filming tecnique also allows to be faster when in need of follwing unpredicatble actions or subjects on camera, as it mostly happens in documentaries and reportage. Hand held cameras denote a certain kind of gritty realism, and they can make the audience feel as though they are part of a scene, rather than viewing it from a detached, frozen position.

- CRANE SHOTS

Crane shots are basically dolly-shots-in-the-air. A crane (or jib), is a large, heavy piece of equipment that can move the camera up, down, left, right, swooping in on action or moving diagonally out of it. The camera operator and the camera are counter-balanced by a heavy weight, and trust their safety to a skilled crane/jib operator.

- ZOOM LENSES

A zoom lens contains a mechanism that changes the magnification of an image. A video zoom lens can change the position of the audience, either very quickly (a smash zoom) or slowly, without moving the camera an inch, thus saving a lot of time and trouble. The drawbacks to zoom use include the fact that, while a dolly shot involves a steady movement similar to the focusing change in the human eye, the zoom lens tends to be jerky (unless used very slowly) and to distort an image, making objects appear closer together than they really are. Zoom lenses are also drastically over-used by many directors (including those holding palmcorders), who try to give the impression of movement and excitement in a scene where it does not exist.

Zooming in or out of the frame can also be used to change the shot without the need of moving the camera or stop recording. This "service tecnique" is good when videomakers don't want to interrupt the shooting but they feel they need to change something. In most of these cases, the zoom in/out part of the shot will be cut out during the editing.

- THE AERIAL SHOT

The Aerial Shot is variation of a crane shot, usually taken from a helicopter or, more recently, from a drone. This is often used at the beginning of a film, in order to establish setting and movement. Helicopters or drones are more flexible than cranes, as they can go almost anywhere, keep up with anything, move in and out of a scene, and convey real drama and exhilaration. LIGHTING (NATURAL & ARTIFICIAL)

Throughout the project, our volunteers will be experiencing a filming condition that is very close to the style of Dogma films. They will be mostly dealing with natural lights, and by saying this we don't mean only sunlight, but also the indoor artificial lights available where they will be filming: lamps, abat-jours, neons, etcetera... They won't have the tools to create an artificial lighting design for their shots (interior and exterior), this means they must succeed in taking maximum advantage of what the situation will offer in terms of lights and sunlight.

- OUTDOOR LIGHTING

When shooting outdoor, volunteers must keep in mind that early morning and late afternoon are the moments of the day where they will have better lighting conditions. This because the sun is low on the horizon, casting long shadows and a soft light that affects every element under sunlight. This is also a perfect moment to film shots with beautiful backlights.

Backlighting is quite self-explanatory, because it basically consists in illuminating a subject from the back. This solution creates a glowing effect on the edges of the subject, while other areas are darker, and it helps separate the subject from the background.

As we approach to noon, the sun gets higher in the sky and the resulting sunlight tends to appear violent, casting shadows from above with very bad effects, especially on faces.

Here are some examples:

If they are forced to shooting under these conditions, the general advice is to find a spot in the shadow and film whatever they need to film without exposing the subject to direct sunlight.

In this case there will be a strong difference of light intensity between the light on the subject and the light in the background, and our videomakers will have to be very careful to the image if the camera is set to auto exposure mode. Depending on how the shot is framed and angled, the auto exposure system could be shifting its reference value from the subject to the background, causing the footage to appear dark where it should be clear. We will suggest them to change the setting of the camera to manual exposure to avoid this kind of problem.

Professional and semi-professional cameras have ND (neutral density) filters installed next to the lenses that can be used, manually or automatically, in order to soften the intensity of sunlight without changing the resulting color of the image. ND filters allow the videomaker to select combinations of aperture, exposure time and ISO that would otherwise produce overexposed pictures, especially when sunlight is very violent.

- INDOOR LIGHTING

When shooting indoor, the first thing any videomaker must understand is whether there is enough light to film. Modern digital cameras have very sensitive sensors that limit the number of possible situations with insufficient light, but still this is something that needs to be checked every time. Cameras also have functions that artificially increase the lighting of the shot, like digital gain, but I strongly advice to use these functions only as a latest resource, because they always affect negatively the quality of the image, making it look grainy and noisy.

Beyond intensity, another thing that must be considered is the type of artificial illumination available inside the location of the shooting. Different types of artificial lights (incandescent, gaseous discharge or led) always correspond to different color temperatures, and if they mixed in the same shot, it will be very difficult to set a correct white balance on camera, especially when AWB mode is selected. Problems also arise when artificial illuminations mix with sunlight entering from the windows.

