Video film making technology. Linear and non-linear editing

Installation equipment has changed enormously over the past ten years. In situations where you once required at least two editing stations, two monitors and an editing controller, today the equipment can be as simple as one camcorder and a computer running video editing software.

Linear installation

Line editing involves copying or "duplicating" a master tape onto another tape in sequential order. This process works well for editors until the director or client needs to make significant content changes mid-film. When using linear recording, this typically means that the entire project must be completely re-edited, a process that is incredibly time-consuming and labor-intensive.

Analog linear editing is also good when you need to make multiple generations (copies of copies), since each subsequent copy becomes a little worse than the previous one. Linear systems are typically formed of a "playback device" and a "recorder" together with a control console. The original footage is placed into a playback device and then recorded onto the recording device's tape during the editing process. Although linear editing continues to be used in some parts of the television production industry, the vast majority of programs today are edited on non-linear editing machines. linear installation.

Non-linear editing

Nowadays, almost all video and television programs are edited using non-linear editing machines. Non-linear editing is a process in which a recorded video signal is converted into a digital format (copied) into computer memory. After this, the captured frames can be formed into one sequence or reformatted into another. When working with analog tapes today, special control and measuring devices are used, whose operating principle is reminiscent of visual optical testing devices http://novotest.ua/vizualno-opticheskiy-kontrol/ used in the process of non-destructive testing. With their help, special effects can be introduced even into old recordings on analog magnetic tapes, and sound and graphics can be edited using software for editing.

Non-linear editing systems make it much easier to make changes, such as moving pieces of an image along a timeline until the director or client is satisfied. The camera's hard drive and memory cards allow editors to begin the editing process much faster because they don't have to digitize all the footage. The cost of a non-linear editing system is only a fraction of the cost of professional linear editing systems. Once the edited process is completed, its output can be recorded on any desired medium: magnetic tape, Internet, iPod, CD, DVD or whatever.

There are linear and non-linear editing.

Linear installation, those. recording frame by frame in the required sequence of footage or archival materials does not subject the original video information to additional processing, quality losses are determined only by copying losses, and digital cameras in combination with digital video recorders do not produce losses at all, even after repeated re-recording. With linear editing, a master cassette is gradually created fragment by fragment, that is, a video cassette with the first copy of the film, which is then replicated. For reliability, it is advisable to make at least two master cassettes simultaneously, preferably in a digital format that does not degrade the quality of the source materials after repeated re-recording. Linear editing requires certain qualifications from the author, and due to the widespread use of computers, it is becoming less and less in demand.

Non-linear editing involves digitizing, compressing (compressing) and entering source video data into a computer, arranging and editing it, then creating and delivering the output file to an archival medium (video disc or video cassette). At the editing stage, a small file is created containing information about the moments when sections of audio and video data were turned on, applied video effects, etc. Generating an output file can be a rather lengthy process, depending on the degree of frame processing (effects applied) and the speed of the computer. It is more convenient to consider linear (without additional transformation) editing on a computer as an intermediate medium of initially discrete information from digital video cameras as nonlinear. Many features of computer-assisted installation are discussed in Chapter 3.

When creating a DVD, each fragment of the film is converted into a compatible format and stored on the computer's hard drive, then the entire film is rendered; The MPEG-2 compression used here ensures relatively small file sizes of acceptable quality. A 4.7 GB DVD disc holds an hour and a half recording, that is, 2-4 parts of a home series.

Linear editing should not be neglected even if you have advanced digital equipment, since it gives the fastest final result, although it requires certain skills. Before returning from vacation, it is better to leave our relatives with a roughly edited film than rough footage, because when you are away from home, it is much easier to find a VCR than a computer with installed video capture equipment and your favorite video editing program. In addition, preliminary linear editing on your recording video camera will allow you to copy the missing source materials for the future film about the hike from your newly appeared friends, even if you have the last blank cassette at hand (musical arrangement at this stage is often premature). And if you and your travel companion have both digital cameras, then through certain re-recordings you can get rid of unnecessary takes and outright defects, freeing up space on both sets of tapes that has become scarce and without losing the original quality.

Each subsequent analog re-recording reduces the resolution by ten percent. If the camera produced 400 lines horizontally, then on the second copy (editing in two passes, that is, with two re-recordings) no more than 330 will remain, and on the third (replicating master tapes) the original S-Video quality will drop to the VHS level. Therefore, you should always strive for editing with a minimum number of re-recordings, and choose a video camera with a margin of resolution. The situation is similar with nonlinear editing - repeated compression and decompression of video data must be avoided, and all necessary video formats (DV, DVD, etc.) must be made from the original (originally digitized) materials.

