 | Sample Editing Portfolio
Video editing is a learned skill; here's how to practice.
Developed by Steve Goodman, Educational Video Center, New York City
Editing is more than just pushing buttons. It means telling a story with images and sounds. In this portfolio collect at least three of the following: - A group of still images, arranged in a sequence that tells a story.
- Storyboards for your practice project or final tape.
- A segment of videotape (rough or final) from your group's work.
- Any videotape from other producers that give you editing ideas for your own work.
- Other visual art (charts, graphics, titles), original or otherwise, that you have used in your piece.
- Music or sound effects you have created for your tape.
Five things proficient editing does: - Tells a story with a beginning, middle, and end.
- Tells a story that is relevant and meaningful to a youth audience.
- Maintains consistent sound levels.
- Edits are clean.
- Edits are logical in content (idea, dialogue) and composition (framing, camera movement).
Four things masterful editing does: - Presents central themes in a coherent and compelling way.
- Advances the story even with the sound off.
- Layers images (action, titles, effects) and sounds (dialogue, narration, music, effects) in ways that add ideas or feelings to the story.
- Uses rhetorical techniques such as: point/counterpoint, emphasis, contrast or contradiction, building tension expanding or contracting time.
Be sure to read Kathleen Tyner's interview with Steve Goodman in Related Articles at the right.
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