In both cases the videomaker must first disable AWB (if selected), and then find a way to exclude or reduce the intensity of additional light sources, focusing the shot (and the corresponding white balance value) on the main light source, generally called key light.

- INTERVIEWS

When filming interviews, it's always a good idea to avoid flat lighting, because the lack of shadows on a person's face tends to minimize his/her expressions. It just makes the face and the resulting shot less interesting, no matter what the person is saying.

We suggest to always find a way to have at least a slight shadow on the face of the person interviewed. This solution can be achieved by keeping the camera and the interviewee on the side and not in front of the key light source.

Shadows can even be extreme, leaving parts of the face completely dark, but videomakers must use this option only if they want to give the shot a more dramatic effect.

2.0 - INTRODUCTION TO AUDIO - AUDIO RECORDING BASICS

In this session we will face all the most common tasks and settings that our volunteers need to acknowledge in order to record audio for their projects in a professional way, but first let's start by pointing out the importance of audio within a project like Voluntube.

Volunteers must never forget that the mini-documentaries they will be filming are audio-visual productions, and the fact that audio comes before visual, in this definition, is not a mere coincidence. It is absolutely vital that they manage to get the sound right for their videos, because, without good sound - no matter if they have shot the most wonderful images - their work will look amateurish and sloppy. It is also good to remember that a slick soundtrack can often hide the faults in their images. This all means that they have to plan sound recording just as carefully as they plan video recording.

Their work will be mostly viewed via YouTube, where the display frame might be reduced to a couple of inches wide, but, even so, the sound will be as big and powerful as their computer speakers. Videos produced for the web or for handheld mobile devices need excellent sound to enhance storytelling, because images are sometimes too small to fully convey their expressive potential.

Sound can be divided into two essential areas: diegetic sound and non-diegetic sound.

DIEGETIC SOUND

Diegetic sound begins –but doesn't end– with what you record on location at the same time as you capture images. Location sound is often enhanced with sound effects used to add or isolate individual sounds for narrative effect, and this happens also when editing documentaries.

DIALOGUE RECORDING & DIRECTIONAL MICROPHONES

Dialogue is an important part of diegetic sound, and it depends on vocal delivery. While a good actor can vary pitch, tone, volume and accent according to what the director wants on set, an interviewee will only speak in their natural voice. For this reason, the initial set-up that a videomaker must prepare and check before filming is essential. Depending on the single case, dialogue can also be enhanced and partly corrected in post production.

Cameras, such as the ones provided to our volunteers, are built with an omnidirectional microphone which basically records the sounds reaching the camera from any direction. This means that a videomaker who wants to use this kind of microphone for dialogue recording, must alway ensure that the voice he/she is trying to capture is much louder than any background noise. Even so, the audio quality will be very poor, because the only way to have a voice recorded in a professional manner with this type of set-up is by filming the interviewee at literally no distance from the camera.

For this reason, we will provide and teach our volunteers how to use an external directional microphone that can be mounted on the accessory shoe of the camera and plugged into the MIC jack.

Directional microphones are more sensitive as they are specifically designed to record and isolate sounds coming from a single direction. With such a device pointed in the same direction of the interviewee, we can record clear voices and avoid the unpleasant impression of amateurism.

Directional microphones have limits too. The interviewee cannot be too far away from the microphone (more than 2 metres), otherwise the impression during playback will be the same as with audio recorded through an omnidirectional microphone. In that case, the directional microphone will have to be mounted on a boompole and positioned off frame, near the interviewee. A second person (an assistant or a boom operator) is required for this specific job.

Videomakers must be very careful to audio levels, especially when recording with external microphones that often cannot use the auto-level function offered by cameras. Generally speaking, audio levels should never be louder than -6 db, because higher levels tend to result in distorted sounds when played back.

We suggest to manually set the audio level to a safe maximum value (not above -6 db) before filming an interview, rather than doing any adjustment during the shooting. This can be achieved by asking for a quick audio check to the interviewee. Videomakers must always wear headphones during the shot, because that's the only way they can be sure that no interference or noise is being recorded.

Volunteers must remember that, while editing, they will be cutting back and forth to their b-roll images. They can also layer their interviewee's comments over different footage. For this reasons they must prioritise getting good sound. If an interviewee stammers or stumbles over something, or if there is some unavoidable background noise, they'll have to wait until the disturbance is over and roll the camera again.

