Home Movie Editing

While home movies are not going to be a match for Hollywood blockbusters, much can be learnt from applying the same principles.

Here's my ten tips for editing a successful movie.

1. Introduce Your Movie

A punchy title sequence will kick start your movie and get the attention of your audience.

Use attractive titles to tell the audience where, when and who the movie features.

2. Tell A Story

The golden rule of movie making is story telling. Tell a story. Try to make sure your movie has a strong beginning and end. This applies if it is a day out with the family or a holiday of a lifetime.

3. Keep It Short

Movies should be short and entertaining. Be ruthless with your editing and keep your movie short and snappy. This will hold the audience's attention and stop them getting bored. Generally, I try to keep my movies to around 5 minutes.

For events like a child growing up, or a wedding, you may wish to make a longer version, as you won't want to leave anything out. Why not create two movies, the long version and a shorter version with edited highlights?

4. Avoid Cheesy Transitions

Your editing software may boast hundreds of flashy effects and transitions, but how many of these do you see in professional movies? The answer is - not many.

You should stick to simple cuts. Crossfades are good to illustrate the passing of time between one scene and another, but beyond this, straightforward cuts are always best.

5. Think About The Score

Appropriate music as a backdrop will not only help to set the scene, but can help to carry the movie along, especially when there is little dialogue or some dodgy audio.

If your software gives you the ability to vary the vloume of the audio over time, you can use this to lower the volume of the background audio at points where the dialogue or events on film are important to hear.

6. Smooth Cuts

When cutting from one scene to another, try to ensure that the cut plays back smoothly. Cuts which do not flow smoothly are referred to as 'jump cuts' and will appear jarring to the audience. Try to use different angles of the same scene to cut between, but two shots from very similar angles will appear odd.

Success here really depends on how much footage you have to play with, but regularly reveiwing your edits as you work will help to ensure that the production is smooth.

7. Cutaways

Cutaways are short clips which can be used to break up sections of video which would otherwise be too long. Clips should be edited to just a couple of seconds. If they are any longer, you may wish to cut to a relevant scene to break up the clip.

Generally this is done by keeping the audio from the main clip playing, and 'overlaying' the cutaway section. It is important however that the overlayed clip is relevant, as the audio will seem strange when it sits behind a different clip.

8. Use Photos and Other Material

Ideally, video clips won't be the only media available to you in your production. If you have still photos and maps, guides or tickets, these can be used in your design for your titles and DVD artwork. Maps can be used to show the route on a particular journey and can be animated in your software.

If you've got enough photos, why not create a slideshow? These can be created in your editing software. You can also grab stills from your video if there is a particular shot which captures the subject perfectly. Add captions and appropriate music.

9. Rescue Those Not-So-Perfect Clips

Sometimes the perfect shot for a specific point may not be perfectly captured. Perhaps it's too dark, or the lighting has caught out the camera and the colours are wrong. Most editing software provides brightness/contrast and colour correction filters which will help to rescue those important clips.

Remember that if a clip is important to use, you should use it, even  if it's not perfect.

10. Create A Great Ending

Not all home movies will lend themselves to an amazing cliffhanger of an ending, but finishing your movie abruptly will look odd, so think about a nice ending which finishes off the story. Also, add a credit roll, if you wish.