Cut tight – The best editing approach
is to cut tight scenes without
becoming too “cutty”. This means
taking out unnecessary pauses
between actors’ delivery of dialogue
lines. Sometimes it means tightening
the gaps within dialogue sentences
through the use of carefully placed
cutaways. It may also mean losing
redundant lines of dialogue, after the
director has reviewed your cut.
No Dragnet edits – The original Dragnet
television series used a certain approach to
cutting dialogue scenes. Audio and video edits
tended to be made as straight cuts between the
actors without any overlaps as they delivered
their lines. It followed this formula: cut to actor
A – deliver the line; cut to actor B – deliver the
line; cut back to actor A and so on. Our brains
seem to react better to edits where the change
in picture and sound is not always together.
These are called split edits, L-cuts or J-cuts.
J CUT
L CUT
Matching action

 Matching action – Matching actors’ hand positions, use of
props, eyeline and stage position from one cut to another fall
into the technical category of how to make a proper edit.
 The greatest weight is given to whether that cut drives the
emotion of the scene or moves the story along. Technical
matching is the least important concern. (not that it should be
thrown out the window)
 The audience will often ignore many minor continuity
differences from one shot to the next if they stay totally
engrossed in the story. Your job as the editor is to cut in such as
way that they do.
Don’t cut back to the exact same angle

 – If you have a choice of several camera angles, don’t
automatically cut back to the same camera angle or
take that you just used in the previous shot.
 if the director shot different takes with different
framing, try to use a little of all of them.
 Don’t get stuck in a cutting rut, like
master/single/reverse, master/single/reverse, etc.
Mix it up.
B-roll shots in threes

 When the scene calls for cutaway inserts, it feels right to
use three on a row. Not a single shot, not two, but three.
 These should be at least 1.5-2 seconds long (or longer).
An example might be when a character enters the room
and looks around.
 The POV inserts work nicely in triplets and give the
audience a good idea of the landscape that the character
encounters. It mimics our real-world experience of
moving our head around and seeing different aspects of
the same surroundings.
Cut for the eyes

 Actors that do well on TV and in films (as compared with the
stage) are all very expressive with their face, but most
importantly, their eyes.
 When I’m cutting an intense dialogue scene, I’m looking at
how the actors’ eyes play in the scene. Do they convey the
proper emotion? What is the reaction of the other actors in the
scene?
 What the actors are or aren’t doing facially determines my
cutting. It drives my decision to stick with the principal actor
delivering the dialogue or whether I briefly cut away to see
reactions from the others.
Pull the air out of actors’
performances

 Going back to Item 1 – I like to cut tight. Recognize
that many actors will overact. They will milk a scene
for more than is appropriate. They will accentuate
pauses, add more stumbles and stammers (where
scripted) and give lengthy glances. Sometimes this
works, but your job as the editor is to dial these back
as you cut. Take these pauses out by cutting away
and then back. Cut out redundant actions and line
deliveries. Make it real, so it doesn’t feel like
ACTING.
Non-Linear Editing

 Allows access to any clip without scrubbing through
entire clips
 Film was the first nonlinear editing system
Workflow

Editing Software

 Is only making references to
clips on your hard drive. The
clips are not actually there in
the software program. That
means that if you move your
clips around or delete them
off of your hard drive—you
will offline your media.
Audio Waveform in
Premiere

Wavelength
The distance between any point on a wave and the equivalent point on the next
phase. Literally, the length of the wave.
Amplitude:
The strength or power of a wave signal. The "height" of a wave when viewed as a graph.
Higher amplitudes are interpreted as a higher volume, hence the name "amplifier" for a device
that increases amplitude.
Frequency:
The number of times the wavelength occurs in one second. Measured in kilohertz (Khz), or cycles per second. The faster
the sound source vibrates, the higher the frequency.
Higher frequencies are interpreted as a higher pitch. For example, when you sing in a high-pitched voice you are forcing
your vocal chords to vibrate quickly.
Sound Levels

 On old analog recorders 0 dB was 14 decibels higher
than it is on many professional audio recorders
 on magnetic tape and could push the recording level
past the 0dB setting on a regular basis without any
serious consequences.
Digital audio has a hard ceiling that is measured as
0dBFS or 0dB full scale
When you push the audio level beyond that point, digital
clipping occurs.
This produces nasty distortion that effectively ruins your
recording during the clipping.
To avoid digital clipping, it's good practice to keep your
recording levels well below the ceiling. A common
setting is -10dBFS. This gives you some headroom for
inevitable peaks and still keeps the signal loud enough to
avoid noise.
Many devices also include a signal limiter of some kind.
Audio Levels on Premiere

 “The key is, you never want to exceed zero, because
your audio will get distorted.”
 “Now some of you might be delivering to a
broadcast station, and they might have specific
requirements for your audio mix level. It may be
minus 18 or minus 20. The best rule of thumb is ask
before you start editing and you won't have to go
back and fix it”
Levels

 Total audio mix level: -3 dB to -6 dB
 Principle speaker (SOT) audio: -6 dB to -12 dB
 Sound effects audio: -12 dB to -18 dB
 Music when its an underscore: -18 dB
Diegetic and Non-Diegetic Sound

 http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2013
/11/23/246916733/a-sound-of-fear-forged-in-theshadow-ofwar?utm_content=socialflow&utm_campaign=nprfa
cebook&utm_source=npr&utm_medium=facebook
Diegetic vs. Non-Diegetic

 Part of the story world of the film
 The Most Dangerous Game
 Diner Scene
 Diner Scene 2
Offscreen Sound: Paranormal Activity 1
and Paranormal Activity 2

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS1C7kzn-FA
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDq1_2s9oyI
Components of
Continuity Editing

 Avoid jump cuts: A shot of a person sitting—cut to
the same shot of the person standing creates a
noticeable jump in time
 Preserving screen direction at cuts (180 degree rule)
 Intercutting
 Note: I found the whole movie (excellent quality) on
Vimeo!
Cutting Dialogue Tracks

 Sometimes words have to be separated
 Avoid clipping (up-cutting a word)
 A two-frame crossfade can help make an awkward
cut sound natural
Narration or
Voiceover
Tips and Tricks
from
-- Digital Films
a blog by Oliver
Peters
 Narration works best when
woven in with sync sound from a
scene
 Be careful that background
sounds do not become distracting
 Ideally, final narration should be
recorded in a sound booth to get
high-quality clean sound