Pre-edit

Log your video footage. And be sure to number every slide and photograph. This will save you lots of time as you assemble the bits and pieces of material that will make up your finished DVD or video tape production.

Plan Your Production -- Decide precisely how your production will go together, and make an Edit Decision List (EDL). This will prove invaluable when you come in to the VideOccasions facilities to edit your production, and will save you a great deal of money in the long run. The Edit Decision List is different than the log you prepared, so read both these pages carefully.

Included in your planning should be a consideration of how you are going to handle the relationship between pictures and music, and between pictures and narration if you plan on incorporating either into your finished tape. And listen carefully to the lyrics of any music you plan on using. Often lyrics can be quite inappropriate when juxtaposed with the pictorial material you've chosen.

Pick out any special music you want to use. VideOccasions has a selection of copyright-free music which may be useful to you. Discuss your needs with the VideOccasions staff before you come in to edit. We may be able to make helpful suggestions.

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Editing in the Digital World: A Caution

Most editing today is digital, done on a computer. With digital editing there's good news and bad news. The good news is that you can make changes to both the video and audio quite easily at any time in the edit process.

The bad news is that you can make changes to both the video and audio quite easily at any time in the editing process. Making changes takes time, and time is what you're paying for.

So having made as many decisions as possible before coming to VideOccasions for your editing appointment will save you money. Keep unnecessary changes to a minimum!

Figure the Costs

Editing cost: $80.00 per hour.

There really isn't any way to predict cost accurately, and projects almost always take longer than you think they will. Here are some "for instances" to consider regarding cost, however.

• You have two half hour tapes that you want to combine into a single fifteen minute DVD by cutting pieces out of each of the long tapes and combining what's left. You have to go through each tape with the editor, select and record the pieces you want to use, add titles and music, review the finished piece and make any changes you think necessary. If you've done you homework -- i.e., logged the two tapes and made an Edit Decision List -- this will probably take a couple of hours, more if you have numerous short clips that have to be trimmed up and have transitions inserted between.

  Cost: $160 and up, depending on the complexity of the project.

• You want to make a photo montage -- a presentation of still photos, with titles and some captions, the whole set to music. About 45- 50 pictures an hour can be scanned, and captured to the computer, trimmed and placed on the time line. Each photo will stay on screen 5 seconds, so for each finished minute of tape you'll use about 12 pictures. A 10 minute photo montage will use about 120 pictures which, at 35 per hour, will take about three and a half hours to capture and get ready for your review. Adding a title will take another few minutes, adding captions to specific pictures can add a couple of minutes per caption. Adding music will add an additional hour.

  Your 10 minute photo montage will probably take between four and a half and six hours from start to finish, and could take considerably longer if you make lots of changes in picture sequence or add lots of complex transitions between pictures.

  Editing cost: between $360 and $500.

Remember, these are just for purposes of illustration. Each project is different: each client's degree of preparedness is different, the complexity of each project differs, too.

Last modified 2/18/08