Editing

My mind is on the subject of video editing, hence the post.

Disclaimer: The following is not a slam on any particular person or show. If you so perasan and think I'm talking about your work, its just a coincidence. 'K?

I've been channel surfing the past few days and actually stopping by local channels. A few things stood out to me.

Case 1.
The first was a TV magazine type show talking about proper etiquette in using public parks. (not a great topic to begin with) This particular segment had lots of jerky handheld camera work with the camera tilted to extreme angles. Fast hand held pans and zooms. Good thing I don't suffer from motion sickness easily. There there were jerky fast cuts and various transitions such as page peels, spirals, and wipes thrown in for good measure.

There was this shot of a handheld, fast extreme zoom, going into the camera's digital zoom. Resulting in a grainy image. And this shot was used over and over again like 5 times. Not only that the subject they were zooming into didn't really have all that much to do with what they were talking about. So much for broadcast standards. Why use an expensive betacam? Handycam also can, and edit in MS Movie Maker.

I changed channels after that.

Case 2,
I was watching a channel showing local music videos (or MV's in trade talk, not MTV's mind you) Some of the local stuff actually has great production values and a halfway decent storyline. Some on the other hand....

In this MV there was a bunch of people dancing , then people in a living room, then this guy talks to this girl, another girl talks to another guy. Girl 2 sees guy 1 with girl 1 then gets upset, but I can't figure out why.

There is no flow that I can tell of. The action on screen is often out of synch with the what's happening musically. Groups shots are badly staged. There is no discernible sense to the lighting that I can tell. Camera work is rather random. Many of the shots just don't work and seem like they were dropped in because the editor couldn't find anything else to work with.

Which brings me to the point of this rant. These people are making real money doing it.

Me? I'm making... well, you know.. .

Bleh. :p

PS. Incase you think I have something against local MVs shot with handycams, stay tuned later this week.