Editing in camera

Editing in Camera - by Sir Paul Holden

Many members will have had their first initiation into this technique at the Surrey Border Film & Video Makers “Film in an Evening” Club Nights, where the exigencies of time scale rule out the possibility of post-production editing for all but the most sophisticated members! However, the technique can be used very effectively to remove unrewarding footage during “Fly-on-the-Wall” type documentaries, where the expected action didn’t happen when you pressed the button. It can also be the salvation of holiday filming accidents, where precious footage has been wasted with swinging close-ups of your feet, treetops and sky filmed at strange angles, or the zooming, framing and focussing for that precious shot, which is then lost for ever when you press what you thought was the START button, but was actually the PAUSE button! (Yes we all do it - you are not the only idiot in creation!)

So let me run through the full drill for intentional editing in camera, and you can adapt any part of it for rescuing those accidents, or just cutting down the length of a shot before shooting the next one:

1) Each scene shot in the correct order, and left recording well beyond the end of the scene;

2) Each scene reviewed on the monitor (or viewfinder and earphones), and found to be acceptable in action and sound before proceeding to the next scene;

3) The next scene then to be set up and rehearsed to the Director’s satisfaction;

4) The preceding scene then to be replayed to the monitor (or V/F + E/P), and paused at the right moment chosen by the Director;

5) The camera then to be put straight into record mode, and a count down of seconds begun by the Director from 5 to 0 (the last two seconds being silently counted down to themselves by everyone);

6) The Cameraman to press the “Start Record” button on the count of “2”, but the actors not to commence action before their own silent count of “0” (when the red light on the camera should light up!);

7) The camera to be left rolling well beyond the intended end of the scene before pausing and switching back to “playback” mode for scene review; and

8) Return to Stage 2) above, and continue until all scenes have been successfully recorded, ending with a good length of “black” (i.e. a new scene inserted with the lens hood on, and no sound!!)

If none of this is totally familiar to you, I suggest that all budding Directors and Cameramen keep a copy by you till next year’s “Film in an Evening”; and that in any case, in preparation for your next documentary or wedding film, you practice Stages 4 to 7 with your own camera until it becomes second nature - so that you can rescue those “mistakes” promptly and quickly, to avoid embarrassment when showing the “rushes” to your proud “actors” before you have had a chance to edit them out!

HAPPY SHOOTING!