NON-DIEGETIC SOUND

Raw footage is usually enhanced through the addition of non-diegetic sound, usually in the form of music or voice over. As we have already seen on the first day of our training, voice-overs can be recorded on purpose, and sometimes they may also be excerpts taken from the audio of video interviews that the film-maker or the editor decided not to show in the final version of the work.

Adding music to images is an art form. Music creates mood and atmosphere, often by manipulating the emotions experienced while viewing. Especially when talking about documentaries or reportages, the use of music must be very cautious and limited to specific sequences. This rule must be generally applied also to any other audiovisual product. Behind an abuse of music there is often an awkward attempt to hide mistakes or to distract the viewer from bad/boring footage. Other times it is simply the clue of an immature editor.

For our VolunTube project, we will suggest the use of non-copyrighted music tracks that can be edited in the clips without fear of being muted or blocked by YouTube. The YouTube Audio Library itself is a good source for many different types of tracks that can be used without restrictions.

3.0 - INTRODUCTION TO VIDEO - LANGUAGE AND STYLE OF DOCUMENTARY FILMS

In this session we will talk specifically about the different types of documentaries our volunteers can create during their period abroad. We will help them understand how they can use the tools we have been discussing until now in order to find out what's the best way, for each one of them, to tell a story through video.

Let's first start from the stories. In order to understand what are the stories they can focus on, we need to start by analysing the general situation they will be experiencing.

Every volunteer is a young man/woman who will be staying in a workcamp, in a foreign country, taking part to various projects organised by hosting associations. They will share this experience with other volunteers (one from their own country) and they'll have the chance to film mini-documentaries based on the stories of their work camps.

First of all, they will be living in a foreign country that is thousands of kilometers away from their homes, in another continent. This means they will get in contact with a totally new culture, people with different habits, social situations, food... And last, but not least, unusual landscapes, because Asia is totally different from Europe and viceversa. These are all very important elements to consider, because their eyes will be filming from a perspective that is inevitably different from the perspective of the ones living in those countries.

According to this situation, we can think of the following types of videos:

PORTRAIT DOCUMENTARY

It's a documentary based on the life of one or more persons. First of all, our volunteers must understand what is most obvious: why they want to tell the story of that person rather than another. The potential reasons for documenting the life of a person can be unlimited. It could be because of his/her work, his/her family, his/her attitude, etcetera... People are always attracted by the stories of other people, and it's a bad idea to think that a good portrait can be filmed only if we encounter someone who has a striking life or someone who does amazing things. Ordinary lifes can be as interesting as the lifes of odd people. What makes the real difference is the eye behind the camera. No matter what's the content, a videomaker must always be capable of organizing his own work in a way that is both personal and appealing to the viewer. In order to do so, he/she must first observe his subject(s) closely, because that's the only way a videomaker can understand the true nature of the people they will be filming.

Once they got to know the person they have chosen for their story, they must be able to "disappear" in front of them, so that the person filmed won't be too much influenced, in his actions, by the presence of someone with a camera in his daily life. This is something that takes time to accomplish, but it is also something that depends a lot on the person we are filming. Some people really can't get used to being filmed and they keep behaving "unnatural" even after a long time. Other people are the exact opposite, as they are not influced at all by the presence of a camera. A good videomaker must always be able to understand what kind of person he/she's dealing with.

Throughout our workshops, we will encourage volunteers on practising this form of audiovisual narration, by filming the lifes of people they will choose among the population of Belevedere camping (guests, other volunteers, workers...) and the residents of the surrounding area.

SUBJECT DOCUMENTARY

The definition of this type of documentaries is quite self-explanatory. In this case we are not focusing on a person, but we are exploring a subject or a theme that has attracted our attention. This doesn't mean we won't be focusing on people, but the persons we will be filming must necessarily be connected, in some way, to the theme we have decided to portray in our video. People can be our guide, our tool, for exploring a particular theme.

Themes can be related to almost anything, but we can narrow our discussion to four topic subjects: culture, social, food and environment.

These four elements can all be explored beutifully by our volunteers, because almost everything they'll be seeing during their EVS will be something new, something very different from their daily lives in another continent. It will be very interesting to compare the stories filmed by our European and Asian volunteers, because they will allow us to see what's "usual" under a completely different light.

Both European and Asian volunteers can start practising this genre of documentaries during our workshops.

WORKCAMP PROJECT DOCUMENTARY

This is a sub-category, a specific thematic documentary focused on the activities promoted by hosting associations during their work camps. One of the main goals of VolunTube is to ensure visibility to these projects and we must make sure that our volunteers all find their own way to make videos out of the activities they will be experiencing.

