This blog will give you tips on how to edit funny, documentary-style videos. I have been in the industry for over a decade and we have recently completed our short film. We edited a “making of” video using various clips and outtakes taken during production. Creating this film was an unforgettable experience with an amazing cast and crew. Check out the video above with before & after pictures at the end.
Video editing is one of the most important aspects of film and video production. It can set the tone, it’s where you create a story, and can alter your emotions if you edit right. It can also make a subject funny, stupid, or scary even when the performance was not originally intended for that.
Filming of the Property Brothers on our street. TV shows often create awkward moments intentionally.
In a TV show called Million Dollar Listing, real estate agent’s have conversations with their clients. There are many times when editing can make someone seem awkward. For example, an agent asks how much their client wants to sell the house for; the client takes a very long time to respond, while blinking several times. The shot can cut back and forth between the agent and client with weird stares. But in reality, the client may have responded to that question immediately. The editor simply used another point in the clip – perhaps a reaction shot from a different question, or an extension of an awkward moment by cutting back and forth. By doing this, the audience gauges an awkward feeling from the character in the show and it can alter the way they perceive them which in turn makes it entertainingly funny to watch. View a sample of what I’m explaining here (at 43 seconds).
This is important because that is what you want to search for in your clips when creating these types of videos. You want to search for reaction shots and potential funny moments. You want to mix up your shots with clips that were meant for something else.
After selecting all the segments, you need to review your footage and decide how you would organize them so that there’s a meaningful flow. In our project, I’ve kept the interview at the beginning, and the outtakes at the end. Below are three tips you can follow:
Photo by Andy Wong. Behind the scenes of a corporate video we worked on recently
1) Media Ingestion: The first thing to do is to collect all of the footage from the people that were filming the project; whether it’s a cell phone, or a second camera, obtain them all. Next, lay out the footage in your video editing software’s timeline and categorize them by camera number. Then review the footage by fast forwarding. Stop when you see a potential comedy spot, and mark it on the timeline.
In our project, I spent approximately 6 hours reviewing 24 hours of footage. I then took all potential clips that I had marked down and moved them into categories such as “funny moments,” “outtakes,” and “people working behind the scenes;” that filtered down to about 15 minutes of footage. I then shortened them even more by selecting only the best seconds and assembled the clips into the main piece.
2) Ear Candy: Good Royalty free music may be difficult to find. You may want to read my previous blog on where you can obtain music.
In our example, the film was dark and serious (short film here) so I thought it would be nice to have something to contrast it. I searched for upbeat and fun music to set our tone. I wanted my cast & crew to remember something unique and have a great experience watching it.
At this moment in the project, you should spend some time thinking about the overall “look” that you want for the video. Once you have thought about your video’s flow, place your clips with your music. You will need to adjust the music as it normally never matches up properly. It is good to end the video when the music ends, but if you don’t have enough footage or the music is too short, you will need to edit it. You may also need to adjust the music’s volume throughout the video. During narration, lower the volume of the music and raise it when the narration stops. That way the audience will be able to hear the speaking parts more clearly. Read my previous blog about how to edit sound and music in more depth.
Smother Project: Photograph by Vai Yu Law, Make up by Valentina Dang, Stylist Ashley Galang, Model Lindsay Michaela.
3) Assembly & Management: I have edited several behind the scenes projects recently, our company video, the making of our short film Hope, and behind the scenes of a photo shoot Smother. To make it fun and memorable, there are a few ways in which you can structure your video:
A) Place your clips in chronological order in terms of when you shot each scene. An example of this would be in our making of Hope video.
B) Allow the audience to meet your crew members at the beginning by introducing them with lower third titles, then showing off behind the scenes footage and outtakes. This is seen in our company video.
C) After showing off the outtakes and footage, add production stills at the end with slower paced music to change the audience’s emotional feelings as I did in Smother.
Review the video examples mentioned to see how I’ve implemented the various techniques in the videos.
Sony Vegas timeline of our short film Last Breath
A final useful tip – within your video sequences, you can do unique things. When we were putting our behind the scenes footage together I cut between comedic reaction shots and funny crew moments as seen at 42 seconds. That crew member shot had nothing to do with the prior reaction shot, but when placed together in that sequence, it makes it funny (I hope anyway). When done properly, each of these comedy excerpts will make your video more unique.
There are so many ways to structure your video. Don’t be bound to the above few examples, feel free to explore and create your own. Remember, video editing is where all the clips combine together to tell a story and where you share the experience of the project. It is the final step before the public sees your work, so make it worthwhile.
If you have any editing questions, please do not hesitate to contact us, and like always, happy editing.