EEVblog #943 - How EEVblog Does Video Editing

[EEVblog]

"Getting it right in the camera" is the best advice EVER:
- Get the camera setup right (audio, white balance, framing, record in AVCHD)
- SHOOT IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
- Use pauses (audio silence) to indicate minor goofs
- Use stop/start (new clip) to indicate major changes/restarts
- Avoid retakes: Get to the point where the first take is good 90% of the time.

The editing advice ("don't fiddle with the video") is also vital:
- Don't worry much about video fades: Jump cuts are almost always OK
- Don't bother with automated audio normalization (or other automatic "corrections")
- When needed, manually adjust levels between clips (mainly when changing cameras or setups)
- Use audio cross-fade between clips (and across edits?)
- Use a simple process for graphic and text overlays

Finally, rendering and upload advice:
- Use the output format that renders fastest with good quality
- Transcode only when upload time or storage space matters
- Get to the point where watching the final product is NOT NECESSARY
- Know when/how using the YouTube tools can save you time and/or improve your video

That's a good concise list.

So, Dave, how much (and what kinds of) pre-shoot preparation do you do for "Fundamentals Friday" videos?

Not much, mostly in my head thinking about the stuff I want to cover, maybe looking at some app notes or whatnot to see how other people have explained it before and see if I can do it clearer/simpler etc.
Sometimes I'll have a post-it note with a bullet point list of things to cover. But I find that more stuff always come up when I'm standing there explaining things, which is why most of my FF video's are longer than I expected.
Usually a few hours of prep work + time to set up breadboards etc.
Very often between takes I'll go look something up, and sometime I'll print out a datasheet etc so I have that handy, the same one I'll include in a screen overlay later.
And for debunking videos, I'll do calcs on a sheet of paper first so I know what the outcome will be and can copy them to the whiteboard hopefully without error. And usually in the order I want to explain them.

But in the end I'm still winging it when I hit record. Sometimes good explanations come out, sometimes more waffle than I wanted.
Sometimes I'll think of something after the shoot, and maybe go back and add a clip, or just do a voiceover in the edit.

I always want to start and finish (including editing) a video in a day. As I think spending more than day on one video is generally not a good investment of my time, and it ruins the flow. But some videos will inevitably spill over into the 2nd day.

[BobC]

Usually a few hours of prep work + time to set up breadboards etc.

But in the end I'm still winging it when I hit record. Sometimes good explanations come out, sometimes more waffle than I wanted.
Sometimes I'll think of something after the shoot, and maybe go back and add a clip, or just do a voiceover in the edit.

I always want to start and finish (including editing) a video in a day. As I think spending more than day on one video is generally not a good investment of my time, and it ruins the flow. But some videos will inevitably spill over into the 2nd day.

It's clearly important not to be juggling too many balls at one time.  Having just a single video in production, with little or no overlap between videos, seems a terrific way to go.  Especially given the distractions present in the rest of life.  It's got to feel good clearing the decks and starting fresh, rather than jumping between incomplete projects.

And THAT's why keeping the process simple and fast is crucial, if for no other reason than to prevent both overwork and boredom.  A good channel is a huge commitment, and while it is certainly work, there should be minimal drudgery.

In my case, I'll have to make a bunch of "fundamentals" videos to lay the groundwork before I get into the depth of the ongoing fun stuff.  I was initially thinking I'd need to shoot all the fundamentals first, but it seems better to design the fundamentals arc (mainly an outline) and jump right in to "regular" production, starting with topics that rely less on the fundamentals (e.g., intro), then make fundamentals videos as needed.

Your debunking videos have got me thinking that my fundamentals videos can be "camouflaged" by selecting a lightweight topic to illustrate the need and use of the fundamental, while generalizing so the video will be useful as a reference in other contexts.

Thanks!

[kolbep]

Thanks for the tips to speed up video creation :
Shooting with 1 Camera,
Using the Audio of the Camera (and not seperate sound recorder),
and shooting in sequence.

It makes the editing so much faster.
Here is the video that I made using those tips (it is a repair of a Chauvet Scanner Club Light):



My Youtube Channel is ShoutingElectronics
My Website is www.ShoutingElectronics.com

Please check it out. I would appreciate any comments (and as many subscribes that I can get    )

[imidis]

Hey Dave, thank you for posting this. I really do like shooting at an angle, not just to seem more natural, but can added bonus, I can see my screen better (it's fixed). So it really helps and I started doing mine without watching this and I found if I mess up it's better if I stop talking, I don't always hit stop, but as long as I have the audio break in there I will see and trim that out. I think everyone has different tools and ways of doing things. But some good tips there.

One thing I'm curious, do you ever have background noise that is picked up that you have to deal with?

[EEVblog]

One thing I'm curious, do you ever have background noise that is picked up that you have to deal with?

Not really a problem when you are up close and personal to the mic.
Can be a problem at a distance with a shotgun, but I gave up on shotguns for everything but my Mailbag talking head shot. I can and still do turn the aircon off when shooting video.

[CaqKa]

Hi Dave

can you please share your *.cmd files?
you encouraged me to update my *.cmd files which i used with virtualdub and xvid, to change it handbrake, but somehow i am stuck.

Greetings to Australia, Danilo

[CaqKa]

Here is what i came up. This is my cmd script for transcoding with handbrake everytime with the same settings. You can drag n drop a mp4 file on it and it will convert it to x264 at 1280*x (usualy 720p) and at qualtyi rf level 14 (should be almost losless) and with audio stream copyed if it can,  else the audio is transcoded to 448kbits AAC.

Code: [Select]

set DatotekaVhodna=%1
set DatotekaVhodna=%DatotekaVhodna:\=\\%
set DatotekaIzhodna=%DatotekaVhodna:.mp4=_arhiv_x264_720p_AACcopy.MP4%
C:\PROGRA~1\Handbrake\HandBrakeCLI.exe -i %DatotekaVhodna% -o %DatotekaIzhodna% -e x264 -q 14 -v -X 1280  --aencoder copy --audio-fallback aac --ab 448
where DatotekaVhodna means input/dropped file, DatotekaIzhodna means output file, it adds some lines to the filename, so you can distinguish between archive and raw copies. To accept .avi (from my canon compact camera) and .mov (from my nikon dslr) i changed the line 3 before the equal sign.
If someone has experience how to make the script more universal to accept a whole directory as input i would realy aprreciate it.

[jonovid]

should the eevblog have a forum thread dedicated to non-eevblog youtube video promotions ? as I  have seen a lot of this stuff. 

[EEVblog]

should the eevblog have a forum thread dedicated to non-eevblog youtube video promotions ? as I  have seen a lot of this stuff. 

It does:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/other-blog-specific/

[Brumby]

Yep.  Been there for a while - and it is active.