video editing
Video editing refers to the processes of selecting and combining multiple video clips (and other media) and ordering to create a new product. Media assets that play a role in this process often include video footage (i.e., shots taken during the production phase), audio (i.e., speech, music, sound effects), superimposed text (i.e., titles/subtitles known as supers), photos, computer graphics, animation, and more. Besides clips arrangement and resequencing, editing usually involves corrective and/or restorative processing (i.e., color adjustments, audiovisual enhancement, filtering/noise removal) as well as creative and aesthetical treatment, where artistic filters, transitions, and various effects are combined. Hence, video editing encompasses audio editing, photography, graphic design, video processing, and other elements that constitute the core postproduction phase. Its goal is the creation of the desired editing outcome, whether the audiovisual production is intended for cinema release, streaming, or any video-clip use.
With the domination of digital technology that occurred since the late 1990s, video editing is mostly delivered through computerized environments, the so-called nonlinear editing (NLE) suites. This is also evidenced by contemporary random-access tapeless media that are currently implemented in most audiovisual capturing devices (i.e., digital camcorders, photo cameras, voice recorders, tablets, smartphones), featuring high storage capacity and data-transfer speed at relatively low cost. Thus, any computerized system could serve NLE, as long as it offers increased computing power and storage prerequisites for audiovisual content processing and warehousing. While many such solutions are now commercially available for both average users and professionals, it has only been since the very late 1990s that these systems gained credibility and began to dominate the market. This entry provides an overview of video editing, including its history, definitions, various uses, and related technologies.
History
Historically, film, ushering in motion pictures, was the first medium where the process of editing was applied. Most early film productions in the 1900s were very short in duration and constituted relatively long, static, and locked-down shots (i.e., without any story or editing involved), since filmmakers were concerned that splicing together many different (and shorter) shots would be confusing and annoying to the audience. It was soon realized that editing could surpass audience expectations by creating visual art perspectives combined with more complex storytelling. Indeed, many filmmakers argue that the real art of filmmaking is not in the photography but in the editing processes related to clip splicing.
The idea of editing preexisted in film and movie production, having its precursors in novels, live theater, or even narrated sequences involved in visual culture, where flashbacks and scene changes were regularly engaged. The first editing efforts are attributed to British film pioneer Robert Paul, who in 1898 attempted to establish motion picture continuity while moving from one sequence to another. Hence, aesthetic principles of continuity editing were born, aiming at creating rules for seamless and smooth transitions and thus facilitating visual and narrative continuity. Cutting on actions (i.e., selecting, matching, and aligning footage of the same scene/event, captured at different views/camera configurations), screen positions (i.e., choosing/setting placement and direction of screen objects in the transition frames), and mental maps (i.e., forming the point-of-view perception of the projected stories), establishing the overall context and flow of the story, constituted the first continuity editing principles.
Cut transitions were the first appeared editing processes that were initially implemented in the camera, by cracking a new shot in the exact position that the previous scene was taken (but in a different time and/or place). This approach allowed filmmakers to be creative. They were able to use various techniques and tricks, that is, the first special effects. For instance, at the beginning of the previous century, Georges Méliès used to detonate a poof of smoke in front of the captured scene, both at the end and the beginning of consecutive shots, with and without the presence of actor(s), so that the succession of these two sequences created the impression of actors’ magical vanishing. Next, film-based video editing was developed by physically segmenting, reordering, and mechanically assembling back pieces of film, using a positive copy of the film negative (work print). It was a laborious process that demanded specialized equipment and technically skilled personnel.
The appearance of electronic motion pictures and TV broadcasting led to the invention of the magnetic tape (around the mid- to late 1950s). This tape technology was developed in response to the need for a long-lasting medium that did not require time-consuming film laboratory processes like those the earlier kinescopes (i.e., the films of television shows) demanded, while also addressing some unwanted picture degradation and distortion artifacts at the same time. However, tape-based video editing was originally performed through physically cutting and pasting of tape segments, which was very inconvenient, resulting in reduced capabilities and accuracy (similar to the challenges faced by film editing). Computerized systems for such hand-based tape editing were developed by the 1960s, facilitating synchronization and therefore increasing the likelihood of proper and accurate assembling (punching in) of the tape segments.
