Editing

Editing: - once all your scenes have been captured you are ready to start the editing stage. This is where you assemble your clips to make the movie. Each clip can be trimmed to remove unwanted frames or sections at the start, middle, and end, and then added to the storyboard. Once this is done you can rearrange the order of these clips if needed, and add any still images (photo's or graphics),and effects and transitions such as animations, fades and wipes. This is done very easily by selecting the required effect or image and, using 'drag and drop', place it between the clips thumbnails in the storyboard view. You can preview the main video track as you put it together to check that things are progressing as planned. You did plan it all out before you started off, didn't you?

When you are happy with the result of the assembly stage save the project, and then similarly work through the overlay track. The video clips and images added to this track are combined with the main video track.

Now add any required titles, subtitles and credits, and then menus This is quite easy, with most software offering a good selection of font styles to choose from, plus various styles of animation that can be applied to your titles and end credits. Again you can review the results as you go to make sure that the added text appears as you planned it.

It is now time to turn our attention to the audio side of the project. Most editing programs allow for the addition of a voice-over track plus a background audio track. Some also allow for controlling the original video soundtrack as well. It can be usefull to set the volume levels of each track independently in the timeline view. Add the voice over by using a microphone plugged into the mic socket of your PC's soundcard and record your voice while previewing the appropriate clip. The audio file is then added to the timeline's voice track where it can be edited and adjusted as required. Lastly add any background soundtrack needed to the timelines background audio track. This can be music, or sounds recorded while shooting the video. Import the tracks onto your hard disc from CD or tape and then insert them onto the time line prior to editing them. You should now set the volume levels of each track independently to best effect.

You should now preview your final project prior to rendering and outputting to disc or tape. Any final touches or changes should be made before the final render.

Rendering: - rendering your project means combining all the elements of your production (original video and soundtrack, transitions and effects, titles, still images, overlays, animations, menus, voice track and background track) and converting them into one single fileor set of files (compiling) in whichever format is needed for output in the media you have selected. This is quite some considerable task and can take ages (several hours) to complete, so put the kettle on and leave the PC alone while it gets on with earning it's living.

Once the render and compile stage is finished you just need to complete the project by writing to disc or outputing to tape, or publishing to the web