If you have a single source of video signal (video camera) and a single recording device (video recorder), it is very difficult to make a film in one pass, even using auxiliary equipment for separate editing of the audio series (difficulties, first of all, are caused by obtaining continuous sound). The use of a VCR with a sound overlay function solves the problem only partially, since it does not achieve Hi-Fi quality, because the recording is carried out on the longitudinal tracks of the (S)-VHS tape recorder.

Digital video cameras allow you to overlay audio onto the finished video recording only at standard speed (SP) and provided that synchronous sound recording during filming was carried out in the mode of 4 channels of 12 bits, but not 2 channels of 16 bits. Rules for adding additional sound can be found in the video camera’s operating instructions; it also describes setting the volume ratio of the original and newly recorded sound during playback.

Linear editing in fragments with continuous sound can only be carried out if there are at least two switchable right time image sources. In the simplest case (Fig. 1.11), the output of a video camera (VC) is connected to the input of a video recorder for playback (VM playback) of archive materials, which is switched to the “AV” mode for receiving audio and video signals. The video output of the latter is connected to the video input of the recording VCR (VM recording) directly, and the audio output is connected through a mixer, to the second input of which a source of a pre-formed phonogram is connected.

Before work, for each device used, it is necessary to measure the delays for turning on the playback and recording modes. (This is easy to do, for example, using a video clip showing a stopwatch with a time quantum of 1/25 of a second, created on a computer, or, at worst, using a video clip with a stopwatch filmed by a video camera.) Until the first VCR produces its own playback signal, it transmits data from the video camera and thus plays the role of a switch, controlled by the “play” and “stop” buttons (with pre-known delays).

Attention! The “pause” command does not switch the tape recorder to broadcast input signals.

Amateur equipment, unfortunately, does not allow general synchronization of video fields, and when switching signal sources, video frames may drop out (loss). Therefore, the moments of switching from one source of original video information to another should not require precise timing. It is better to choose these transitions in calm (non-dynamic) areas of the scene during pauses in the characters’ speech, when a delay or advance of even a full second will not be noticeable. At the moments of switching, it is better to gradually reduce the intensity of the sound from the original sources.

For more comfortable work, it is advisable to include in the equipment a switch for input video signals that quickly switch sources (video camera, VCR with archival materials, a computer with non-linear editing results) and a switch for audio signals. For example, you can use the sound card of any computer as an audio mixer and switch; such a computer is much easier to find on the road than one specially equipped for video editing. You can use the input selector, if available, of the recording VCR. There are video equipment control devices from a computer that automate the linear editing process.

Video editing

Video editing - processing or editing footage, resulting in a finished film, clip, or video

Real, professional video editing is a very long and painstaking process that takes tens of times more time than spent on the video shooting itself. This is not only cropping scenes, but also image processing, which includes many items such as brightness, color, stabilization, white balance, and many other parameters. This is the addition of various video effects, animated titles, transitions, photographs and other graphics. This big job with sound - compressor, equalizer, noise reduction, panning, and many other tools involved.

This includes selecting musical scores and various sound effects for a film, creating clips, slide shows, and much, much more. In general, after professional video editing you will have an interesting film that you can burn to disk, print a beautiful cover, and your video will remain with you for a long time. You can proudly show it to friends and family.

All video editing work in our studio is carried out using professional Adobe software, which guarantees high quality final product. But the most important thing that distinguishes video editing in the DV-PRO studio is that all the work is done by a person with extensive experience, the head of the studio is Alexander Pavlovich.

He has more than a dozen films, clips and videos on a wide variety of topics under his belt (you can read more about him on the “About the Studio” page). We have regular clients who, every time from their vacation trips, bring filmed video and photo material, and after video editing they receive one colorfully designed disc with a film, clips and photographs.


There are two types of video editing

There are concepts of linear video editing and non-linear

Linear editing is the cutting of scenes in video fragments without disturbing their sequence; this type of editing is most often relevant if it is necessary to maintain the chronology of events. This type of installation is the most common. Nonlinear editing is a more complex process when frames can be mixed in time, depending on the author's idea.

Non-linear video editing is a full-fledged editing, when all the filmed video is divided into fragments, processed, and recorded in the required sequence with the addition of music, titles, audio and video effects, and transitions. In general, now the possibilities of video editing programs are simply enormous, and depend on the creative experience and imagination of the editor. This type of editing is only possible if there was a script for filming an event or story in advance. In ordinary cases, it is still advisable to adhere to the chronology of events.

