Editing Lesson Blog

To get a camera we must first fill out our form, groups of up to four people can check out a camera. The camera MUST come back the very next day. All of the equipment is numbered so you AND your teacher can know which equipment you have. Every time you get a camera you need to sign out your equipment. For the camera, you use the sign-out form that goes into your period folder. For the tripod, SD, and SD reader you have to sign out on the paper on the front table. Always return your equipment to the proper place so others can use it. NEVER pass around through groups to avoid items being misplaced. Always be extra careful with the equipment. Close the tripod before you change locations, put the camera back into the bag, and keep everything together at all times.
  For editing, we will be using the software Pinnacle Studios. First, you have to dump your footage into the computer. Before you start you need to open a new folder for the videos to put all of the footage into. Put the SD card into the SD reader and insert it into the computer. Your footage would typically be found in DCIM where it will be organized by the dates and times that the camera recorded. Therefore your camera must have the correct time and date on it for easier navigation. If it is not in that file DO NOT PANIC and check Private. In private you will click the AVCHD folder then the only folder in there and then you'll click STREAM. STREAM will have all the videos in the SD card and all you have to do is find your footage. Highlight your footage and drag it to the new folder you created. After you have it in your folder, take out the SD reader and put the SD back into the camera and the SD reader back in the bin. Every time you take footage do not forget to dump it.
   After you dump all of your footage you import it into Pinnacle Studios. When using Pinnacle Studios you MUST BE PATIENT. Click import, click the plus sign next to desktop and click on your folder. Check all the clips you want to import and hit Start. Drag those clips that you have just imported and bring it to AV Track 2. AV tract two is where all the video content will be. The red playback line will take you through your footage if you just slide it from left to right. If you click the razorblade at the top then you can cut any scene that want. Just use the playback slider and drag it to the beginning of what you want to cut off. The section will turn orange and you can just click the backspace button to get rid of it. AV Track 1 is the layer used to place things on top of your video, like a title or edits. You can add those into any clip you want and modify it as you please once it is attached to a clip. AV Track 3 is for sound. You can detach the audio of the video by right-clicking the area and pressing detach audio in the options box. This will bring that audio into AV track 3 where you can decide to delete the audio or not. When you are done editing you click the export button on the program and export it into the folder you created. The type must be an MPEG-4 and the preset must be at best quality. When done exporting, check your folder to see if it is done correctly then exit out of Pinnacle Studios.