Histowhats?
With the addition of quite advanced color correction tools as part of the overall feature set of the average video editor these days your ability to manipulate and correct dodgy color results has never been better.
On top of this most of us now have access to even more advanced features which allow us to not only color correct but to also color grade our projects.
Now I don’t know about you but one of the problems I always have when dealing with color is that after about ten minutes I have lost all perspective on the colors I am looking at.
I have no idea where I am, where I came from and where I through I was going with the colors I am staring blankly at on the screen.
One way that the pros deal with this problem is through the use of histograms.
A histogram will give you a graphical representation of the qualities of the image or video you are dealing with and allow you to make adjustments in a more mechanical rather than subjective manner.
Unfortunately learning how to correctly read, understand and adjust images using the histogram comes with a bit of a learning curve.
Getting That Perfect Balance
A lesson many budding videos editors learn the hard way is that one of the most important factors in editing a video to successful completion is the way in which you deal with audio.
Audio, although unseen in any video, play a major role in the way your audience not only receives information but also in how they perceive the overall.
Getting the audio right can be both difficult and time consuming.
One aspect of your audio production that can be particularly difficult is that of background music.
In any simple montage style of project, getting the music right is pretty straightforward.
As long as the music reflects in some way what the viewer is seeing and maintains a steady non-distractive volume level throughout you should be pretty good to go.
However it is when you introduce other audio elements such as a voice over that things can get kind of tricky.
If the background music is too loud then it’s not really in the background is it!
If it is too soft it can serve no purpose or at worst have your audience “reaching” with their ears to pick it up. All in all balancing your sound track can be quite a task to get it to a point where it “feels” right.
Top 5 Tips for Great Video Editing
You Did What to the Camcorder?
Yikes! OK, this could happen to anyone and probably has happened to many, many people!
I have never done it myself but I thought this was a very good article to take a little time reading… just in case.
Dropping you cam in water is right up there as far as disasters go but if you follow some basic steps there is a good chance it will be a disaster from which you can recover.
DIY Teleprompter
I don’t know if you have noticed this in your own travels around YouTube and other video sites.
One of the most disconcerting aspects of any video where the person in it is supposed to be talking to YOU and seems not to be can be solved with a simple strategy.
You see if you make a video where you are onscreen and addressing the audience yet seem to be looking over their shoulders it can result in loss of audience really fast!
Of course the only way you can “look them in the eye” is to stare directly at the cam.
The problem with this is that you then have to remember everything you were going to say and hope that while your are making the video you DO remember!
Not easy for the average person.
The way the pros deal with this is that they use a teleprompter that actually sits OVER the lens of the camera so that as they are reading they cannot help but look directly into the lens.
Check out this article below for a cheap alternative.
A look at the New Sony A7
I think we can probably give it a year or so and by then the average Joe will be accessing the kind of quality that you can see in this article.
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