Practical narrative film editing

Practical Film Editing

New film editing course

This course replaces the old film editing course and should be a lot more fun.

Sponsored by the Star Movie Shop

This disk uses editing workshop disks from the Star Movie Shop

located in beautiful, downtown Triplicane in front of the magnificent Star Theatre.

It's free!!!!

If you buy the disks, this course can cost you a huge amount of money (over $500 US.) However, for a little while at least, you can use these disks for FREE (sent to most locations on the planet) if you complete an edit on the previous disk.

To obtain the first disk for free, you need to complete either the first part of the basic filmmaking class or the film scoring class. Or you can purchase the disk from the Star Movie Shop

.

Available at selected film schools

Note: These disks are also available at better film schools around the world. Check to see if your school already has these disks.

Test of your software and determination

As a test, you must edit an extremely short and very simple (11 second long) scene.

This test disk is free to people who have completed the first half of the basic filmmaking course or completed the first half of the film scoring course.

Note: Some film schools around the world already have this disk.

Or you can borrow the disk from your friends.

Otherwise, the disk is $20 from the Star Movie Shop

postage paid.  Request the test disk (also called the "Entrance Exam" disk) which contains a very short scene called "The Promotion".

A complete editing workshop disk

This is a complete scene of two people talking. This is probably the shortest scene you have ever seen. Yet, it is good practice.

This NTSC DVD-Video disk includes a rough edit, highlights of the film dailies, a spotting session for a special edit of the scene which is in the data section of the disk, as well as the six film dailies which you will edit.

For more details, see the instructions for this super simple Editing Workshop DVD-Video disk.

Open Source

• All the informational content of the disks from the Star Movie Shop is distributed under a GNU Open Source License,

• None of the disks from the Star Movie Shop is copy protected.

Therefore, please share these disks with young filmmakers in your area.

Narrative film editing theory in 11 minutes

Once you have completed the Entrance Exam and sent me your edit of the scene, you qualify for a free copy of the "Follow Dave?" Editing Workshop CD-ROM.

This disk contains a movie showing all the steps of editing a narrative conversation. This educational movie (mpg) is designed for high school students so it is a bit dorky.

A lot of film schools already have this disk. Otherwise the disk is $24 from the Star Movie Shop

. Request the Follow Dave disk.

A typical scene

This CD-ROM contains a typical scene from a television drama. It is a long conversation. The first part of the scene helps tell the story for the episode and the second part a running joke for the first season which was cut from the final release of the scene.

The good news is this is the only disk from the Star Movie Shop which has instructions.

The bad news is the quality of the video is not good and the images are only half size. Yet, currently, this editing workshop is the best on the market for beginning filmmakers who want to learn film editing of dramatic conversations.

Requires QuickTime Pro 3 or greater.

A practice scene

Once you have watched all of the content of "Follow Dave?" Editing Workshop and answered a few questions about the long edit of the scene, you qualify for a free copy of the "Missing" Editing Workshop CD-ROM.

This disk is still in beta and sells for $48 from the Star Movie Shop

. Request the Missing disk.

Two people talking

This is a typical scene from an episodic television drama. Two people talk back and forth. Who do you watch? The person who is talking? Or the person who is listening?

Both actors give powerful performances so their reactions are just as interesting as when they are talking. But the audience cannot watch both at the same time. How do you edit this?

Examine film dailies

Once you have edited "Missing" Editing Workshop, you qualify for a free copy of the "24 Unedited Scenes" DVD-ROM.

Otherwise the disk is $120 from the Star Movie Shop

. Request the 24 Unedited Scenes disk.

This is like a tour of the movie studios (about 20 years ago) in Hollywood. You get to see the raw film footage from scene after scene. To see this many unedited scenes, you would have to go to Hollywood and become a production assistant (for little or no pay) and work for one year to observe everything that you see on this one disk.

Most of this film footage is very tedious to watch. It is only after the scene is edited and the film scores (not included) are added that the scenes come alive. There is a separate section on the disk which has an overview (highlights) of the film dailies. That is much easier to watch than the raw film footage. Still, if you do not have a burning desire to become a filmmaker, you will never get through all of this disk.

An overview of film dailies

This is for people who do not live in southern California and have not seen lots of scenes being filmed. These scenes are from old and long forgotten television dramas and movies. About half of the scenes might be interesting to film students and the other half are good for practice of film editing.

Sorry, but the quality of the video is not good and the images are only half size. Requires QuickTime Pro 3 or greater.

A practice scene

Once you have edited two scenes from the disk called "24 Unedited Scenes", you qualify for a free copy of the "Watching" Editing Workshop NTSC DVD-Video.

Otherwise the disk is $48 from the Star Movie Shop

. Request the Watching disk.

Fun and simple scene

This is just a fun scene to edit. Good practice of editing a dramatic conversation. Requires some musical sound effects or a musical score.

The theory of "L-Cuts"

Once you have edited the scene called "Watching", you qualify for a free copy of the "Fireworks Display" Editing Workshop CD-ROM.

Otherwise the disk is $48 from the Star Movie Shop

. Request the Fireworks Display disk.

The theory of "L-Cuts"

When two people talk back and forth without stopping, totally new rules of film editing apply.

This disk explains the rules of (1) editing for sound, (2) locking the picture, and then (3) rolling each the picture edits to find the best visual transition.

This disks clearly demonstrates how "L-Cuts" change the impact of a scene. However, this is very subtle so you will have to watch this demonstration a few times before it sinks in. Once you understand this, it is amazing!

Another practice scene

Once you have edited the scene called "Fireworks Display", you qualify for a free copy of the "Hearing Voices" Editing Workshop NTSC DVD-Video.

Otherwise the disk is $48 from the Star Movie Shop

. Request the Hearing Voices disk.

Challenging scene

In real life, filming and editing a scene can be challenging. This is a short and simple scene but deciding how to edit it is not simple.

The DVD-Video section shows how the scene can be edited three different ways... even though the audio is edited the same way for all three edited. "L-Cuts" and insert shots make the difference.

Film editing for scoring

Once you have edited the scene called "Hearing Voices", you qualify for a free copy of the "Blindman's Bluff" Editing Workshop NTSC DVD-Video.

Otherwise the disk is $48 from the Star Movie Shop

. Request the Blindman's Bluff disk.

Creating more room for music

In "Follow Dave?" and some of the other scenes, you see a long edit of the scene where extra room has been added between words to allow for a film score.

In this scene, you finally see a real example of how this is done.

Requires QuickTime Pro 7.

A practice scene

Once you have edited the longer scene called "Blindman's Bluff", you qualify for a free copy of the "Sweet Retribution" Editing Workshop NTSC DVD-Video.

Otherwise the disk is $48 from the Star Movie Shop

. Request the Sweet Retribution disk.

A long yet simple scene

Here is another practice scene for you to edit.

Requires QuickTime Pro 7.

Final Exam

Once you have edited the longer scene called "Sweet Retribution", you qualify for a free copy of the "Only a Dream" Editing Workshop NTSC DVD-Video.

Otherwise the disk is $64 from the Star Movie Shop

. Request the Only a Dream disk.

A long, long scene

Here is yet another scene for you to edit. It is long and it is your final exam.

Requires QuickTime Pro 7.

More disks are available

There are additional disks for use by students depending on the age and maturity of the student.

Contact your instructor

• Your instructor for this class is Robert Elliott. To email me, you simply Click Here.