interview editing

ryan odonnell

hi, just wondering what is the best way to edit an interview without cutting to something else. I want to take out some "uhs" and "ahs" and a long silent pause in the middle of an interview. i have played around with it and the best i can seem to get it is either a 1 frame fade out and a 1 frame fade in or just a 1 frame fade in from the cut. any advice?

DWCommuter

A technique thats practiced widely is a dissolve between the cuts.

reece

I've recently seen one on rte with jump cuts. Not sure if it was meant as a last resort or just as a 'i'm using jump cuts' statement

Lump

A usual technique to get around this is to do a "Fade To Colour" effect, basically it fades to a colour (normally white) then back to the next clip - It's pretty fast (12-20 frames) but looks good, the viewer notices that time is passing but it's not as harsh as a jump cut.

John

Lump

Well that would be the way to cover it to have a "Noddy" of the interviewer, basically a few shots of the interviewer looking interested. You edit the intervie audio how you want it to be, then us the "Noddy" to cover the joins.

But since the OP said it was single camera and didn't want to cut to something else, I guess it's already been shot so that isn't an option.

Lump

I assume it's just that he doesn't have any shots of the interviewer....

lukem

If you have shot the interview in HD but are outputting to SD you could get away with cutting to a blown-up shot where you've zoomed in digitally.

Line 1 is at 100% size, line 2 is at 170% size (say) , line 3 is back to 100%

Can work if you are going for a grain gritty feel

L

Surly

In conjunction with the resizing that lukem mentioned, you can try putting different colour grades on alternating shots.

You could go even further and add some digital pans into the blown-up shots.

Also, play around with any footage you may have of the interviewee while s/he's not speaking, even if it's just them listening to a question or looking at their watch.

Hugh_C

Surly wrote: »

In conjunction with the resizing that lukem mentioned, you can try putting different colour grades on alternating shots

Wow, different grades on alternate shots, can't say I've ever seen or used that. I imagine it'd just disorientate the viewer.

Two options as I see it, shoot cutaway or fades to black. Fading to colour is way more distracting.

Hugh.

Lump

Zooming the picture is a no no, you should never edit along the same line..... i.e. same angle just tighter/looser shot.

Try out a few styles though, see what fits the piece.

ana_conda

are u sure you dont have something to cut away to?