STRUCTURE, STYLE & POINT OVIEW

We will briefly examine different structures that can be used to build a documentary. Now that our volunteers have learned some of the basic tools of videomaking, we will talk about how to conceive and then shoot in the form of reportage, how to shoot a visual documentary, and we will also talk about documentaries entirely made up of interviews.

We will talk about style, when and how to shoot handheld, and when it's better to use a tripod.

We are convinced that the equipment of a videomaker is not so crucial to judge a documentary, because good ideas can now be filmed even with a mobile phone. What might change is the style, because there are some things, some solutions that, depending on the equipment, you just can't get. Another element we want to discuss is the point of view, because the use of a light equipment can also allow our volunteers to become themselves, with their experiences, the subjects of their own videos. A documentary is always the expression of the opinions and the point of view of the person who makes it, and this is true also if we never see the face of the videomaker or if we never hear his voice throughout the video. But, if our volunteers feel comfortable with this idea, they can also turn the LCD monitor, point the camera towards their faces and shoot. We will show them some example of how to make a "selfie- documentary", also called Vlogs.

J'IRAI DORMIR CHEZ VOUS https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNM_pawuYtcc-FCWoiJAW4w/videos

THE QUESTION ABOUT REALISM - FILMING LIFE "AS IT HAPPENS"

One of the greatest mistakes about documentaries, especially for those who have never been involved in this kind of film-making, is to believe that documentary is a synonymous for realism or reality. This misconception comes from the idea that documentaries, unlike fiction films, should be characterized by the following features:

- Unscripted dialogue

- Unstaged action

- Real people (i.e., not actors playing a fictitious role)

- Naturally-occurring behavior and events, including natural emotions

Unfortunately these are only stereotypes, because documentaries, and films in general, can only give us an illusion of truth or reality. There are always different levels of structuring and selectivity involved behind the creation of any audiovisual product, even the ones that look more "realistic", and for this reason we say that a film can only show us a costructed reality.

It's important to remember that, if our videomakers go out looking for a certain type of action or certain kinds of characters, they will usually find them. So, the first step in the selectivity process is in selecting a focus or story topic that fits into a preconceived notion of what will make an interesting or compelling story or film.

The next level of selectivity comes into play when the person(s) directing or operating the cameras or conducting the interviews decide what to shoot, who to spotlight and which questions to ask. Not all perspectives will be represented, and even if we wanted to, that would be impossible. The next stage is evaluating the rough footage and deciding what to make of it. Most documentaries are indeed scripted, but in general most of the scripting takes place after the footage and all the materials are gathered, so that the script becomes a script for editing and structuring rather than a script for shooting. This is a significant way that documentary realism differs from dramatic realism. That's why we think it's important to dedicate a consistent part of the training to structuring. The future work of our volunteers/videomakers heavily depends on this stage that comes much earlier than filming, and they must all be aware of the fact that, because "documentary equals reality", they can't just grab a camera and start filming whatever they see without having an idea on what kind of product they want to achieve. The idea that everything we see in a documentary has happended for real as the camera was filming, without planning, is totally wrong.

When we talk about "unscripted dialogue" we must remember that the people we see on camera are always aware of the fact that someone is filming them, and this awareness inevitably affects everything they do, including dialogues. Most of the times dialogues may even be stimulated by the film-maker, rather than other dialogues on topics he/she's not interested to cover in the film.

Also when we talk about "unstaged action" we must take into account that what we see in a documentary film is not always happening for the first time as the camera rolls, but it could be something already happened in the past and re-enacted for the camera by its original protagonists. This because a videomaker and especially a film crew, if we talk about bigger productions, cannot be filming 24/7. It would be impossible and too expensive. Sometimes what we want to show in our documentary might have already happened while we were not filming, or sometimes we just need to make sure that it will be happening on a specific day and time, when we will be ready to film it. In these cases, the difference between fiction and re-enacted reality becomes much smoother, so as the difference between actors and real people.

This doesn't mean our videomakers won't be able to catch "life as it happens", because sometimes you also get to film amazing footage almost by chance, but they need to know that those situations are very difficult and rare to find, especially if they think they can start filming without planning.

MY BEST FIEND https://youtu.be/oq4vinsWIUw?t=2267

A good documentarist - I think - is not the one who succeedes in filming the most "realistic" videos, but it's the one who succeedes in portraying his limited, subjective and personal vision of the world and making the viewer feel as it belonged to him/her: that's how you get your spectators to think that what they see is "real". We will briefly talk about specific deviations from the classic form of documentary that play with the concept of "realism" in order to create audiovisual products that belong to hybrid-genres: mockumentaries and docudrama.

