Sourlands editing is getting along. One way I mark progress on the project is by counting the minutes of rough footage I’ve cobbled in my editing program into short story segments. It’s not a perfect count, as these bits will later be smoothed and cut and rearranged in ways that hardly resemble what they first were. But still, it sure feels like progress. I have at least 60 minutes of bits, and Sourlands is starting to feel like a film.
I realized a long time ago, first as an avid watcher of documentaries, that some films feel like news reports and others feel like narratives. The goal in Sourlands is to create something that feels like the latter but retains the value of the former. The trick is finding the right balance between the two, and it’s not always easy. Some parts of the film will necessarily feel more like adventure, and others more like medicine.
There’s a famous film editor, Walter Murch, who says you should always make storytelling and editing decisions based on these elements, in this order: 1. Emotion. 2. Story. 3. Rhythm.
Walter doesn’t make documentaries, but I’ve taken his hierarchy to heart. I think viewers respond to human emotion, and this emotional engagement is what will ultimately make them care (or not care) about the ecological issues presented in Sourlands. I try to keep that in mind as I edit.
SONY VEGAS:
The editing software I’m using to edit Sourlands is called Sony Vegas Pro. It’s an unfortunate name, because it doesn’t sound like it has anything to do with video editing. People are always like, “Sony what?”
In the world of digital video editing software, “Vegas” is definitely a fourth choice compared to the Big Three: Final Cut Pro (by Apple), Adobe Premiere, and Avid. But choosing editing software is like choosing a sports car. Everybody seems to have an opinioned preference, and at the end of the day they all get you down the road. Vegas’s loyal followers are often independent filmmakers like myself who need a self-contained editing program that can do it all – video editing, audio mixing, and color correction. My understanding is that Vegas actually started as an audio editing program, and I suspect that’s why I like it so much. The audio capabilities of the program feel like they’re built-in, rather than added on.
There’s also second reason I chose Vegas over Final Cut Pro: PCs are much less expensive than Macs, for the same power. Vegas runs on PCs and Final Cut only runs on Macs.
I realized a long time ago, first as an avid watcher of documentaries, that some films feel like news reports and others feel like narratives. The goal in Sourlands is to create something that feels like the latter but retains the value of the former. The trick is finding the right balance between the two, and it’s not always easy. Some parts of the film will necessarily feel more like adventure, and others more like medicine.
There’s a famous film editor, Walter Murch, who says you should always make storytelling and editing decisions based on these elements, in this order: 1. Emotion. 2. Story. 3. Rhythm.
Walter doesn’t make documentaries, but I’ve taken his hierarchy to heart. I think viewers respond to human emotion, and this emotional engagement is what will ultimately make them care (or not care) about the ecological issues presented in Sourlands. I try to keep that in mind as I edit.
SONY VEGAS:
The editing software I’m using to edit Sourlands is called Sony Vegas Pro. It’s an unfortunate name, because it doesn’t sound like it has anything to do with video editing. People are always like, “Sony what?”
In the world of digital video editing software, “Vegas” is definitely a fourth choice compared to the Big Three: Final Cut Pro (by Apple), Adobe Premiere, and Avid. But choosing editing software is like choosing a sports car. Everybody seems to have an opinioned preference, and at the end of the day they all get you down the road. Vegas’s loyal followers are often independent filmmakers like myself who need a self-contained editing program that can do it all – video editing, audio mixing, and color correction. My understanding is that Vegas actually started as an audio editing program, and I suspect that’s why I like it so much. The audio capabilities of the program feel like they’re built-in, rather than added on.
There’s also second reason I chose Vegas over Final Cut Pro: PCs are much less expensive than Macs, for the same power. Vegas runs on PCs and Final Cut only runs on Macs.
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