Advanced Editing Operations
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ADVANCED EDITING OPERATIONS ACCT-BVP2-5. Students will perform advanced editing operations. a. Calculate back-time and running time and apply the calculations to the editing of a program. b. Use appropriate transitions and effects (video/audio) for production. c. Execute split audio/video edits. d. Produce multi-track audio for audio/video recording. e. Maintain proper continuity throughout production. CALCULATING BACK-TIME AND RUNNING TIME & APPLYING CALCULATIONS TO THE EDITING OF A PROGRAM • CONTROLLING CLOCK TIME • In commercial television, time is indeed money: each second of broadcast time has a monetary value. Sales people sell time to their clients as though it were a tangible commodity. One second of airtime may cost much more than another, depending on the potential audience an event may command. Clock Time, also known as schedule time, is defined as the time at which a program starts and ends. Because television operations are scheduled second-by-second, clock time is a critical element in television production. • SCHEDULE TIME AND RUNNING TIME • When videotaping a show, you don’t have to worry about its schedule time-the start time of the program when it’s aired. But you are responsible for the accurate running time-the length of a program or program segment-so that it can fit the prescribed time slot in the day’s programming. When directing a live show such as a newscast, you use the control room clock for meeting the schedule times (the switch to network news) and the stopwatch for measuring the running times of the program inserts (the individual videotaped stories). CALCULATING BACK-TIME AND RUNNING TIME & APPLYING CALCULATIONS TO THE EDITING OF A PROGRAM • CLOCK BACK-TIMING AND FRONT-TIMING • Although the master control computer calculates almost all the start and end times of programs and program inserts, and a variety of pocket calculators help you add and subtract clock times, you should nevertheless know how to do time calculations even in the absence of electronic devices. For example, a performer may request at the last minute specific time cues, which you then have to figure by hand. • Back-timing • One of the most common time controls involves cues to the talent so that he or she can end the program as indicated by the schedule time. In a 30-minute program, the talent normally expects a 5-minute cue and subsequent cues with 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute, 30 seconds, and 15 seconds remaining in the show. To figure out such time cues quickly, you simply back-time from the scheduled end time or the start time of the new program segment (which is the same thing). For example, if the log shows that our live What’s Your Opinion? Show is followed by a salvation Army public service announcement (PSA) at 4:29:30, at what clock times do you give the talent the standard time cues, assuming that the standard videotaped close takes 30 seconds? • You should start with the end time of the panel discussion, which is 4:29:30 and subtract the various time segments. (You do not back-time from the end of the program at 4:29:30 because the standard videotaped close will take up 30 seconds.) When, for example, should the moderator get her 3 minute cue or the 15 second wind up cue? CALCULATING BACK-TIME AND RUNNING TIME & APPLYING CALCULATIONS TO THE EDITING OF A PROGRAM • CLOCK BACK-TIMING AND FRONT-TIMING • Although the master control computer calculates almost all the start and end times of programs and program inserts, and a variety of pocket calculators help you add and subtract clock times, you should nevertheless know how to do time calculations even in the absence of electronic devices. For example, a performer may request at the last minute specific time cues, which you then have to figure by hand. • Back-timing • One of the most common time controls involves cues to the talent so that he or she can end the program as indicated by the schedule time. In a 30-minute program, the talent normally expects a 5-minute cue and subsequent cues with 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute, 30 seconds, and 15 seconds remaining in the show. To figure out such time cues quickly, you simply back-time from the scheduled end time or the start time of the new program segment (which is the same thing). For example, if the log shows that our live What’s Your Opinion? Show is followed by a salvation Army public service announcement (PSA) at 4:29:30, at what clock times do you give