How to make movie clips

I wonder if you have heard the name of walter murch?

Presumably, many people have never heard of it, but some people in the industry can't help but give a thumbs up after hearing this name. He is a well-deserved great god (master) in video editing, and his videos and movies can only be worshipped.

Walter murch is the idol of many people's study and the goal of their efforts. How good is he?

Walter murch is the 1 master who won the Oscar for best editing. If I can get his advice, I think everyone can make rapid progress on the road of video editing, but how easy is it to meet such a "master in the world"?

But don't worry, some time ago, walter murch published an article called "Blink of an Eye", in which walter murch gave you practical guidance on how to make a video. Today, let's take a look.

1. Drawing

A good video or movie is like a story, and the most attractive place for the audience is definitely the plot! Only the ups and downs of the plot can win the favor of the audience, and video editing is a powerful booster to promote the plot.

For example, does the same story come step by step from the beginning, climax and end of the story, or does it disturb its order and create more suspense, starting directly from the climax or end?

These are the "skills" that excellent video editors should have. In walter murch's works, there are countless examples to promote the plot development through editing, such as The English Patient and Apocalypse Now.

Video editing plays a very important role in the plot, that is, it can get rid of its dross and retain its essence. When we do video editing, we mercilessly cut out useless and unnecessary plots, leaving only the essence and even the finishing touch. Such plots will not make the audience feel "soap bubbles".

2. Emotion

If a video or movie can arouse the emotions of the audience, it is a good video or movie, and video clips can also be an emotional booster.

Another example is like expressing a person's fear. If you express it step by step, it may be difficult to achieve the effect and make the audience feel a sense of identity. But through proper video clips, we can fully express our fears.

Walter murch once had a perfect segment in a movie, which expressed the horror expression of the heroine. As the camera keeps pulling forward, she finally focuses on the heroine's frightened eyes, and then a very scary picture is mapped out from the heroine's eyes. You can also try it when making a video. When you edit the video, you should consider the emotional problems in every operation. Does your operation aggravate the mood or weaken it? It's best to think from the audience's point of view.

How will the audience feel after watching your video? Is it a substitute or a real "joke"? If the audience can feel deeply after watching it, the film will be considered a success.

rhythm

Just like a piece of music, it has a climax and a chorus, the rhythm is very obvious, and every drum beat is also very important. And we should also pay attention to these things when editing videos.

What pictures are important, like drums, and can hit the "audience's heart"? What pictures are dull, but they are indispensable foreshadowing? What pictures will push the plot to a climax and fully attract the attention of the audience?

We must grasp these things, and then strive to highlight and enlarge the "drum" in order to gain the recognition of the audience. The transition video is as simple as possible, just like the beginning of the song, which cannot be separated from it and cannot be too long.

If all the videos you make are "the beginning of the song", and there are no bright spots (drums) and no climax throughout, it proves that your rhythm is poor and your video is a failure.

4. Two-dimensional position of the screen

This concept is somewhat difficult to understand. We can think of it as an axis, which refers to an imaginary straight line or curve formed by the line of sight and moving direction of the subject and different objects.

Still a little hard to understand? For example, there is a person running in the video, so his movement direction can be understood as a straight line or curve in the screen, which is the two-dimensional position of the screen.

For example, two troops charged and prepared to fight to the death. At this time, everyone's trajectory in the picture can form a unified straight line or curve. It is good to know what the two-dimensional position of the screen is. When shooting or editing a video, no matter how complicated the angle and action are, no matter how complicated the people involved are, we must follow a reasonable motion law and never cross the axis.

There is a new term, what is off-axis?

Let's go back to the above two examples. If a person runs normally, the two-dimensional curve of his screen is basically flat or slightly undulating, but you suddenly have a big leap. This man is running, heading for the sky. Unless you are making a science fiction film, it is difficult for your video to be recognized by the audience.

For example, two armies fight side by side, no matter how many tens of thousands of people take part in the war. Everyone's trajectory is almost fixed, and you can't edit them into heaven and earth, so it's really a reunion. Once it goes beyond the audience's cognition or the trajectory is unreasonable, it is called off-axis. This kind of operation should not appear in the video, unless your video is Xian Xia or science fiction. Only by following the rationalization of the two-dimensional position of the screen can reading conform to the audience's visual feelings and avoid the feeling of spatial disorder.

5. Three-dimensional space

Three-dimensional space is an upgraded version of the two-dimensional position of the screen. In addition to the axis, the three-dimensional space will also add an axial plane. As long as you can understand the two-dimensional position of the screen, you can understand what three-dimensional space means.

The subject in the video should not only follow the axis, but also consider the axial plane. We take running as an example. The subject in the video is running, and suddenly the space has changed. It's also sci-fi to think about it. But many people often make this mistake in order to highlight the background effect when making videos.

6. Visual tracking

This concept is easy to understand, which means that the audience can see what you want to show them, and the movement of the audience's focus is guided by you. We can divide the screen into 1234 parts. If the character in the video moves from the position of 1 to the position of 2, the audience's attention will also move. This is visual tracking.

When editing video, we must pay attention to the rationalization of visual tracking. For example, the characters on the screen are still in the position of 1, and suddenly they reach the far position 4, or disappear completely. Unless the characters in your video have the function of flashing or invisibility, it is unreasonable and does not conform to the visual tracking of the audience.