Amateur video cameras have now become available, and the video recording function has been added to cameras in the amateur segment. Therefore, many people independently photograph their friends and acquaintances, travel, and memorable events. A few years later, any person will want to plunge into memories and see how a child got on his feet for the first time, how he went to first grade, how you relaxed with your whole family on the warm sea, then there was a wedding, an anniversary, and many more interesting events, of which and that is what our life consists of.

But watching several hours of raw video shot by an amateur is not very interesting. Therefore, it is better to spend a little money on video editing and get a completely different result. Video editing allows you to turn raw video footage into a real movie or clip. A professional video editing program makes it possible to implement various creative solutions that will make the video interesting and meaningful, as well as improve the quality from the technical side, because not everyone shoots with good cameras.

Thanks to the ability to make video editing, you don’t need to skimp on video shooting and think about whether or not to film a specific episode. During editing, you can always remove it if it has no artistic or informational value, but adding interesting footage later is no longer possible. After video editing, the disc with your video will take one of the important places in your family collection. But the main problem is to find where video editing is done in Yekaterinburg, and in other cities, truly professionally.

Professional video editing in the DV-PRO studio

Many unscrupulous studios, offering video editing services, attract customers with only one thing - low cost. But when working, as a rule, they only trim the plots and add clumsy transitions; for them, the main thing is to be quick, clumsy and done. As a result, in such a film the picture and sound are not processed, illiterate connection of plots, meaningless musical accompaniment and an abundance of inappropriate transitions that greatly spoil the perception - in general, it does not get any better, and it turns out that you did not save, but lost. I think you've seen tons of videos like this on the Internet.

This became especially true after the so-called “economic crisis”. The customers themselves, in search of “wherever it’s cheaper,” try to save every penny, forgetting about quality and pushing many operators to do hackwork instead of normal video editing. Trying to save money, these people are robbing themselves, because by watching a film that was edited quickly and simply, that is, cheaply, they will not get the emotions that they could get if the video was shot and edited at a high technical and artistic level. But tell me, how much is your smile on your face from watching it for real? good movie? What about the smiles of your children or parents? Unfortunately, many are trying to save money on this.

In our studio, each video material is approached individually; depending on the content of the video, music, video and audio effects are selected. Not only the picture is processed, but also the sound, and all this is done not with just anything, but with programs specially designed for this. Many people are first of all interested in the cost of video editing, but believe me, the price is far from the most important thing, much more important is what is included in this very editing, what will be done with your video recording, how to process it, but more on that below.

Another important point- this is the coding of finished material with correct settings V required format. Anyone who makes video editing at a professional level acquires good and expensive programs for high-quality video compression, and an amateur will use some cheap encoder. As a result, in addition to the poor appearance of the artistic component, the quality also deteriorates technically. To everything we can add that when ordering video editing in the DV-PRO studio, the designer can create an individual cover for the disc, and after that your videos will take on a completely different look!

Since the head of the DV-PRO studio is an experienced traveler, he takes videos for editing, first of all, about travel. One of our clients is a famous traveler from Yekaterinburg, the head of the VEK company - Evgeniy Korbut. He ordered a video montage of his anniversary celebration from our studio. On the page "

This article is for those who are trying to understand the difference between linear and non-linear editing and the associated advantages and disadvantages, without having much knowledge in this area. Therefore, I will explain with my fingers.

Linear and non-linear editing are terms that can only be applied to electronic video. There is no such division in filmmaking.

At first it was just installation...

Film editing meant working with the medium itself. The film could be cut and glued anywhere. The director could run into the editing room with a better-shot take at any time: the film was rewound to the desired fragment, the low-quality take was cut out and a new one was pasted in. Everything is simple here. So simple that film in cinematography has only recently begun to be replaced by digital.

Linear installation

Line editing appeared with VCRs and electronically recording video and audio signals. Because the signal is recorded in a tricky way: you cannot cut out an unsuccessful take from the tape and paste in a new one - interference will appear. Therefore, all scenes were recorded on tape sequentially - linearly. However, no one called linear editing linear until the advent of non-linear editing. Just like no one will call the first part of the film the first until the second appears.

But let's start with the music...

You've probably already done this!

Perhaps you didn't have two VCRs at once. But many people probably saw the era of two-cassette tape recorders and music centers, which means they were engaged in linear editing.

