Technology’s impact can be observed in various industries, including retail, real estate, healthcare, transportation, media, and journalism, to name a few. In the same way, technical improvements have shifted the video editing industry’s paradigm.
Films and videos have successfully grabbed viewers’ imaginations since their inception. Subsequently, full-fledged feature films and documentaries emerged.
Nonetheless, humanity has developed, and better and easier versions were soon accessible. You might try to fine-tune the rough cut according to the preferred style of the viewers. Even now, it is considered an art form!
Technology has profoundly influenced many aspects of the film industry, including production processes, video editing software, sound design, and post-production. True, technology has helped reduce time and clutter, but thoughts and brains deserve the most of the credit.
Film reels gave way to television and short clips, and digital platforms became a force to be reckoned with in the end.
It would be tragic to overlook the film’s significant past, which has affected the history of filmmaking, both with and without technology. It is the ideal opportunity to reflect on the past while applauding the new technologies that have successfully brought film/video editing into our homes.
History of video editing
Filming and editing a video is a unique concept. Over a century ago, the first footage was cut using scissors and tape, and now non-linear video editing techniques are utilized exclusively on computers.
There was the use of linear techniques throughout the first eighty years of editing. There was the arrangement of photographs and audio in chronological order to edit linearly. Initially, it was necessary to cut the material using scissors and tape it back together in the correct order. People used methods like these until the invention of the Moviola editing machine in the 1920s.
In the 1960s, the film industry welcomed the introduction of the “Guillotine tape splicer,” which employed sticky tape to attach films. They could achieve a dramatic effect by having a problematic splice ripped off and recreated with the frame restoration. It was, in a sense, a revolution.
In the early days, the industry used negatives primarily. Nonetheless, you ended up with a patchwork of several splices. However, it didn’t make a huge difference. Printing the broken negatives and joining them with cement splices were used to make the final print for public viewing. The loss of frames at the exact place of cutting the negative was well-known, and as a film editor, you had no choice but to accept it.
Technology changed video editing.
You would never consider going back to previous methods now that the non-linear procedure has fully set you free. Even the most pressing deadlines are now easy to meet through modern video editors. However, it does not affect creativity.
Of course, the editing skill remains the same, whether you cut on film, tape, or non-linear. However, technology influences how you work and how quickly you can put things together. Advances in computer technology, power, storage, and codecs have made it possible to achieve tasks that would have required a room full of equipment just a few years ago on a regular computer.
It is now possible to edit using an easy online video editor because of the exponential growth of processing power and increased Internet connectivity speed. It gives you access to your material from anywhere on the planet and allows you to collaborate with your post-production team for editing work no matter where they are.
Yes, we have reached the point on the curve where you must work with proxies of your media, much like non-linear editing did at the start of the century, before linking back to your full-resolution media for completion. However, as technology advances, you will be able to access full-resolution media and finish your edit in the cloud.
The flexibility of cloud editing allows us to recapture the thinking time lost with the introduction of non-linear editing: instead of fighting your way into town on the train, you can take a stroll to your couch. You can test an idea at 11 p.m. on an iPad rather than forgetting it by morning.
Also, algorithm editing has helped in advancing post-production editing. This approach edits videos according to a plan or a schema. The assumption that video will follow a pre-determined path or proceed linearly is the basis of algorithmic editing.
Algorithmic editing is a technique for slicing and reassembling video footage using a template. In the movie ‘We Own the Night,’ a high-speed car chase happens in the rain. The remarkable aspect is that algorithmic editing allowed creating the rain effects in the post-production stage.
Being able to deliver in multiple formats without rendering on your machine allows you to move on to the next step. Having multiple editors, loggers, transcribers, and producers all accessing the same project and working on the same media allows work to be completed concurrently without each stage having to wait for the previous step to finish.
Technology has improved to the point that you can now handle many responsibilities at once. Human beings are not infallible. It is easy to find yourself filling in for various positions that separate people would typically take: off-line editor, online editor, sound editor, dubbing mixer, graphic artist, effects specialist, and grader/colorist, to name a few.
But don’t try to wear too many hats at the same time. Instead, delegate the responsibilities to members of your team who are specialists in the field, and then synchronize everything on completion of each part.
Conclusion
Digital editing can help you save time and money by speeding up the process. However, you must remember that the old equipment and methods are a valuable legacy you have inherited. You can improve video editing technology after understanding and valuing the basis left down by your forefathers.
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