all's said and done: Video Editing

Any kind of production would not be a success without Editing.

A raw footage may have its intrinsic beauty. However, the story may not be depicted appropriately without doing some changes to the footage, considering that the audience will have different interpretations of the scenes or the whole plot itself.

Video Editing is very important because it helps in the management of shooting time or production stage. It makes the whole production process speedy. Just imagine that you are doing a film without having a post-production stage (editing), you would hardly finish the entire film because the planning of shooting scenes and the filming process itself would eat a lot of your time. Also, there is no burden to have a one-time shooting stage.

Another important role of editing is that it contributes to the mood, transitions and objective of the film. Through editing, we can hide "imperfections" in the scenes. Now, visual effects are undeniably part of the post-production stage. Editing greatly helps in sequencing of scenes.

Some products that we can do with videos are: films or movies, music videos, lyric videos, advertisements or movie trailers (teasers), documentaries, news reports, television shows, video demonstrations or explanations, and evidences of an event or crime.

Here are five editing techniques one should learn to achieve a film/movie's aim.

1. Match Cut - combining two shots of differing angle and composition so that the action continues from one to the other in the same time and place. This is done to show seamless progression of action and to enhance three-dimentionality. Here's an example:

2. Cutaway - is used to show a subject - detailed close-up or person observing an action. Subject (i.e. observer) is not seen in shots edited before or after cutaway. This is used to cover jump shots (subject jumps from one part of the screen to another) and to provide a subject's reaction to an action (e.g. interview scenes).

For example:

3. Fade From and To Black - "Fade From Black" means the image gradually appears from a black screen. "Fade To Black" means the image gradually disappears to a black screen. These are used to begin and end a video. These can serve as transitions between scenes to signify changes in time or location.

This video has an example:

4. Super - this is mixing two images/footage together. This is used to show two views of subject at the same time that can suggest that the main subject is thinking about the other.

For example:

5. Lower Third Title - is used in putting text at the bottom third of the screen. This is commonly applied in identifying the name and title of an interviewee or to provide subtitles for a film.

This is an example: