switching shots and other basics

Hi all!

I am a hobbyist (read - low budget ) who has bought a pocket 4k as I write a bit of music for fun and I want to learn enough videography to put some asbtract visuals to it.

This is more of a cinematography question, possibly even psychology than a specific black magic, but I bet there are some people on here who can provide some thoughts.

One thing I find, is no matter what footage I get, or how good or useful it is, in raw form it has a complete different feel and stitching clips together has a very sort of discontinuity feel to it. When studying other media projects, like amateur films etc everything seems to flow and feel connected, but when I play back my own stuff it feels very disconnected by nature, even if the shots follow the same theme or build story - is this just creators psychology as we know we filmed these clips in completely different places and settings, if so how we do stop it impacting the creative process? or do I likely have a genuine continuity problem?


Secondly, on the same continuity thing - like a lot of soaps etc I do a lot of shot switching without using blends or transitions - I would where appropriate but I notice in practice transitions see very little use. However my transitions seem overly blunt - I will prove a quickly thrown together example below (as in 10 minute thrown together) , just note a few things:

https://barely-functional.com/samples/cityscape.mov

- the background music is me just having a quick play in guitar, it's not a proper concept just to set the feel
- i put the clips together to sort of give a 'city' liverpoolish theme (as I think thats what the guitar riff sounds like)


I've wondered if people deal with this by having a very short blend, rather than an absolute cut/switch between clips, you maybe a 2 frame overlap or something which could be an almost instant cut but not quite instant.




Apart from the fact I'm limited to the cheapest of cheapest lenses for budget reasons, and having to use a fairly non-powerful PC with resolve (it actually isn't a bad spec GPU wise, 32gbram, SSD disks and 4060ti- but there's still a lot of waiting) I am loving the BM equipment and software experience, I am just anxious I might struggle to acheive my endgoal it's a long road.


A penny for your thoughts

Kris

Try using Smooth Cut. You can set this as your default transition if you wish.

Smooth Cut.jpg (36.23 KiB) Viewed 2353 times

Having said that it is quite normal to cut on the beat rather than add a transition. It also depends on the pace of the music. I will use a cross dissolve for a slower transition if the music or subject calls for it.
The cut is the normal thing to use as it mimics real life. When you turn your head to look at something you automatically blink so cutting between views. The dissolve has no counterpart.
I see nothing wrong with the cuts between clips in your example.

This is an example of mine that only uses cuts in time to the music. There is also a time progression in the images.

PS; I'm a video hobbyist too.

The art of the edit. Let the clips show you where to cut. It can be around the end of an action or where a similar movement or centre of attention occurs in both clips or where your viewers focus is directed out of frame. Or following the music as Charles mentioned. Those are techniques that make the cut seem to be an appropriate smooth transition. And then there’s the jump cut that intentionally can eliminate any sense of smoothness as it can startle you or skip over a movement or time. Perhaps read a book or a few articles about editing if you feel there’s no method to your madness. The use of transitions is very limited intentionally as they’re not natural of course. A cross dissolve might indicate a scene break or a significant break in time. I don’t use them anymore.

In the Blink of an Eye, by Walter Murch

I found it quite helpful. Among other things, Murch explains why cuts work when that is so not the way we perceive the world.

Second that book.
And watching fast action scenes from a top level movie frame-by-frame.
But it doesn't need to be high action or just following the rules: "Ikiru" by Akira Kurosawa is demonstrating several unconventional editing approaches (in 1952!), like cross dissolves, axial cuts, wipes, crossing the line, very well tuned to the story.
The editor, Kôichi Iwashita, worked with him later on "Seven Samurai", which is another masterclass in editing.

There’s nothing wrong with the cuts in your example especially if that is what you want. For what I do, I don’t use transitions ever. I cut to a beat of the music or to where and when I feel it’s the right place to cut. The only thing I don’t do (or in very rare exceptions if that’s what the story requires) is a jump cut. I also don’t like to use transition too as it makes my cut look artificial.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts - I realised at the time of posting (and after) it was potentially a ridiculously 'entry level' question.

I do wonder if I suffer from bias, for example if I watch a soap opera on TV, or news piece or even another music video, because I 'assume' the camera work is professional, I don't really scrutinise or question shots, or how they are delivered. When it's my own, everything sort of feels 'out of context'. I think it might be partly because I know where the clips 'originated' so I see and feel them being more disjointed (i.e a shot from one location next to a shot from another) where the storyline might want the viewer to beleive its the same place etc.