The introduction of the helical tapes and the rotary head technology in the early 1950s and their ultimate dominance in the market made the original tape editing process obsolete. It was at this time that linear video editing appeared. The simplest tape-to-tape editing used two video decks: the player (for playing the selected segments from the source tapes) and the recorder (for recording the selected clips in the master tape). This kind of editing applies to all videotape and deck types, as long as player and recorder are of the same format—or have at least compatible input/output connections. Monitors connected to each device can be used for previewing purposes.
The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.
SUBSCRIBE
Linear video editing flourished during the 1970s, when, along with the evolution of electronic technology, video switching devices appeared, allowing the use of two or more players. This AB-roll system demanded time synchronization of the multiple sources, leading to the invention of related syncing mechanisms. The pulse count system was the first such mechanism to appear, but it was abandoned due to its deficiency in providing frame accurate time estimation. This issue was solved by the timecode system, which eventually prevailed. Hence, linear editing automation was further elaborated utilizing timecode-syncing mechanisms with the use of sync generators, while video mixers offered more than simple cut transitions (i.e., fade, dissolve, wipe), including title/graphic generators and video-processing utilities. The advantages of these new video-switching consoles were also exploited in live mixing during TV broadcasting.
Linear editing continued to be used with tape-based digital systems at the beginning of 1990s by exploiting video mixers with digital inputs/outputs or by utilizing analog in/out interfaces of the digital decks. Nevertheless, digital technology offered many advantages, such as the possibility of making multiple tape copies without any practical loss of information (in contrast to consecutive analog tape copying restrictions) as well as the automation of the editing process and the utilization of additional digital sources (e.g., title/effect generators). The next breakthrough was the implementation of tapeless media and computerized NLE systems.
While many advances were made in NLE during the 1980s, its actual potential was not full until the beginning of the 1990s, when the term nonlinear video editing was formalized. At the end of that decade, audiovisual production and the information technology converged.
Definitions and Uses
Video editing describes the processes of selecting, managing, processing, and rearranging multiple video clips as part of the creation of a new product. Editing offers a last chance to correct production mistakes and to clarify the intended message. Thus, in addition to the resequencing of clips, both technical and creative processes are involved in this postproduction phase. Montage is related to video editing and is defined as the process of forming a story briefing by splicing selected segments of various shots with the use of appropriate transitions and/or other effects. The main objectives and tasks of video editing include the inspection of the raw/filmed material (footage) and the removal of the unwanted clips; the determination of specific segments of the selected clips that are considered as the most useful; the combination and rearrangement of the chosen segments into a story structure and flow; the aesthetical treatment of the project by utilizing various audiovisual transitions, special effects, music, and sound-design tracks that shape the atmosphere (e.g., style, pace, emotion, mood); and the incorporation of a meaning in the story that can be tailored to present a particular perspective, communicate a message, or serve an agenda. Hence, the most common editing functions can be synopsized in these tasks: combine (i.e., concatenate different clips/media), condense (reduce the overall length of the involved material), correct (i.e., fix production mistakes in technical and aesthetic level), and build (i.e., order and assemble the selected media assets, which constitute the building blocks of the project). Characteristic examples of condensing include the case of TV news and the infamous sound-bites concept, where brief and memorable catchphrases that condense only the essence of an event or story are maintained.
Aesthetic Principles
Video editing is both a technique and a visual art. Hence, aesthetic principles of continuity editing have been developed, purposing to help the audience in constructing and maintaining a mental map about where things are and in what directions they are going. While the positioning of objects in the shots is considered to be part of the production principles of framing/composition, continuity editing rules apply in postproduction. Thus, vectors and vector lines presenting the motion trajectories of objects, while moving from one shot to the other, must seek to create seamless transitions for the sake of continuity. For instance, these vectors can maintain their pointing/moving direction between successive frames (continuing), or they can point/move toward (converging) or move away from each other (diverging). Still, there are cases where the principles of continuity are violated in favor of the plot, with the purpose of intensifying the emotional impact of a screen event. The term complexity editing is utilized in those cases, where crossings of vector lines with sudden transitions such as jump cuts, insert shots, or cutaways are dominant, usually accompanied by frame-by-frame advancements at different rates and dramatic soundtracks.