Imagine: you have a cassette on which you need to record a collection of your favorite songs - this is a master. And there is a CD or cassette from which these songs need to be rewritten - this is the source. The catch is that there are a lot of songs on the source, but you only like some, not all of them.

And here's what you do: put one cassette on record, another on the beginning of your first favorite song and at the same time press the pause buttons, starting playback and recording. Your favorite song is over, you pause the recording and look for the next worthy song on the source. Found it - pause the source before the song, then simultaneously release the pauses and record the second song. Sequential recording from source to master is linear editing. You could record songs from different discs or cassettes onto one cassette, consistently changing the source and turning on the recording in a timely manner.

And now - video!

Owners of video cameras did something similar, copying not everything from the source tape, but selected fragments onto a master tape in a VCR. Some relatives needed to record several recordings from different cassettes on one tape at once - this is also a kind of linear editing.

Back to the Future

Double-cassette players, stereo systems and amateur video cameras with VCRs are what people in our country could find in the late 80s and later. And the first “video recorders” for television broadcasting worked from the mid-50s to the mid-80s in the World and from the 60s to the early 2000s in this country. At the same time, linear editing appeared and successfully developed (which no one called linear at that time).

The advantage of linear editing is live editing

Linear editing can be considered the undisputed leader in the production of television programs of various types. Typically, several cameras are placed on the set, and the live editing director records a master tape, switching sources and creating dynamics. This type of editing allows you to create a master tape without pauses, “on the fly.” All kinds of talk shows, sporting events, and live broadcasts are simply impossible without linear editing. And do not forget that a video camera was crossed with a recording device relatively recently, and before that time, each camera was connected to a separate tape recorder, or - through the linear editing director's console - several cameras were recorded on one tape recorder.

Techniques standard for linear live video editing were practically impossible in conventional cinematography. Imagine that a sports broadcast is being recorded on film. As a result, you receive material for editing only after the event (with a delay), and from each camera - kilometers of film. Uncomfortable.

On-the-fly linear editing is the best thing ever, but...

There was also a need to edit with pauses. And this is also linear editing. Don't think that non-linear and linear are the same as offline and online - live and not. Don’t think about non-linear editing at all yet - it doesn’t exist yet.

In general, the greatest hemorrhoids of the lineman were all kinds of inserts, overlays and transitions. Today you simply insert a frame change script between two clips through “flipping”, but previously this required three professional video recorders and a video remote control - this is the minimum. Two tape recorders were used as sources: on one video “before”, on the second “after” the frame change. The video remote ensures a smooth transition. The finished result is written to the third tape recorder. And all this equipment had to be synchronized with each other.

This is what a typical “interface” of a tape recorder looks like. All this bunch of buttons and lights was really needed. There were not much fewer of them on non-recording tape recorders. And if you think this is a complete paragraph, then let me show you what was going on behind each such tape recorder.

Unlike ordinary household video cameras, where only two “tulips” were needed for sound and video, professional solutions had two connectors for audio, several connectors for video and a bunch of service connections for connecting control panels, video remotes, synchronization signals and other things. I didn’t go into detail, but the video signal there was transmitted not as a composite tulip signal, but as a component one. You can see something similar in modern DVD players and receivers, where video is transmitted in three or four “tulips” instead of one.

Uh-uh, what are “tulips”?

A tulip is an RCA type connection (both a socket and a plug now). The first plugs were produced not with a solid ring, but with a petal ring and in shape they actually somewhat resembled a tulip. Today, plugs with a solid ring are ubiquitous (it’s cheaper), but the name has remained and extended not only to the plugs, but also to the connector itself.

The obvious disadvantage of linear installation

Imagine: the master tape is ready, but then the director runs in with a cassette and demands to replace one take with another. The master tape immediately becomes the normal source, the director's tape becomes the second source, and the new blank tape is declared the master. And everything from the previous master is written on it, then a new take, then the rest of the material from the former master. Constant re-recordings, of course, affected the final quality, although manufacturers took every conceivable and unimaginable step to reduce film degradation. If you try to repeat this trick on home equipment with VHS tapes, you will see a drastic deterioration in the quality of the final recording.

So when did non-linear editing appear?!

Formally, the term itself was popularized in 1991, along with the publication of a book by Michael Ruben. And the first non-linear editing system appeared in 1971, worked with black and white video, took up a lot of space and cost as much as a platinum spaceship. It was very expensive to edit a talk show on such equipment, so non-linear editing actually appeared in the nineties, when several companies made computer programs for installation.