A mockumentary is a type of film in which fictional events are presented in documentary style to create a parody. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using fictional settings and characters, or to parody the documentary form itself. They may be either comedic or dramatic in form, although comedic mockumentaries are more common.

A dramatic mockumentary (sometimes referred to as docufiction) should not be confused with docudrama, a fictional genre in which dramatic techniques are combined with documentary elements to depict real events.

Mockumentaries are often presented as historical documentaries, with B roll and talking heads discussing past events, or as cinéma vérité pieces following people as they go through various events.

Here are some examples:

ZELIG https://youtu.be/qUW8JsLDsNo

BORAT https://youtu.be/q2l0nu6m2cw

4.0 - INTRODUCTION TO VIDEO EDITING - EDITING BASICS

Now that our volunteers have learned the basics for filming their mini-documentaries, they'll have to deal with the most crucial, fascinating and mysterious stage of film-making: editing.

Especially when talking about documentaries, editing is the moment where you actually build your own film. Even if you have followed a precise structure while shooting, you'll never know whether your footage really works, or if it works in the way you have imagined, until you start cutting it and assembling pieces of film together. That's one of the biggest magics of film-making. You may have been shooting films for years but, when you're finally sitting on your chair to start editing, you'll always feel that strange chill due to not knowing what will happen to your film.

We'll show a short video of Alfred Hitchcock talking about the fundamentals of editing:

https://youtu.be/NG0V7EVFZt4

WATCHING (AND FILMING) MEANS SELECTING

So, the first essential thing any editor needs to do, after importing and organizing the footage into folders, is to watch the material he'll have to deal with. While watching the footage, an editor must always start thinking what part of it could be used, and what not. What is really interesting for the purpose of the film, and what can be left out. And this is true also for some footage that might be beautiful, but not related to the subject of the film. Editing is the art of assembling shots together to tell the visual story that is films, and the key to an effective editing is that you only choose and assemble those parts that are really necessary for your film. If you understand that you can achieve the same effect by using less footage, that's exactly what you'll have to do.

If a film-maker has faced the shooting with a clear idea, in his mind, of what will become of his film, he/she is more likely to have a limited ratio between the amout of footage that has been shot, and the amount of footage that will be actually used in the final editing. This because you only shoot what you think could be useful for you project, not just everything that happens in front of the camera. When an editor has to deal with a huge amount of footage, if related to what he will really need for the project, that means loosing a lot of precious time and reducing the time he/she can dedicate to actual editing. This is something any film-maker must keep in mind while shooting, especially when there are close deadlines for delivering the work. Am I shooting what I really need? Will I ever have enough time to watch and select all this footage before I have to stop editing and deliver the film? Of course, even if you are super-organized while filming, that doesn't prevent you from shooting stuff you won't be using afterwards. There's no perfect formula that can tell you exactly how much footage you have to shoot before it's enough, but, generally speaking, it's always good to keep at least a ratio of 4:1 or 5:1 in order to have enough footage to select for your film.

CUTTING MEANS FINDING THE RIGHT PATH

Editing means, first of all, the art of finding the right path to turn your raw footage into an audiovisual text. A film doesn't really exist until someone starts putting pieces together and, in order to do that, you must know, as an editor, what you want to create: the right path. Sometimes it's easy to find, sometimes not. You can easily get lost along the way, or worst, you can realize that you took the wrong way after spending hours, or even days, pursuing an idea of editing that just wasn't meant to be. It's something that could happen to anyone, so there's no need to feel desperate about it. Editing also means trying, and trying sometimes means making mistakes. But, once you have found the right path, you'll understand immediately that it's exactly what you were looking for, because, from that moment on, nothing will stop you from editing until it's done. You will have to force yourself to feeding your body or to sleeping at least a few hours, because the only thing in your mind will be cutting and cutting and cutting...

HOW CUTTING WORKS WITH SHOT SIZES: ARMONY AND CONTRAST

So, after watching the footage and deciding what to do with it, the next step is actually start cutting. It's something that deals with the language of film and the basics of cinematography, specifically (but not only) with shot sizes.

