Things You'll Need:
- video you shot
- computer
- editing software
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Step 1
When you get the video off of your camera the most important thing you can do is stay organized. I suggest first dumping all of your footage files into one folder. For my recent short film I had over 450 video files. The first thing you need to do is make a folder for every scene you have. Begin moving the clips into the proper folders.
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Step 2
Making the Short FilmOnce you have all of your video clips organized by scene, I highly suggest renaming the video files themselves. You can do them all at once; simply highlight all the files, right mouse click, and click rename. You might select all the files for Scene 2, and name them "Scene 2 Video Files" and the computer will rename automatically.
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Step 3
The next thing you want to do is very time consuming. Go through all of your clips. Watch them; not in the editor, just using media player or something similar. Take notes on the clips. Maybe write down that you like the end of clip 32, but the beginning of clip 36. Watch them all. Perhaps there are some shots you know you won't use at all. Don't delete it, just move it to a folder called "trash clips". Maybe you can put all the clips you don't plan on using in that folder. Also, even if there are mess-ups, keep those. If they are funny, but you can't use them in the short film, move it to a "funny folder." These might be useful for some outtakes down the road.
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Step 4
Once you have gone through all of your files and thinned it out a little bit, the next thing you want to do is fix all the audio. This is an often overlooked procedure in video editing, but audio is the other half to video. It is that important. They are equal, half and half. I suggest fixing all the audio before you start editing. A good free program for doing this is called "Audacity" and can be found online with a simple Google search.
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Step 5
Now you are finally ready to start editing. The first four steps usually take me almost a week. Take your time. Editing is crucial to movie making; don't rush it. Organize your working sets just like you did your folders. Don't try to edit the whole movie on one timeline. Seperate it into scenes. Render those scenes seperately, and then when you are all finished, you can composite just 10-20 files on one timeline.
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Step 6
Don't, I repeat do NOT add any music until the very end! If your story is good you don't need music to carry it. Adding music early in your project will only get in your way. Don't do it. It will distract you into thinking that the scene is better than it really is. If you edit without music and the scene is strong, when you add music later, it will be that much better.
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Step 7
Makup Artist Jamie Barrash applies fake blood to Actor William TanoosGood luck and feel free to send me a message for more specific questions, I'd be glad to lend a hand. If you check out Vimeo or YouTube you can find lots of great examples by just searching for Short Film. Not all of them will be good, but that's the point! Look at the bad ones too. Critique them, decide why they are bad, and why the good ones are good. Try to emulate the ones you like. There's no shame in aspiring to be like Spielberg. If you see something you like, try to replicate it. You can see some of my work at either YouTube or Vimeo by searching Obviouschild.
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Step 8
Have fun and take your time!