Computer programs for editing: the beginning

At first, all computer programs for installation only simplified the work of linemen. In fact, it was an advanced editing console that could remember all editing transitions and splices in order to reduce the amount of work. Some computers were used to add titles and special effects (but their memory was only enough for a couple of minutes of video at best). Then it became possible to load simplified video (of obviously lower quality) into these programs and work with it. Thus, the original film needed to be spun only twice: the first time to input video into the system, and the second time at the time of recording to the master.

Editing is a creative process in which individual fragments of source recordings are combined in a specific order to produce a single composition. Linear and non-linear editing used in cinema, television, and when creating commercials. Editing is also used by YouTube bloggers, Instagram users, Vine video creators, etc.

It may seem that installation is very easy and simple, but in reality, high-quality installation is long and painstaking work. The people who do this are editors. Every year, editing directors compete for the most prestigious award in their field - the Oscar for Best Editing. For example, this statuette was awarded to editors of such cult films as “Forrest Gump”, “Schindler’s List”, “Titanic”, “The Matrix”.

Characteristics of linear and non-linear editing

Linear video editing

Is historically the first type of installation. The traditional linear editing scheme assumes the presence of two VCRs. Frame-by-frame editing accuracy is ensured complex controller. The necessary information from the source tape on the first video recorder is re-recorded onto the resulting tape of the second video recorder in the required order, forming a “master tape”. Unsuccessful shots remain on the first tape recorder.

If it is necessary to add smooth transitions and splash screens, more complex installation scheme. The original fragments must be on different VCRs. Information from two sources enters the video mixer, where the fragments are glued together with the addition of effects. If two fragments are initially on the same tape, they must be separated, which can be time consuming. Dubbing long frames may take as much time as their duration.

When creating two transitions, you need to use three source VCRs, etc. Overlaying titles also requires dubbing the video.

Disadvantages of linear video editing

Linear installation significantly limits creativity editors primarily due to the difficulty of executing certain editing ideas. In addition, the devices provide limited set of effects. To find the necessary fragments, you need to rewind all the material many times.

Dubbing large amounts of footage can take hours or even days. Repeated copying results in deterioration in quality. The cost of the equipment is also a significant drawback and can reach several tens of thousands of dollars.

If, when creating material for a television show, it was discovered that some fragment was missing in the tenth minute of the film, the entire program will have to be re-written with the addition of the necessary frames.

Nonlinear video editing

Many people believe that non-linear editing is called this because the shots are edited in an indirect order. In fact, it got its name because the editors finally managed to avoid the lengthy back-and-forth (linear) rewind of the tape and got direct access to the required fragment straightaway.

Non-linear editing became possible thanks to the advent of computers. In this case, all source materials from the tape are recorded on HDD. This can be a lengthy process, but it depends on the degree of compression of the source material and the power of the computer. However, there are already video cameras that allow you to immediately download source material onto digital media or edit from the media.

In non-linear editing, video files are processed using video editors. These programs provide directors with endless possibilities for creating special effects and adding transitions. At the same time, you can easily make color correction and tonal adjustment of the image. Installation Solution Sheet, on which the editing work is performed, also contains audio tracks with the announcer's voice, dialogues and melodies. Titles and captions can be applied at any time to any frames of the video material.


Advantages of non-linear video editing

Today non-linear video editing is completely supplanted linear as outdated technology. Its main advantages are:

  • access to any fragment at any time;
  • no need to rewrite all material if you need to add or remove a frame;
  • no loss of quality with numerous rewriting (copying) of material;
  • instant playback mounted material;
  • endless possibilities for realizing the director's fantasy thanks to a large selection of special effects;
  • price the required software is an order of magnitude less than for linear editing.

Using non-linear video editing in advertising

Non-linear editing finds Widely used in creating commercials, since it allows you to significantly speed up the process of their creation. In addition, the prospects for using 3D animation are significantly expanded with the ability to add any transitions in real time.

Non-linear editing is more flexible and allows you to easily change the plot of the video during its development. For example, if at the first stage of creating an animated advertising video one specific course of events was chosen, it is easy to change it by simply changing the sequence of frames.

The development of non-linear editing technology has made it possible significantly reduce installation time. Today, almost any user who has modern computer and access to the Internet can edit your video material into a full-fledged film. However, for proper storyboarding, cutting fragments and gluing them together Professional installation skills are required.

Contact animation studio Kinesko! We can edit any kind of video with high quality, including advertising ones. Our managers will answer all your questions by phone.

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