The general rule, when cutting different pieces of film, is that you should always try to move from one shot size to another shot size. There are exceptions, of course, but you should generally avoid putting a wide shot after another wide shot or a close up after another close up. The more difference you have in terms of shot sizes between two consecutive cuts, the better it is for the eye of the viewer. If you really can't change shot size (because you don't have the right footage or for any other reason) you should at least try to use a shot with a different camera angle. Cutting from one perspective to another very similar perspective is uncomfortable for the eye of the viewer, it's something that makes the cut "visible" and this is what any editor has to avoid, unless the intent is clearly provocatory. The sequence of cuts must flow in an invisible way, because the focus should be on the story and not on how the story itself is built from a visual point of view.

There are cases when the film-maker wants to provoke the viewer, because editing, as life, can follow principles of armony and also principles of contrast. When this happens, when cuts become "visible" on purpose, it could be due to the intention of highliting a specific moment, or it could be justified by the interest of making the film a more"visual" story, as it happens, for instance, with music videos or video art works.

THE CUTTING EDGE https://youtu.be/U76MBDKQe8s

DIFFERENT TYPES OF CUT

It's very difficult to make a list or a classification of the many ways we can choose to move from one shot to another. It's something that a film-maker truly understands only when growing a considerable experience in film editing, but we can try at least to indicate some ofthe most common cuts:

- STANDARD CUT

The hard cut is the basic type of cut in editing. This type of cut is utilized when you want to cut from clip to clip without any type of transition, or where you cut from the end of one clip to the beginning of another. The only down side of the hard cut is that it gives the least amount of visual meaning. It's a cut that, combining two different shot sizes and - possibly - two different angles, brings the narration forward in an invisible way, according to basic principles of armony. - JUMP CUT

The jump cut is a technique which allows the editor to jump forward in time by cutting out portions of time within the same shot. A jump cut can preserve visual interest without the audience having to watch boring stuff. A jump cut works best with footage shot on a tripod, without camera movement. The idea is to preserve the perspective, which stays the same between different cuts, and the only things that change between the shots are the actions by the subject in the frame.

Here are some examples:

THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2GPBBxFpEw

A BOUT DE SOUFFLE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KUVwKp6MDI

- L-CUT & J-CUT

The L-cut is an editing technique used not only by narrative filmmakers, but it is also a favorite of documentary filmmakers and commercial videographers. What L-Cut means is that you are hearing the audio from the previous shot, even though we’ve moved on to another shot. So, the audience is looking at clip B but still hearing audio from clip A. In a documentary, for instance, an L-cut could be found in a situation where you keep hearing the audio from an interview even if video has already moved to another situation, like some footage contextualizing what the interviewee is talking about.

A J-cut is essentially the opposite of the L-cut. With this tecnique we hear the audio before we see the video. So, the audience is looking at clip A but still hearing audio from clip B. This type of cut is used quite often in all forms of filmmaking and videography, but you can see it quite often in content featuring an interview.

These two editing tecniques are basically used to achieve smoother transitions (without the actual use of a video transition, like dissolve) by un-synching audio and video when making cuts.

- CUTTING ON ACTION: VIDEO & AUDIO

The technique of cutting on action is a huge component (of course) of action films, but this type of cut can also be effective on less-explosive action, like a person walking in and out of frame. The basic idea of cutting on action is that the editor cuts from one shot to another and matches the action of the shots. When we talk about action, we mean action within the frame (like a car driving by in and out of frame) and also action of the frame itself (like camera movement, zoom, etcetera...). Action could be in the video, but also in the audio track, sometimes without visual references. In this last case it could be a sound coming from off-screen recorded on location, or a sound effect added in post-production. We also have music that helps the editing process with powerful options, in terms of cutting on action, through the use of rhythm and armony. Music videos, for instance, often use music beats as a reference for cutting between different shots.

Here is an extreme example of how to use different ways of cutting on action, turning each cut into a seamlessly transition between scenes.

WATCHOVER OF TURKEY https://vimeo.com/108018156

Another extreme example of cutting on action based on music action:

THE WHITE STRIPES - THE HARDEST BUTTON TO BUTTON https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4dx42YzQCE

- CUTAWAYS

Cutaways take the audience away from the main action or subject. These are used primarily as transition pieces to give the audience a view of what is happening outside of the main character’s environment. This also goes a long way in helping you emphasize specific details of the mise-en- scène and allowing you to add meaning to them. Another way to use cutaways is during dialogue sequences or interviews. It's always a good idea, when filming interviews (especially if you only have one camera), to shoot cutaways (also called b-rolls) of the interviewee and his environment, like a detail of his body (eyes, hands, gestures) or shots of the location where interview is being filmed. These shots can help you a lot when you have to cut out pieces of interview and make it look as there has been no cut in the speech. In those situations you want to avoid plain cuts that look as jump-cuts, because that's a terrible solution. You can easily put one or more cutaways between two cuts in the clip of an interview and keep the audio flowing without anyone noticing that a part of the interview has been left out.

