What i think about Avid

The editing of feature films is a small niche of the overall market for editing software, yet companies continue to highlight features edited with their software as a form of aspirational marketing to attract new users. Avid Technology has had plenty of competition since the start of the company, but the majority of mainstream feature films are still edited using Avid Media Composer software. Lightworks and Final Cut Pro “legacy” have their champions (soon to be joined by FCP X and Premiere Pro CC), but Media Composer has held the lead as the preferred software for feature film editors.

My opinion on Avid so far is i find it easy to use once i have been shown properly. Before coming to University i have never used editing software myself so i felt nervousness about using it, however i felt like i have picked up the software rather quickly and have gotten used to it. this could be due to the fact i have never used any editing software before so i have nothing to compare it to, but in terms of overall how good i think it is, i fell it is easy to use.

One think we were thought was that editing speed is gained through familiarity and muscle memory. When you hire a top-notch feature editor, you aren’t hiring them for their software prowess. Instead, you are hiring them for their mind, ideas and creativity. Most know how they need to manipulate the software tools so well, that thinking about what to do in the interface just disappears.

Moving Files in Avid

To fully understand the software Avid i will have to learn how to do simple tasks such as moving files, both on the Mac and the PC. When transferring projects in Avid from one computer to another, it is very important that you know where to put the files, as Avid has a specific way of linking footage and projects. The notes i took in class were;

PC

1. Select Computer
2. For Avid Mediafiles………
3. Relevant Root drive (C: or D: normally but in F5 use C:) > ‘Drag whole Avid MediaFiles folder here’
4. But if the Avid MediaFiles folder exists already -
5. Avid Mediafiles > MXF > ‘Put relevant folder of footage here’
6. For Project Folders……….
7. Relevant Root drive (C: or D: normally but in F5 use C:) > Users > Public > Public Documents > Shared Avid Projects > ‘Put relevant project folder here’

Mac

1. Select finder
2. For Avid Mediafiles………..
3. Select Macintosh HD > ‘Drag whole Avid MediaFiles folder here’
4. But if the Avid MediaFiles folder exists already -
5. Avid Mediafiles > MXF > ‘Put relevant folder of footage here’
6. For Project Folders………….
7. Select Macintosh HD > Users > Shared >AvidMediaComposer > Shared Avid Projects > ‘Put relevant project folder here’

A simple set of instructions like this will be easy to learn over time thus making Avid an easier piece of software to use. 

Low Budget tips

As a student film maker any tips to improve my skills would be appreciated. That’s why it is important to look at any helpful videos that will show an insight into the industry. Knowing this I looked for any videos that would help me and came across a great channel called samandniko. They have 440,000 subscribers and over 37,000,000 in this channel. There description states:

"Making of"s or "Behind the Scene’s & "Before and after’s to our main channel videos on Corridor Digital. Then some oddball videos not quite suited for our main channel.

Meaning they have an even bigger channel with more subscribers. This means that any tips they have for film making should be taken into consideration. This being said they made a low budget tips video which is great for a student film maker like me.

Low Budget Tips - By samandniko


Overall the tips given in this video will help me in the my current situation as a student. Personal i think all film students should watch this as it is very useful and can help in many different ways.

Visual Effects in Avid

By adding visual effect to edits allows the it to seem to have a higher production value, this being said it is important to learn how to add effects into edits on Avid. We first learnt how to add basic effects to our edits, noting some of the instructions learnt;

To apply an effect in Avid is simply a case of dragging the effect and dropping it on to the desired clip. Most effects will change the entirety of the clip whereas transitional effects (dissolves, wipes etc.) need to be applied to the areas at which the clips overlap. Video effects for Avid can be found in the project window.

To remove any effect, place your timeline over the clip or area where the effect is and select the remove button from the timeline.

We practiced these effects on clips from The Nightmare before Christmas which is a stop motion film. At first i found it hard to direct myself around the software as i felt there was too many different way to do it and i was being told all of them in one go. But after getting a hand on the best way to do it i felt confident in my ability to add basic effects into the edit. then we i learned how to;

Experiment with some of the transition effects found under the blend, box wipe, edge wipe, matrix wipe, peel, push, sawtooth wipe etc. option menus. 

Once the effect has been added, open up the effect editor to alter the settings. 

To do this, place your timeline indicator over the clip or area with the effect on. Then select the effect editor icon from the timeline.

