How to Edit Live Event Footage Quickly

While finishing up editing the last of the Ignite Guelph videos from the fall, I decided to record a tutorial on how the sequence was set up. In this video I explain how I normally set up for multicam video edits and, more importantly, how I go through and decide where to place the cuts during the speaker's presentation.

Even for live events, the edit should feel organic and seamless so that the viewer can be allowed to become immersed in the speaker's words. This is especially the case for the Ignite talks, where the speaker has only 5 minutes to talk about something they are very passionate about.

If you're interested in seeing more Ignite videos, I highly suggest you look through them on the Ignite Guelph and Ignite Waterloo channels.

Keep your eyes on your own work

Going to borrow from someone that inspired me today. I listen to the Fro Knows Photo RAWtalk podcast pretty regularly. In fact, it's one of two podcasts that I anticipate every week. (the other is the Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly). Photographer Jared Polin hosts it and it does cover mostly subjects related to photography, but he also talks about things that non-photographers can relate to.

Every once in a while he goes off on a tangent (very often actually) about something in the world of business, freelancers or just philosophies of life. He can get pretty passionate and fired up with some of these tangents.

Today I was listening to the latest episode, which was the first of the new year, and he touched on something that perked my ears up. I'm paraphrasing but the gist of it was:

Don't worry about what others are doing; only be concerned with what you could be doing better.

The exact context is fuzzy, but when I heard him say this I asked myself: "How often do I see another person's work and get demotivated because I think it's better than what I can do?"

Do you ever ask yourself that? It probably happens more than you think. To be fair, there are times when I see another filmmaker's work and actually get inspired from it. Looking at it as a goal, I tell myself that I want to dedicate the next three months to learning how to do THAT. But honestly there are many times when it has a negative effect and I get deflated.

How come my work isn't as good as theirs? When will I ever be able to create that effect or shoot that well?

Every once in a while it helps to have someone like Jared remind you that if you want to succeed, stop comparing yourself so much to others. Or even comparing yourself to the person you thought you were going to be. Instead of worrying about what others are doing around you, think about what you are doing right now and what you COULD be doing to drive yourself forward.

Everything is temporary; we are all advancing our skills as much as we motivate ourselves to. Have your goals, see what kind of projects you'd like to be producing and then focus on what steps you need to take to get yourself there.

And high-five others on your way. Being happy for other people's successes can be incredibly rewarding and allows you to see the possibilities for yourself.

I'm proud of my work and the projects I'm a part of. However I am always looking forward. Even as a kid I would think this way, "Okay, I've taken this step. Now where's that next step?"

Nothing new. You've likely heard all of this already at one point or another. But it bears repeating. Now pass it on.

Keep that camera moving

Most cinematographers develop a distinctive style of shooting that becomes their signature on a movie. Just by looking at how the shot is framed, how the camera is behaving or how the scene is lit can tell you exactly who shot it. Because a lot of shooters find a particular method or technique that speaks to them. Since I first picked up a camera and started shooting zombie horror and fantasy action films with my friends almost a decade ago, in my mind it was always meant to be moving. So if you've seen any of the videos that I've shot you'll know that I favour taking the camera off of the sticks (that means tripod).

Growing up watching Robert Rodriguez and other action movies, I saw how much moving the camera with the actors can do for the story. In a high-energy chase it can make you feel like you're running right with the hero. As one character encounters his lover whom he discovers has been disloyal to him, the intense emotion can be emphasized by the shakiness of the camera itself as the rocky relationship is torn apart. In a surreal dream sequence, having the camera seem to float and glide through the air helps lend the scene an out-of-body feeling.

Nowadays camera movement is often associated with low-budget, guerilla-style filmmaking since a decent tripod is not something a lot of shooters can afford (upwards of $500-$1,000 for a professional-grade video tripod). But it's also used very effectively in some noteworthy Hollywood films:

- Emmanuel Lubezki, who often shoots for Alfonso Cuarón, has become notorious for his use of camera movement during long shots in films like Ali, Children of Men and Gravity

- Eric Alan Edwards made the breakthrough film Kids look as gritty and realistic as possible by filming it the way you would expect a documentary to appear, with lots of shaky movement and long-zoom shots as though we were viewing it from a distance

- In 2011's The Adjustment Bureau, a star-crossed couple discovers that an uber-secret organization of men exist that keep the world in balance according to the plan of a higher power. This group seeks to keep the couple apart at all costs in their mission to maintain worldwide order. Early on in the movie the camera's movement is very smooth and stable. John Toll (Director of Photography) utilizes long dolly and trucking shots to reflect the Bureau's omnipresent control over humanity. As the story progresses and our two heroes rebel against the Bureau and their enforced control, the camera's movement becomes shakier and more irratic as the system becomes imbalanced by their actions.

While I will always see the value and beauty in well-composed, static shots (to this day I still find the work of Tonino Delli Colli breathtaking in the opera western classics The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West) my preference remains to let the camera off the leash (i.e. the tripod) and let it flow with the action; let it move with the emotional swings of the scene just as the music often does. I'll even defend the supposedly nausea-inducing camera work in modern fight scenes.