- CROSS-CUT

The technique of the cross-cut, also known as parallel editing, is where you cut between two different scenes that are happening at the same time in different spaces. When done effectively, you can tell two simultaneous stories at once and the information being given to the audience will make complete sense. In a documentary film, for instance, an example of cross-cut could be the alternation between an interview sequence and one or more sequences of footage showing situations being described during the interview itself. The same thing could also be obtained using J and L cuts, but in that case the difference is that the audio of the interview keeps playing while showing footage other than that of the interview.

Utilizing this type of cut, you’ll need to be careful in how you structure your multiple story lines. If not done correctly, you’ll just confuse the audience more. When using the cross-cut technique, it's always extremely helpful to get a separate pair of eyes on the edit. It may make complete sense to you as the editor, but it may go right over the audiences’ head.

Here is an example of cross-cut storytelling:

INCEPTION https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAbbJT0ZXmk

- MONTAGE

Montage is another technique that has been around for a long time, but isn’t used as much as the previous cuts. The idea behind the montage is to use rapid cuts from different sequences to help convey the passing of time or to help aid the context of the narrative. Montage is almost always accompanied by music:

Here is an example:

ROCKY III https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s28vNyjOlbc

- MATCH CUTS

The match cut is the technique of matching the movement or space of two opposite environments together. This technique has been used for many years. It’s most effective when you need to move the narrative along, but you need to find a way to connect two differents situations together seamlessly. A match cut is one method that directors use in editing to suggest a relationship between two different objects and to create a visual metaphor. It is a cut within a scene that makes sense spatially. This can be between two different objects, two different spaces, or two different compositions in which an object in two shots graphically match.

Here are some examples of match-cuts: 2001: A SPACE ODISSEY https://youtu.be/mI3s5fA7Zhk

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE0DBpw09SU

TRANSITIONS

In film editing, transition refers to how one shot ends and the next begins. We have just discussed about different cuts as alternative ways of interpreting the concept of transition, but there are other types of transitions, beyond cuts, that have been employed since the early years of cinema. Some are outdated, used mainly to refer to those first years, but others are still greatly used today. Each type invokes a different emotion. Understanding those emotions is essential to master editing.

-FADE IN/OUT

After cuts, fade ins and fade outs are the second most common type of transition. Fade outs happen when the picture is gradually replaced by black screen or any other solid color. Traditionally, fade outs are used to conclude films or chapters within a film. Fade ins are the opposite: a solid color gradually gives way to picture, commonly used in the beginning of movies.

Despite being the second most used transition, fades are seldom adopted by editors because they mainly belong those features of early cinema that still survive in modern film language.

- DISSOLVE

Also known as overlapping, dissolves happen when one shot gradually replaces by the next. One disappears as the following appears. For a few seconds, or more, they overlap, and both are visible. They are commonly used to signify the passage of time, to move from one chapter to another, or to create emotional sequences, also with the aid of music.

Here is an example:

APOCALYPSE NOW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIrvSJwwJUE There are many other types of transitions offered by modern video editing systems, but we should generally focus only on fades and dissolves because other transitions belong to languages that are far from the style of audiovisual products we want our volunteers to achieve.

LONG TAKES OR SEQUENCE SHOTS

Until now, we have been discussing how to bring an audiovisual narration forward through the use of cuts and transitions between differents shots. What our volunteers must know is that some of those effects can also be obtained within one single shot. The alternation of different shot sizes, cutting on action and cutaways may also happen inside what is called a long take or a sequence shot. There are even entire films consisting in one single shot. For some of them, such an extreme choice goes accordingly with the story of the film, but in other cases it results in a useless exercise of style.

The general belief is that long takes don't involve editing, but that's not correct. Editing is not something that only happens between shots, it's a concept we can find also inside a long take, if conceived and shot with the correct criteria. Not all long shots are the same. You may have long shots entirely made up of one single frame, stuck in the same position from the beginning to the end, like this:

RADIOHEAD - NO SURPRISES (MUSIC VIDEO) https://youtu.be/u5CVsCnxyXg

CHEMICAL BROTHERS - STAR GUITAR (MUSIC VIDEO) https://youtu.be/0S43IwBF0uM

More frequently you may have long shots with extreme camera movements like tracking shots, dolly, steadicam, pan, tilt, like this:

TOUCH OF EVIL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODu18vd_PI0

Editing is about changing visual references, changing perspective, in order to create a visual rhythm that builds your way of telling a story. As we can see in the examples mentioned above, this is something we can achieve also inside a single long shot, but our volunteers must know that such a choice needs time and preparation. The history of film is full of akward attempts of long shots that didn't succeede in reaching the desired effect. The risks of boring your viewers (or at least some of them) with a long shot are high, especially when we talk about videos that will be watched on YouTube, where the attention span is now getting lower everyday. For this reason, we advise to think carefully before taking this way.

