Part 1. Is Video Editing a Panacea?

As a video production company, we often hear the phrase, 'we'll fix it in post' or 'we'll take care of that during the edit'. That may be fine and good, but there's only so much you can achieve, even with digital video editing. For one, if the shot isn't there, you can't manufacture it during the edit. Also, there's very little you can do to help a bad shot that you originally wanted in your final video production.

Since this article is meant to help rather than discourage, here are some ways that video editing can save the day:

The most important thing you can do is to take the time to get the shot you need! That may seem like common sense, but to quote Mark Twain, 'Common sense isn't very common'. The point is that if it requires you an extra take or two to get the scene shot the way you need it to be during production, take the extra time to do it. The edited shot will look more natural with the other footage and it will probably save you time and possibly money in the long run, unless you're editing it yourself and you don't care how much time it takes. But as a video production company, we're on a tight schedule. The Chicago production company market, for example, is very competitive and the companies who work fast and good are most successful.

With that being said, there are things that can be done to salvage your video production, even if the perfect shot isn't there, depending on what the problem is that you're trying to solve.

Audio

It's always good to record ambient audio in the environment you're shooting in. You may need it as background to the new audio you record. Say someone flubs a word on camera and you need to try to replace it. Ideally, it would be best to record them saying the correct line in the location in which it was originally recorded. If this isn't possible, try to get the person to say the correct line(s) in a controlled situation with no background sound. Then try to edit either the entire line or word into the edited video and use the ambient background audio as a second track. This may help match the sound.

You can also edit in a sound track behind the entire video, which may also help masque the new edited audio.

If you're editing with Final Cut Pro, the popular video editing software by Apple, you may want to try Soundtrack Pro, their high-end sound editing software.

Part 2 focuses on how to address visual issues with your problem shots.

Mark Piterson is a long time video and video editing enthusiast. He has written several articles on commercial video production, home video production, video editing and photography. Here in this article he has briefly described about how to prepare for video editing.

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Orignal From: Part 1. Is Video Editing a Panacea?