story-oriented video editing resources

October 22, 2012 4:14 PM

I'm looking for some really good how-to guides on making videos, especially on documentary style and story-oriented pieces.

There are a bunch of great resources for making story-oriented radio pieces at Transom.org. I'm interested in learning more about video, though; I have a basic editing setup at this point and some decent portable equipment. I'm also chillin' in western Kenya, working on a bunch of projects that could use some documentation. What are some good resources on the art of story-oriented video editing?

posted by kaibutsu to media & arts (2 answers total)

Documentary: A History of the Non-Fiction Film: Erik Barnouw
This was one of my textbooks in college. It's great place to start.
posted by DaddyNewt at 11:38 PM on October 22, 2012

At what stage are your technical abilities?
If you're at the very beginning stages, just typing in the title of your editing program should bring up a litany of projects that you can do on your own...

Other than that, I'd say watch a lot of commercials, short films and music videos. Basically any short works that you can find. Try to emulate what you like. I find lately I'm watching a lot of Max Joseph, The Catfish Guys, Casey Neistat, and those wonderful PBS Off Book shorts. Seriously, watch a lot of stuff.

Most importantly, make a lot of videos. You're going to suck for a while. Then you're going to get much better, or so you'll think. You'll actually still suck. That's the part that I'm at. Keep on making them.

Luckily, I think that filmmakers are able to learn from their mistakes much faster than many other kinds of artists, so always watch your stuff, try to look at it objectively figure out what didn't work, make a note and then move on (I have a huge plain text document that's like a failure log with solutions.)
posted by seansbrain at 9:57 AM on October 23, 2012