the talent the standard time cues, assuming that the standard videotaped close takes 30 seconds? • You should start with the end time of the panel discussion, which is 4:29:30 and subtract the various time segments. (You do not back-time from the end of the program at 4:29:30 because the standard videotaped close will take up 30 seconds.) When, for example, should the moderator get her 3 minute cue or the 15 second wind up cue? CALCULATING BACK-TIME AND RUNNING TIME & APPLYING CALCULATIONS TO THE EDITING OF A PROGRAM • Let’s proceed with back-timing this particular program: – 4:24:00 5 minutes to VTR Back-time to here – 4:26:00 3 minutes – 4:27:00 2 minutes – 4:28:00 1 minute – 4:28:30 30 seconds – 4:28:45 15 seconds – 4:29:00 Cut moderator for VTR close – 4:29:30 PSA (Salvation Army) Start here CALCULATING BACK-TIME AND RUNNING TIME & APPLYING CALCULATIONS TO THE EDITING OF A PROGRAM • When subtracting time, you may find it convenient to take a minute from the minute column and convert it into seconds, especially if you have to subtract a large number of seconds from a small number. Similarly, you can take an hour from the hour column and convert it into minutes. 5:15:22 5:14:82 - 14:27 - 14:27 5:00:55 OR: 5:02:43 4:62:43 - 55:30 - 55:30 4:07:13 CALCULATING BACK-TIME AND RUNNING TIME & APPLYING CALCULATIONS TO THE EDITING OF A PROGRAM • Front-timing • To keep a show-such as a live newscast with many recorded inserts– on time, you need to know more than the start and end times of the program and the running times for the various inserts. You also need to know when (using clock time) the inserts are to be run; otherwise you cannot figure whether you are ahead or behind with the total show. • To figure out the additional clock times for t break or insert, simply add the running times to the initial clock time as shown on the log or the show format. As with back- timing, you need to convert the seconds and the minutes on a scale of 60 rather than 100. Computer the seconds, minutes, and hours individually, then convert the minutes and seconds to the 60 scale. 6:33: 42 + 0: 58 6:33:100 -------Æ 6:34:40 CALCULATING BACK-TIME AND RUNNING TIME & APPLYING CALCULATIONS TO THE EDITING OF A PROGRAM • CONTROLLING SUBJECTIVE TIME • The control of subjective time – the duration you feel – is much more subtle and difficult than the control of objective time. Even the most sophisticated computer cannot tell you whether a newscaster races through her copy too fast or whether a dramatic scene is paced too slowly and drags for the viewer In determining subjective time, you must rely on your own judgment and sensitivity to the relation of one movement or rhythm to another Although two persons move with the same speed, one may seem to move much more slowly than the other What makes the movements of one person appear faster or slower? • Watch how rush-hour traffic reflects nervous energy and impatience while actually the vehicles move more slowly than when traveling on an open freeway. Good comedians and musicians are said to have “a good sense of timing,” which means that they have excellent control of subjective time-the pace and the rhythm of the performance the audience perceives. • There are many terms to express the relative duration of subjective time. You hear of speed, tempo, pace, hurrying, dragging, and other similar expressions. To simplify the subjective-time control, you may want touse only two basic concepts; pace and rhythm. The pace of a show or show segment is how fast or slow it feels Rhythm supplies the beat. CALCULATING BACK-TIME AND RUNNING TIME & APPLYING CALCULATIONS TO THE EDITING OF A PROGRAM • There are many ways to increase or decrease the pace of a scene, a segment, or an overall show. One is to speed up the action or the delivery of the dialogue, very much like picking up the tempo of a musical number. Another is to increase the intensity- the relative excitement-of a scene. Usually, this is done by introduction or sharpening some conflict, such as raising the voices of people arguing, having one car briefly lose control while being pursued by another, or shooting the scene in tighter close-up. A third possibility is to increase the density of the event by having more things happen within a specific block of running time. If you want to slow down a scene, you do just the opposite. • Whatever you change, you must always perceive the pace in relation to the other parts of the show and to the show as a whole. Fast, after all, is fast only if we can relate the movement to something slower.