It is hardly possible to cover all facets of video editing with a few short paragraphs on a web page. Video editing for broadcast quality television is highly technical and extremely expensive. What this information will try to accomplish is to give a short introduction to both traditional video editing concepts (linear editing) and the newer computer-based technologies being utilized by many videographers today (non-linear editing).

Many job descriptions for graphic artists today include experience in handling digital video files. These files are being used in web design and multimedia. It is important to gain as much knowledge and experience as possible in working with video, since it will afford many employment opportunities in the future.

A good video is usually produced through the creative use of editing. Editing is basically putting together a picture story. Much in the way that a writer creates an outline, and then a final draft, the videographer uses a script, a storyboard, an "edit decision list (EDL)", and finally the editing process to produce a high quality production. The information below pertains more to the different processes of editing rather than to the actual editing itself. Use it to help you complete the review sheet. It will help you to gain a little insight into how video editing works, and also how it has developed and changed through the use of computers.

LINEAR EDITING

Many of us are familiar with the operation of a camcorder and have used one to create videos. Some of us have also used a camcorder's titling feature to apply titles and ending credits to our video. These features have allowed us to create what would be called "home videos". However, in order to create professional quality videos, there is a bit more equipment that would be involved.

The simplest form of linear (traditional) editing is called "assemble editing", "deck-to-deck editing" or "cuts-only editing". It is exactly what the name implies. The original tape is placed in one deck, and a blank tape in another. The decks are connected with cables so that the video and audio signals from the tape can be recorded on to the blank tape. The video editor makes decisions as to what is to be recorded, and what is unnecessary. The selected portions of the tape are assembled onto another video tape that has cut out the unnecessary parts. This is done by playing the tape on one deck, and recording the video on the other deck. That, in a nutshell, is how traditional editing works.

The description above definitely oversimplifies the theory of assemble editing. There are many different variations that can be done. The most popular is an "A/B roll system". A/B roll editing is when we edit from two or more video sources. This means that two video decks or camcorders may be used as "source decks". They are attached to a console that mixes the two signals, and records them onto another deck. An A/B roll system with a digital mixer or editing console not only controls the editing process, but allows for special transitional effects (transitions), like dissolving one scene into another. This type of system really raises the level of the production, as it creates smooth changes from scene to scene. All-in-one editing consoles also may have titling effects (character generators) built-in. This allows not only the creation of titling and credits, but the superimposing of titles over already recorded video scenes.

There are still a large amount of videographers who use traditional (linear) editing techniques. They may already have spent substantial amounts on cameras, recording decks, editing consoles, character generators, etc. In order to get into non-linear editing, they would have to purchase a computer, video capture equipment, and software. Depending on their level of production, this equipment can get very expensive.

NON-LINEAR EDITING

The impact of the personal computer on the video industry has been tremendous. With the advent of "video capture cards", and sophisticated digital video software, the average computer user can produce video files for sharing with relatives, sending on the Internet, and creating personal and industrial videos.

The key to digital video is the conversion or "digitizing" of video tapes into computer files. This process is called "video capture". Special devices or internal computer video cards have audio and video connections that allow the attachment of a camcorder or video cassette recorder. A taped segment is played on the deck and the computer "records" the images electronically as a computer file.

The main drawback to this technology is the incredibly large file sizes that are created when the digitizing takes place. Personal computers need extremely large capacity hard drives to store the files, and sometimes they require an entire dedicated hard drive (or an "array" of multiple hard drives) to store the files. The computer must have a large amount of random access memory (RAM) in order to be able to work with the video files as well.

The major attraction of this technology is that it dramatically reduces the amount of equipment required to create and produce high quality video productions. All that is required is the capture card, a personal computer, an output card (or digital video recorder card) and a standard video deck.

Digital editing software is called Non-Linear Editing (NLE) and usually works on a "timeline" interface. This means that the files can simply be "dragged and dropped" just as if they were words in a word processor. This greatly simplifies the editing process. Instead of cueing up decks and controlling editing consoles, the video editor can use the mouse to place video segments and even trim and clip segments. NLE software allows for the creation of sophisticated transitional effects, editing of multiple scenes, layering of audio tracks, and character generation for titles and credits. That's a lot of features for a small investment!

The major drawback to digital video files is that the majority of software programs rely on "software compression" which results in the degradation of image quality. Instead of full-screen video images many editing software programs handle only 320 x 240 pixel images. (640 x 480 would be closer to full size video images.) This is basically only good for Internet applications and multimedia. It is not good for broadcast quality video.

Improvements in software and compression technologies should allow for better, larger images in the near future, but for the time being, traditional video editing and computer-assisted video editing remain the choice of broadcast professionals.

COMPUTER-ASSISTED LINEAR EDITING

Between the digital video revolution, and the traditional linear type-of editing, is another type of editing. This editing process is usually included under a "linear" editing heading, but it may be seen as a totally different classification as well. In traditional "A/B roll editing", an editing "console" is used. This editing console is basically a video deck controller. In other words, the console is used to locate portions or scenes on the source tapes, to select the portions for recording, and then to actually time and control the recording of the new segment with its transitions, audio, etc. This is definitely a sophisticated bit of editing that is performed by the console itself. (With a little help from us humans!)

"Computer-assisted linear editing" is the use of a computer and specialized computer software and hardware to turn the user's computer into a video editing console. The computer is set up between the machines, and generally it is only taking the place of the console in an A/B roll editing set-up. That is why many people do not consider the use of the computer in this case as a true digital video set-up. However, the use of this specialized set-up has become commonplace, as it has helped to bridge the gap between the pure digital videographer, and the traditional videographer. The use of the computer is helpful in utilizing the older editing decks and equipment. This is especially important to understand, in that it allows for the production of very high, broadcast quality video.

To understand why this is important, you must understand that in order to store video on a computer, it must be "compressed". This means that the video information has to be processed through a filtering-type of software to make the digital video files smaller. The use of this compression software degrades the quality of the image. The video produced is good for use on the Internet and in low resolution requirements for training and multimedia. However, it is not really of the quality that may be used to broadcast commercials and programming on a broadcast or cable network.

The above explains why not all video is being produced through the use of computers. Although we will soon have the capability to compress broadcast quality video, it is not really available at this time. Therefore, professional videography will probably continue being produced using traditional, and computer assisted methods.

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