I appreciate the feedback on my test sample clip, maybe I am over thinking this? book recommendations are valuable too - I actually picked up, just after posting this thread a book called 'the filmmakers eye' - this kind of book is useful because it seems at least as far as I've got to specifically cover camerawork and shot composition (I haven't seen mention of transitions yet but it feels its going in the right direction) but I am more than happy to take on book and reading suggestions for a more theoretical understanding above and beyond using the tools (i.e resolve).

It's a much bigger hobby than I envisaged, but it does look to be fun, educational and rewarding.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts… It's a much bigger hobby than I envisaged, but it does look to be fun, educational and rewarding.

Long live the creatives… Live long and prosper.

Indeed!

It's not a question I find gets much discussion on the internet, but noting above that some people do put video to music on here, is there a standard approach to dealing with awkward framerate and BPM/music tempo matches?

I shoot most clips at 24fps, but that means for actual beat timing the tempo has to be very specific. A lot of shots will naturally change to the time of the song, and I've experimented with getting it as close as possible, it's nearly there but feels a bit 'not quite' (you can see the effect on the clip i linked to above)

does anyone how does the industry approach this?

There are three things to consider when using music.

Is it appropriate for the subject matter of the visuals?
Does its tempo fit the pacing of the visuals, or, if there is narration, the pacing of the v/o?
Does it compliment and enhance the story being told?

I have seen so many videos on YouTube with horrendous music choices.

As someone who spent 38 years up until retirement in 2016 as a professional sound engineer creating soundtracks for corporate videos, museums, visitor attractions, and special venues, I tend to get a bit passionate about it.

Hi peter, there is nothing wrong with being passionate - my aim is to actually do something similar but the other way around - I write music for fun, I'm learning videography with the hope to add to it

So I'm asking the same questions but backwards - what does the sound sound like, and what does it make you think of?

For example the clip above with the guitar riff sounded very britpoppy/liverpuddlian, so I went for the day and took some b-roll in liverpool and manchester together to see if the theme would fit.

So it's a good point, it doesn't really address how to time clips to a beat when the frames per second makes it awkward, but your points are perfectly valid (and I'll probably come a cropper but I'll try not to). In fact I need to carve some time out when I can just to look at some professional music vids to see if they religiously cut to the beat or any kind of observable method. It makes sense to me to cut to the beat but it could become overused i guess.

Whilst I'm just *fooling about* at the minute, learning my camera, the aim is ultimately to work to a storyboard and loose plot, not just a sequence of clips.

If you’re trying to cut 24 fps video on the music beat, would you limit yourself to music that’s 72 bpm or 120 bpm for example? I don’t think so. It’s just when you make a cut, it can be made at a particular beat. The soundtrack (which doesn’t have fps considerations) display of audio levels clearly shows you where the beat is aurally. But that isn’t necessarily where the beat is visually, because light travels to your camera from the scene a little faster than the sound travels. When you edit, you well may need to nudge your audio a frame or subframe earlier to try to match audio to the video. You likely only do this once in a clip.

Nothing wrong with a piece of music coming first and then shooting video to go with it. That is exactly the way that video of the sea I posted came about. I found the music first which inspired the subject. Frame rate doesn't dictate where you cut, it's the picture content that does. You don't have to cut on the beat you can do so on a key change or when a particular instrument is played. At the end of the day does it work with the visuals.
If you watch a movie the music is there to create and enhance the mood and emotions and the picture rarely cuts on a beat.

Here's another example with not a cut in sight. In this case the visuals came first and then I found a piece of music I liked and edited to it. To keep the relaxed pace all I used were dissolves.

While the music should always fit the mood, it's sometimes strange what happens to rhythm in our mind.
Make a simple experiment: film pedestrians in a busy street and put some military march on the audio track. You will be surprised.

Hi Charles, you know what that reminds me of - and this is a compliment - the unwind with ITV snippets they put on at the evening, usually a nice soothing ambient peice of music with a well selected montage of ambient scenic views (sometimes wide landscapes but somethings more close ups too). I love it.

Done some critical viewing of some of my favourite music videos, there is a definite 'switch on the beat' tendency but it seems to be followed loosey, I suppose it breaks up the 'slideshow' feel you'd get if you had too much equidistant length of clips - this is going to be interesting to get right.

Always being on the beat would feel far too mechanical.

Watching AppleTV+ The Gorge dance scene. Not a single cut on the beat, all between the beats. Seems to flow well without any expectation of a cut.