Film Editing

[Fixed Cross]

A topic about the power of juxtaposed images to convey meanings that language could not possibly begin to achieve. Traditional hollywood editors are masterful in lineair storytelling and conveying moral messages within these narratives, but there are other ways to edit.

Eisenstein was a pioneer in the use of montage, a specific use of film editing. He and his contemporary, Lev Kuleshov, two of the earliest film theorists, argued that montage was the essence of the cinema. His articles and books — particularly Film Form and The Film Sense — explain the significance of montage in detail.
His writings and films have continued to have a major impact on subsequent filmmakers. Eisenstein believed that editing could be used for more than just expounding a scene or moment, through a "linkage" of related images. Eisenstein felt the "collision" of shots could be used to manipulate the emotions of the audience and create film metaphors. He believed that an idea should be derived from the juxtaposition of two independent shots, bringing an element of collage into film. He developed what he called "methods of montage":
Metric
Rhythmic
Tonal
Overtonal
Intellectual

No idea if there are any editors here, I'd like to see original definitions, preferably with examples, of these categories.

•Metric
•Rhythmic
•Tonal
•Overtonal
•Intellectual

[FilmSnob]

How about we start simple...

What editing program is everybody using?

I just finished downloading Lightworks. Anybody know anything about it? Have any value judgements?

[Flannel Jesus]

i'm using Adobe AE, don't know much about other programs. AE has the advantage of being well-integrated with lots of other design software, more so than I think any other video editing program, even Final Cut. I could be wrong about that, but I think not. It has a lot of compatibility with Cinema4D and obviously all of the other Adobe programs, which I already have loads of experience in. I'm an adobe fanboy I guess. It's nice to have a well-integrated set of programs that each have their own specialties.

[FilmSnob]

I've been reading around. It seems that Lightworks is a bit of a rebel program, establishing an interface that nobody else dares approach.You can probably tell by my word choice that I am already kinda biased towards it, but whai?

It seems like you can do everything that you can do in, say, Final Cut Pro, but you have different "desktops" like with Ubuntu. IT'S ABSOLUTELY FREE! ehem.. It's free. It has been designed to be intuitive rather than conforming to established standards (even the Gnome ones) or similarity to previous general software knowledge.

So, I'm sticking with them. If I ever gather up my balls and finally download a Linux operating system, I will look into Cinelerra.

Adobe AE is appearently a program with a slightly different focus: more for FX, "graphic design" and such, while Lightworks is more like Final Cut Pro or Avid in that it is strictly designed for cuting and prettying up video. It can do a lot of what Adobe AE can do, but more awkwardly.

[Fixed Cross]

I use Final Cut at home. I like it but it lacks the keyboard shortcuts that, for example, Incite does have. In final cut you are still bound to drag and drop on the time-line, which takes a lot of time compared to the simple key commands to insert or cut or relocate as it is in Incite. I wonder why this sort of very basic and enormously time (and nerve) saving option is not included in FCP. I enjoy to be able to only use the keyboard. It's about 500% faster.

[MagsJ]

Does anyone know how to get a screen grab from a video? I need to, but I can't even remember how to do a screen grab from a web-page

[Flannel Jesus]

just press the prt scrn button on your keyboard, and then past the image into an image editor.

[MagsJ]

Thanks FJ - I hope it works on online videos I'll give it a go later...

[Flannel Jesus]

it works on anything you can see on your screen -- it takes a shot - pixel for pixel - of what's on screen, except the cursor.