Ten Commandments of DV Editing

1. Thou shalt not screw up thy client’s job.
2. Thou shalt not record in LP mode, lest ye receiveth thy glitch.
3. Thou shalt not mix tape brands, nor shalt thou allowest them to intermingle freely, lest ye recieveth thy glitch.
4. Honor thy Alimighty Vectorscope and thy Almighty Waveform Monitor, for in Darkness and in Light art thou guided by them.
5. Thou shalt not covet thy scene transition for the sake of vanity, but shalt thou cut with reason and purpose, and only then, keeping thy transitions modest.
6. Thou shalt have thy proper subject on screen at the proper time, thy speaker when he speaketh, thy reactor when he reacteth, thy glance and then thy object.
7. Thou shalt not cross axis.
8. Cast down thy recording tabs and breaketh them, and if thy tabs slideth, and not breaketh, then shalt thee slidith thy tabs into the “save” position, so that thine precious video might then be saved from eternal loss.
9. Loggeth thee thy master tapes, and with marked labels shalt thee cover them, for their nakedness is sinful.
10 Thou shalt not linger too long in black, lest thy viewer kick his TV set reproachfully, thinking it hath conked out again.

The Art of Film and Video Editing takes you beyond the hardware to the art of editing. This 9-part article is a course in the art and styles of editing. Includes videos. Don’t miss it.

8 Comments »

You are real genius man…
The best of editing basics put in the best way…
thee mesmerized by thy commandments
shall follow it till eternity…

Comment by Bidyut Gogoi — September 8, 2009 @ 8:18 am
I heareth, and I obey!!

Comment by Maurice Young — September 28, 2009 @ 11:07 am
Thou shall not own any pets unless you hit save every 10 minutes

Comment by Alejandra Fitzsimons — November 17, 2009 @ 8:33 pm
thanks a mill, is that all? your advice is so good you leave a new film maker wanting more, who knows with yr tips one could eventually win an award.

Comment by Yvette Shiri — December 12, 2009 @ 11:13 pm
Thou shalt back-up all masters, sources, and EDLs on more than one media.

Comment by admin — December 13, 2009 @ 7:16 am
i obey

Comment by tino blaze — January 12, 2010 @ 3:37 am
2&3 are a bit lame for an editing 10 commandments, expecialy considering a lot of people are tapless. I would replace them with backup your project regularly (and media if you have room) and Make sure your parents can understand it. Also have a good ending (most important bit IMHO).

Comment by Ben Edwards — December 13, 2010 @ 10:22 am
So so true!! Great advice for any filmmaker or videographer.

Comment by Shaun — November 15, 2011 @ 4:45 pm