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Fan Editing Pearls of Wisdom

JMB

JMB

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I thought it might be good to have a spot to share little nuggets of information about fan editing - tricks and tips you might have learned that might be useful to other fan editors that maybe don't fit neatly into technical or other categories. So, put your best ones here so we can all benefit from each other's "pearls of wisdom"...

Here's a couple useful things I have learned:

Don't completely "discard" any of the footage you have cut - it may be possible to use it, or bits of it, in another spot in your edit.

If you need to replace sound effects, see if you can grab the same sounds (or similar ones) from somewhere else in the movie you are editing before looking for another source.
 
If you're editing in 5.1 you can fade the back channels in different places if you're doing a cut, helps to soften it a lot
 
To aid the transition from scene to scene drop the music of the following scene for a couple of seconds into the end of the preceding scene.
 
Don't rush. Take your time and make sure it is as good as it can be.
All of my edits have something wrong with them. :-(
 
Don't choose to FanEdit a film before you have seen it.
 
If, for some reason, you are struggling with tinted footage that was intended to be in full color, you shouldn't give up on it right away. I thought it would be a lost cause to even try, but out of frustration I used a basic color-balancing filter and was able to make

this..
11ukkso.jpg


become this..
szgc9v.jpg


Crazy, huh?! I don't know how it was possible to achieve the color back from green footage, but hey! lol
 
SLOW THE HELL DOWN! There is no race going on to finish fanedits. I see WAY too many rushed fanedits, that suffer greatly for it. Please, for the love of god, slow down, and make it right. And if you release your fanedit, and there are glitches, go back and fix them for a revised version! Starting new edits so that you can add a notch to your fanedit belt doesn't help anyone. Make quality your first priority. Please.
 
reave said:
SLOW THE HELL DOWN! There is no race going on to finish fanedits. I see WAY too many rushed fanedits, that suffer greatly for it. Please, for the love of god, slow down, and make it right. And if you release your fanedit, and there are glitches, go back and fix them for a revised version! Starting new edits so that you can add a notch to your fanedit belt doesn't help anyone. Make quality your first priority. Please.
Click to expand...

I think this is the most important piece of wisdom for fanedits. ...and few people follow it.
 
Dont let RHR be your mentor :grin:
 
jokersmailbag said:
I thought it might be good to have a spot to share little nuggets of information about fan editing - tricks and tips you might have learned that might be useful to other fan editors that maybe don't fit neatly into technical or other categories. So, put your best ones here so we can all benefit from each other's "pearls of wisdom"...

Here's a couple useful things I have learned:

Don't completely "discard" any of the footage you have cut - it may be possible to use it, or bits of it, in another spot in your edit.
Click to expand...

I've earmarked a few cut clips to use as flashbacks in my BTTF3 edit....

reeve said:
SLOW THE HELL DOWN! There is no race going on to finish fanedits. I see WAY too many rushed fanedits, that suffer greatly for it. Please, for the love of god, slow down, and make it right. And if you release your fanedit, and there are glitches, go back and fix them for a revised version! Starting new edits so that you can add a notch to your fanedit belt doesn't help anyone. Make quality your first priority. Please.
Click to expand...

Trust me, although I have something else in mind as a project, my BTTF3 taeks prority.
 
When trying to find a sound effect for a particular sequence, be open-minded.

I once couldn't find the exact sound I wanted of twisting metal for a collapsing metal structure. I wanted it to sound like the building was almost screaming so I ended up using a wolf howl and it fit perfectly amongst all the other crashing sounds and music.
 
tip 101:
Never be afraid to ask for help

tip 102:
When you think you have finally finished an edit, WAIT at least a week or two and then watch it again. In this sense it will not be running through your head and you have the time to take a step back and really see what you have done, and then being able to make any needed changes with a clear mind
 
Crossfades. You'll be amazed at what you can do with them.
 
Wipes CAN be pulled off successfully, but you are allocated a maximum of one per film, and it must be a comedy or set in the 1920s-1960s.
 
Ghostcut said:
Wipes CAN be pulled off successfully, but you are allocated a maximum of one per film, and it must be a comedy or set in the 1920s-1960s.
Click to expand...

Or a Star Wars movie. :)
 
EXPERIMENTATION. Just drag any random image or clip into your time line, & experiment with every effects filter. Sometimes youll find that a filter that's meant for one thing might be the perfect solution to achieve an entirely different effect, as well as give you ideas you could use for future edits that you otherwise wouldnt know was possible.

For example, one effect I wanted to achieve sometime ago has been solved recently. I wanted to take what was originally a day scene, & add in a thunder storm, but had no idea how to add in storm clouds, & dont have any effects software such as After Effects. A year later, I discovered the answer, which is simply the use of a filter meant for one thing, but was a PERFECT solution. The Answer? CHROMA KEYER!! The sky is obviously blue, & chroma was MADE for the purpose of removing blue/green & replace it with whatever you want, so wala! I just dropped a still image of storm clouds for the new background & just totally flipped, I couldnt believe it was that simple & LOVE how it looked.

Need birds in a shot but dont have CGI software? Point your camera at the sky on a clear day & shoot real birds flying- than put the footage over whatever video you want to comp them in, & again, just chroma out the blue sky! Helicopters, planes, etc, same thing!!
 
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