Categories
Video editing can be divided into three categories: (1) live mixing, (2) linear editing, and (3) NLE. Live mixing applies to TV broadcasting, where multiple audiovisual sources are on the fly edited through a mixing console, allowing the insertion of text and other effects in real time. While analog switching circuits were involved in the beginning, digital switchers and/or computerized solutions combining both hardware and software have been utilized since around 2000, facilitating usability, accuracy, and automation. Linear editing is conducted using a master tape recorder through a video-editing console that offers selection and synchronization of multiple inputs sources along with various transition effects. Two different linear editing modes were formalized, namely, assembling and inserting. Assembling editing is faster but less stable; it is generally considered a necessary tape preparatory phase. Inserting is the preferred editing method since it is more stable and allows for independent editing of audio and video tracks, but it also requires a continuous control track on the edit master tape for syncing purposes—an issue that is usually dealt with by recording a blank through the faster assembling editing. While both analog and digital systems can be utilized in linear editing, in practice, the use of linear editing has decreased due to the rapid evolution of digital NLE technology. Therefore, digital editing solutions are commonly referred to as computerized NLE systems that offer nonlinear operation (without any time-ordering restrictions) for both the media insertion (or selection) and the editing choices. However, in principle, digital and NLE are not synonymous (i.e., digital editing can be served through the combination of digital mixing consoles with linear digital decks, although such solutions are becoming rare).
Phases
NLE usually involves three editing phases: (1) importing (i.e., digitizing and/or transferring content in the computer), (2) editing (i.e., conducted in software environments), and (3) exporting (i.e., extracting the final editing outcome). Low-quality content can be inserted and edited with only moderate computing power and storage resources, while an editing decision list (EDL) can be formed in order to reedit the project in a batch-processing mode (off-line editing) using only the involved/necessary high-quality segments. This method has also been applied in linear editing, using similar processing and storage savings, including the possibility of using quality-degraded copied tapes for editing and original/master tapes for EDL-based reediting. Online editing uses the highest quality source content. Both off-line and online editing methods can be applied to both linear and nonlinear systems. In practice, EDL-based editing flourished in NLE, especially when the source footage was available in tapes.
Related Technologies
Media/digital assets management is another technology that was actually invented and developed in response to the advent of digital NLE systems; it provides sophisticated description and management solutions for both the content and its metadata as well as interoperability and cross-platform linking mechanisms. Related achievements in this field are the Open Media Framework Interchange and the Material eXchange Format that were developed as media and metadata exchange solutions as well as the Advanced Authoring Format that incorporates editing and authoring decisions so that it is sometimes described as super EDL.
Most NLE systems offer convenient postproduction technical and creative facilities, which can be very useful and cost saving (although it does carry the risk of overuse and the “let’s fix it in the postproduction” attitude). Specifically, many different media assets can be efficiently combined, edited, processed, managed, and shared, taking advantage of all the involved aspects of information technology evolution (i.e., storage media, compression algorithms, computer networks and servers’ technology, web and social media, content management systems). Furthermore, related cloud-computing services progressed to the point of offering live video editing environments as well as integrated networking storage solutions. While this progress is self-evident in home video editing, the advantages are even more important from the professionals’ point of view, where sophisticated client–server media assets management solutions are currently offered, allowing more effective use of both human and media resources.
Along with media assets management systems, MPEG-7 (multimedia content description interface) and MPEG-21 (multimedia framework) are multimedia standards that have been developed and formalized by the MPEG, aiming at offering convenient content description/management and open/cross-platform use capabilities. Hence, media documentation and content reuse scenarios can be employed, not only in the same editing project but also among different productions within networked media organizations. Moreover, compression algorithms are further evolving, offering increased content quality at high compression ratios. As well, new trends are developing, including 3-D audio/video and high-definition/ultra-high-definition video.
The original version of this article was published by SAGE Publications in The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Mass Media and Society.