A non-linear video editor (NLVE) is a truly wondrous piece
of software. The ability to organize and track hundreds of video clips, and to
display several dozen showing their relationship to each other, while viewing
in one place the result of their
combined visual impact – Wow! Not to mention that you can do the same thing
with the sound track from each clip, either combined or separately from the
visual. I use a program called Sony Vegas Pro. It’s not as famous as some
others like Adobe Premier, which a lot of professionals favor. Maybe the others
have some added capabilities but if so they are way beyond my skill level to use.
My sound editor is Audacity, which is freeware but seems to be the preferred tool
for almost everybody who works on their own rather than in a studio.
A project like Dragons in the Box involves a lot of
self-education. I want to make text crawl across the screen in some places. How
do I create that effect? I really botched the exposure on one set of interviews
– how, and how much, can I restore those sequences to something like a normal look?
Here is a great shot, but the camera jerked in the middle of it – how can I
smooth that out?
There are a lot of decisions to be made. How long does this
scene need to go on to make the point I want to make? Does this sequence need
narration, or is it self-evident? Two or three people made the same observation
during interviews – which one(s) do I include? On an interview where I messed
up the exposure, should I eliminate that problem by just leaving it out, or is
the interview so good it should be included even though flawed visually?
This is how I’m spending my days and much of my nights.
Telling you about it sort of violates the rule about sausage and politics, but
the good news is that I’m really pleased with how the result is turning out. I
think it will tell the story we want to tell. It’s shaping up to be about 48
minutes in length, which is less than the typical broadcast documentary and
there are no commercials. Maybe this is not objective, but sitting and watching
my early cuts all the way through, it doesn’t feel like that much time goes by.
I’m hoping to get the final cut reviewed and send it to you
next week. That amazes me, I really thought I would be pushing to get to this
point by July.
