The first new word that I encountered as I began my Multimedia Journalism (MMJ) program was “cut.”
Before I started my graduate work I had no idea about editing. Adobe Premiere is an entirely new world to me. Sure, I watch films and videos all the time, but had never paid much attention to the editing. But now I’m realizing just how advantageous a good working knowledge of editing programs can be when it comes to storytelling.
If you are a good storyteller, then you know how to construct a captivating storyline. Video storytelling is not that simple, though. When filming footage the filmmaker must consider how she will edit that footage together. So, in a way, a filmmaker’s storytelling abilities are limited by her knowledge of video editing. For example, my first multimedia journalism project was supposed to be driven entirely by images, rather than by words. So I decided to walk to a bike shop and shoot footage of people fixing a bike. But when I got there I didn’t know where to start, because I had no script. Furthermore, I had no knowledge of Premiere, and could not imagine how my footage would come together to form a single story.
After that bad experience, I decided that for my next attempt I would write my script first, then go out to film. Even though I had minor problems with the camera positioning and the lighting, this attempt went much more smoothly than my first. I was learning quickly.
Here is my inspiration video:
I watched this video before I began my project. Then after the project was done, I watched it again and understood it a little better. The video poses the question: what makes for effective editing?(0:52) William Goldenberg, the film editor in The Imitation Game, says that editing is most effective when people don’t pay attention to it, but instead pay attention to the story.
Additionally, great editing can direct an audience’s emotional response (1:20) and influence their perception of a particular subject (1:30). Simply, if my audience is unaware that they are under my control, then I’ve begun to succeed as a filmmaker.
“The best decision you make is not cutting,” Goldenberg says (3:17). As a beginner, I don’t always have a perfect idea about what I want to have in my final piece. This means that I need to shoot as much as possible in order to make sure I get everything that I may need. Maybe later in the program I’ll be more able to take Goldenberg’s advice, but not now.