WHY WE CUT: THE RULE OF THE SIX

We have talked about how to make different types of transitions in a film, but we still have to understand why we do it. Why do we feel the need of changing from one shot to another, and how do we know that one shot has been enough time on the screen and we have to move to another one? Making the cut is easy, the hard part is knowing where the cut goes.

This discussion is very difficult to make, because it deals with the personal sensitivity of an editor, and it's not easy to classify feelings that are very different from person to person. Walter Murch, the famous editor of Apocalypse Now, has expressed his thoughts about the profession of editor in a very interesting and intuitive way. His theories are specifically addressed to those who are facing editing for the first time, but they are also useful for those who are experienced editors, because his words help describing mechanisms that are used everyday, but are rarely theorised explicitly. Sometimes you know a cut is perfect, it stays on screen the exact number of frames that are necessary, but you can't explain why. Murch tries to tell it with the Rule of Six. Six elements to building the story within the edit, which he describes as a list of priorities, with different degrees of importance for each one of them. These priorities can be used as a formative plan for your edit or a guideline to follow that ensures your edit keeps your audience invested in the film.

1) EMOTION

How will this cut affect the audience emotionally at this particular moment in the film? Telling the emotion of the story is the single most important part when it comes to editing. When we make a cut we need to consider if that edit is true to the emotion of the story. You have to ask yourself: does this cut add to that emotion or subtract from it?

It is important to consider if the cut is distracting the audience from the emotion of the story, Murch believes that emotion “is the thing that you should try to preserve at all costs”, because what people remembers about a film, at the end of it, is not the editing, not the camerawork, not the performances, not even the story, it’s how they felt.”

2) STORY

Does the edit move the story forward in a meaningful way? Each cut you make needs to advance the story. Don’t let the edit become bogged in subplot (if it isn’t essential) if the scene isn’t advancing the story, cut it. If the story isn’t advancing, it's confusing or worse – boring your audience.

3) RHYTHM

Is the cut at a point that makes rhythmic sense? Like music, editing must have a beat, a rhythm to it. Timing is everything. If the rhythm is off, your edit will look sloppy, a bad cut can be ‘jarring’ to an audience. Try to keep the cut tight and interesting. These top three – emotion, story, rhythm – are essential to get right and they are extremely tightly connected, while the forces connecting the lower three grow progressively weaker as you go down the list.

4) EYE TRACE

How does the cut affect the location and movement of the audience’s focus in that particular film?

You should always be aware of where in the frame you want your audience to look, and cut accordingly. Match the movement from one side of the screen to the other, or for a transition, matching the frame, shape or symbol. Break the screen into four quadrants, and try to keep the movement in one of those quadrants. For instance, if your character is reaching from the top left quadrant, and his eyes are focused to the right lower quadrant that is where your audience’s focus will naturally move after the cut. Remember to edit on movement and to match the action, keeping the continuity as close as possible.

5) TWO DIMENSIONAL PLACE OF SCREEN

Is the axis followed properly? Make sure your cuts follow the axis (180 degree line). This will keep the action along it’s correct path of motion and maintain the continuity. Looking at your quadrants again, be sure the movement flows along the same path, for example a car leaving the left side of frame, would enter again via the right. Sticking to the 180 degree line allows the audience to keep track of the spatial place of characters and objects in your film.

6) THREE DIMENSIONAL SPACE

Is the cut true to established physical and spacial relationships?

During shooting the 180 degree rule states that you draw an imaginary line in between your characters and keep the camera on just one side of that line, this is true for editing also. This rule should always be adhered to, unless you purposely break it. Breaking the 180 degree line works really well if you want your audience feeling confused, or to disorientate them. The point is, stick to the 180 degree rule, and spatially your edit will work, unless you really want to mess with your audience’s minds.

Murch states that, above all else, emotion is the most vital element. Beyond emotion, the top three should really be at the forefront of the edit.

The Rule of Six is a useful reference that our volunteers can keep in mind while facing editing. They can use it whenever they wonder wether their editing is proceeding correctly or not.