Edit to the Maxx - The Art of the Digital Cut - Part 4

by Steve Mullen

Published on Jul 5, 2006 7:00 AM
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Edit to the Maxx is an semi-monthly introductory course in video editing, aimed at beginners. We use a free, downloadable software program. This column appears every other Wednesday.
 
 
 
More Ways to Capture
In this episode will learn a third way to capture media. This technique is ideal for use when you have a tape that has only a small number of shots that you want to use.
Power-up your camcorder or deck and plug the FireWire cable into it and then into your computer. Launch FreeDV. When FreeDV is launched, the application will connect to the Internet and present Go or Later buttons. Click the Later button.
Now you will be presented with the Select Project dialog box.
 
 

 
Select the Project you previously created and click the OK button.
You may now see one or more informational boxes. Click OK. You likely will then see a dialog box appear. Click Cancel.
Multiple Free DV windows will now open on the screen. They should be in the same arrangement you used the last time you used Free DV. If the arrangement is not the same, issue the Tools > Capturecommand to open the Capture Tool window. You will see the Select Tape dialog box open.
 
You should see tape T01 listed and selected. Because you are going to work with the same tape, click OK.
The clip in the SuperBin will be the one you captured last time.
Click the New Bin button in the Project window. The new Bin will open in the SuperBin. In this case, name it Lesson 4 Bin. The new Bin will open in exactly the same location as the SuperBin.
Make the new Bin a Frame-style Bin by clicking on the Frame tab. Next, click in the Bin and press[CTRL+L] or 3 times to increase the size of clip icons. If you have a low resolution screen, the values should be “3;” if you have a super high resolution increase you could use “4.”
 Get Ready to Capture
Get ready to capture by confirming the following status information is displayed in the already open Capture Tool.
·      Video: “OHCI”
·      Audio: “OHCI”
·      Res: “DV25 411 OMF”
·      “Generic DV Device—NTSC”
 
Capturing DV
Click the V, A1, and TC buttons in the Record Tool. This will cause video and timecode, plus the left audio channel, to be captured to disk.
To capture the four video segments you recorded after the first installment, follow these steps:
1.         Select, by single clicking in its window, the Bin that will hold the tape, e.g., Lesson 4 Bin.
2.         In the Record Tool, check the Bin: name. It should be the name of your new Bin, for example, Lesson 4 Bin.
3.         In the Record Tool, check the Tape Name? button. It should be the name as last time, e.g., T01. If not, click the Tape Name? button. The Select Tape dialog box will open as shown below.
 
4.         Click in the New Tape field and type in the name of the tape you captured last time (e.g., T01) followed by return. Load the DV tape into your camcorder if it is not loaded. Click OK.
 
5.         Use the Shuttle slider (directly above the Play button) to locate the beginning of the first video segment.
6.         Click the Capture Tool’s } button to mark the In-point.
7.         Use the Shuttle slider to move to the end of the first segment of video.
8.         Click the Capture Tool’s { button to mark the Out-point.
9.         Click the Capture Tool’s Record button.
10.    When the marked clip has been captured, you will have captured the first video segment into the Lesson 4 Bin.
11.    Use the Shuttle to move to a point about 20 seconds before the beginning of the second segment.
12.    Press the spacebar to begin playback.
13.    When you see the beginning of the second segment, press i to mark the In-point. This is called marking “on-the-fly.”
14.    Press the spacebar to begin playback.
15.    When you see the beginning of the third segment, press o to mark the Out-point.
16.    Click the Record button.
17.     When the marked clip has been captured, you will have captured the second video segment into the Lesson 4 Bin.
18.    Press the spacebar to begin playback and play about 30 seconds into the third segment on the tape.
19.    Press i to mark the In-point. Note the Mark-in time.
20.    Use the Shuttle to move to 30 seconds past end of the third segment of the video you recorded on your tape.
21.    Press o to mark the Out-point. Note the Mark-out time.
22.    We know we have not marked the clip correctly, so lets fix our “errors.” Click the }< button next to the Mark-in display. The tape will rewind to that point.
 
23.    Now use the Shuttle to locate the correct in-point and click the } button to mark the revised in-point.
24.    Click the >{ button next to the Mark-out display. The tape will fast-forward to that point.
25.    Now use the Shuttle to locate the correct out-point and click the { button to mark the revised out-point.
26.    Click the Record button.
27.    When the marked clip has been captured, you will have captured the third video segment into the Lesson 4 Bin.
28.    Use the j k l keys to locate the beginning of the fourth segment. Use k to pause the tape.
j    Reverse
k Stop
l    Forward
29.    Press i to mark the In-point.
30.    Use the j k l keys to locate the end of the fourth segment. Use k to pause the tape.
31.    Press o to mark the Out-point.
32.    Press F4 to start the capture.
33.    When the marked clip has been captured, you will have captured the fourth video segment into the Lesson 4 Bin.
To View the Captured Clip
To view the first captured clip, double-click on the clip’s icon located in the Lesson 4 Bin. A small monitor window will pop up. Close the monitor window by clicking the [Close button] or the .
To view the second captured clip, double-click on the clip’s icon located in the Lesson 4 Bin. A small monitor window will popup. Close the monitor window by clicking the [Close button] or the .
Repeat, until you have viewed all four clips you captured.
To quit Free DV, issue the [File > Exit] or command.
In the next episode, we will learn a fourth way to capture video that will save you lots of effort.

This Week's Shooting Tip

Sometimes home videos suffer from the jarring effect of jumping from scene to scene too quickly. You’ve probably seen it before: the family is packing up the car, then we cut to the kids screaming as the Tilt-a-Whirl spins them into a nauseated glee. You know that this was the trip to Disneyland, but your audience won’t. This can be remedied with some establishing shots. An establishing shot is usually a wide angle shot of the location in which the scene takes place. A shot of the Disneyland entrance in between your scenes will clear up a lot of confusion and make for a better flow.

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Steve Mullen owns Digital Video Consulting located in Las Vegas. DVC has been supporting videographers for over a decade with seminars, consulting, training, and tutorials. A Contributing Editor for Video Systems for many years, he has also written for A/V Video, Camcorder, DV, Etown, millimeter, The Perfect Vision, Video Pro, and Video Review. Steve taught at Rutgers University and the University of the Arts, and most recently has published two eBooks: the Sony HDV Production Guide and the JVC ProHD Production Guide.