Finally i learnt how to create clips of different speeds and also reverse clips by selecting a segment of my source clip using the hot keys I and O then going to Tools and Motion Effect Editor.

Colour Grading in Avid

Avid has long been the overwhelming Non-Linear Editing system of choice for major feature films and prime time scripted TV shows. One of the many strengths of Avid is the method of applying colour correction. In the last few years, colour correction has come to be used directly by editors instead of separately by colourists. It’s a process that can make the most obvious difference to my projects, so it’s a very good thing to know how to do.

Most other NLEs either add color correction as an effect or a completely separate process that requires leaving the NLE then round tripping back to the editor. In Avid, colour correction is a mode, which allows you quick access to its features but keeps them out of the way while you're editing. It’s really the best of both worlds.

Generally, you want to do colour correction in context of the shots around it. That means colour correction should really be a process done near the end of the edit. But when we think the final edit is done, there’s always something else that gets tweaked.

In systems that require roundtripping, this takes a lot of time, requires specialized workflows, and rarely works properly or conveniently. In Avid, though, you're a click of a button from updating the edit or the colour correction.

In Avid, you can do colour correction using the same input tools that you use for editing, such as a mouse or a trackball or tablet.

Pacing

Today we were tough about the importance of pacing in editing. Giving an edit pace can add a lot to the fell and the narrative of film. It can create tension in clips and tell the audience what is going to happen in the clip before it even happens. The thing about editing is that when it's done right, almost no one notices it, and when it's really noticeable, it's nearly unbearable or just disjointed. To understand if a film is good you should study each film like a piece of music.

It's nearly impossible not to notice a song that goes off rhythm or changes tempo too quickly because our ears are naturally inclined to react to those changes. But our eyes aren't as well trained to transmit that information. Given the onslaught of abrupt images, our eyes have been conditioned to believe a shot per second is a standard tempo. So I find more and more in film reviews, people will confuse a slower pace to a bad one. But it's not.

A perfect example of this would be Goodfellas. I'll always remember Martin Scorsese saying he had people requesting he make a film like the last 15 minutes of Goodfellas because of its frantic energy. But those 15 minutes were a tempo that was built up to by the preceding 120 minutes, which explored various other tempos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I90ZluYvHic

On the other hand, a film like Barry Lyndon or 2001 is criticized for its excruciating pace. Yet, they both have a very deliberate and steady pace. No editor could criticize those films for being badly paced because they're not. They work in slower movements like perhaps Chopin's Adagio. One film explores a pace that would be customary in 19th century England and the other reflects a pace that might be found in the boundlessness of the galaxy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lzSoKOs1fc

The Martian

The Martian is the story of a team of astronauts who are midway through their mission on Mars when, during a horrific storm on the Red Plant, they are forced to abandon the mission they had been tasked with. During the chaotic flee back to the rocket, their resident botanist, Mark Watney, is struck by debris and presumed dead by the rest of the crew. The crew make the difficult call to start on their return journey to earth, leaving Watney, who was only unconscious, behind and who subsequently wake up alone with no sign of his crewmates.

The film is propelled forwards by Watney's isolated attempts to survive, as any return rescue mission is likely to take years to arrive, assuming that NASA even find out that he's still alive. Meanwhile NASA, who soon realise their horrific mistake, are left to measure out the worth of one person's life against their own reputations in a PR nightmare, tremendous expense and the risk to the lives of others that any rescue mission would mean. All of this is set to the ticking clock of starvation on the barren, vast world that Watney now inhabits

For most of the movie it is one man speaking to the camera, through the pretext of Watney leaving log recordings in case a rescue mission does not arrive in time to save him.  The film allows Damon, the actor, to directly engage with the audience on his state of mind and progress.  By allowing its lead character to address viewers in such an immediate fashion, the film pretty much gives all control to Matt Damon who plays the role of Watney.

In terms of post-production, the film has a lot of Computer Generated Images (CGI). As the film is set on Mars it is interesting to see the colour correction and green screen they implemented into the film as seen in some of the pictures below. 

Watching this reminded of a youtube video called ‘Why CG Sucks (except it doesn’t)’

Link: - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL6hp8BKB24

The video talks about the use of CGI in movies and basically says that good CGI is when you don’t even notice it and it is more about the using the effects to help tell your story than using then for the effect itself. The Martian clearly uses CGL in this way to enable the story to be told and for it to appear realistic, the fact that it uses CGI to create a believable atmosphere and context for the story to unfold.