Recent Video Editing Articles

RED's Gorgeous 4K Short On The World's Best Dance Festival Film Maker Is Beautiful

Last year I interviewed Stijn Verlinde, probably the best dance music festival filmmaker in the world right now. Last week, RED, makers of the camera equipment Stijn uses, recognized this and released a gorgeous 4K mini-profile that takes us deep into Stijn’s life, philosophy, shooting style and creative vision. If you're in need of a little inspiration today, take 4 minutes to check out this beautiful mini doc on one of the world's best.

'Watchtower Of Turkey' - Quite Possibly The Most Compelling Film You See This Year

How are you getting people to look at and engage with your work? This is something we all have to think about constantly in today’s visually saturated market place. It’s why it’s all the more important to look at – and learn from – those producing stunning and engaging work. Let me introduce you to Leonardo Dalessandri, and his latest project “Watchtower Of Turkey”, a video that he worked on over the course of a year and quite possibly some of the best visual media you’ll see in 2015.

Stunning and Mesmerizing Dubai "Flow Motion" Time-lapse by Rob Whitworth Takes Us for a Ride

Rob Whitworth builds upon his previous experience from his innovative Barcelona "flow motion" time-lapse with this new production covering the business oasis, Dubai. In his latest piece, Whitworth makes it apparent that he has perfected his craft to create the most fascinating time-lapse we've seen so far. We asked him to comment on his process. And while we got some behind-the-scenes footage and images, Whitworth simply told us, "It's always fun to keep people guessing." So by all means, let's guess.

Hearing Tarantino: The Brilliant Impact of Sound in Quentin Tarantino Films

Movies are something we can all thoroughly enjoy. Whether it be a hilarious comedy or an action adventure, they take us places we don't normally see or experience. Films all have the same goal, to capture and engage us within their world and to evoke feelings of excitement or even fear. The guys over at Movie Pilot have found something so simple that it screams brilliance in films by Quentin Tarantino: the sound!

Fascinating Explanation of Quadrant Composition in Cinema

If you didn't see the 2011 action film "Drive," directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, you should definitely check it out. Apart from it gratuitous violence, it is a fantastic work of complex cinematography and artistic storytelling. In this video review, Tony Zhou puts together another great analysis discussing how the use of quadrants add a unique dimension to the overall film. Zhou is also known for his breakdown of Edgar Wright's use of visual comedy in his ongoing series (and Vimeo Staff Pick), "Every Frame a Painting."

CGI-Filled Jurassic World Super Bowl Spot Creates Whole New Look for the Franchise

Whether you're a fan of the Jurassic Park franchise or not, it's going to continue to be pushed in hopes of reaching the status of the original blockbuster by Steven Spielberg. A tall order indeed, but with the first trailer slightly sparking my interest, it was the newest CGI-filled update during the Super Bowl that really brought me back to that first movie's excitement and unpredictability.

5 More Video Editing Tricks For Your Video Post Production Toolkit

About a month ago I listed some of my favorite editing tricks and while experienced editors knew the deal, I got a lot of feedback saying that at least one or two of those techniques were helpful for people who have only started to edit videos in the last few years. So here are 5 more, some maybe a touch more advanced, editing tips for the video editors out there.

‘Confusion Through Sand’ is a Hand-Drawn Masterpiece Two Years in the Making

Ornana Films is a small production company based in San Rafael that is no stranger to awards. They took home the Jury Award at the SXSW film festival in 2012 for their short "(notes on) Biology" which continued on to win several other awards that same year, including Exceptional Short at Santa Fe Independent and the Grand Jury Prize at FFF. Two years later at SXSW, they premiered their latest short "Confusion Through Sand" to much acclaim. Now, after a year of waiting, the hand-drawn masterpiece is online for free along with a behind-the-scenes video documenting the work that went into this brilliant animated short.

One Of The Most Insane GoPro Videos You’ve Probably Ever Seen - And Why It’s Gone Viral

You might not know who Candide Thovex is now, but trust me, by the time you finish this article, you will probably be more than a little in awe of him. His latest video is averaging 1.5 million hits a day and counting since going live last week. It could easily be the single best action spots video we’ll see all year. Today, I’ll break down why I think it’s so successful, and how we can apply the same techniques to our own work.

Go Behind The Scenes On "The Great Human Odyssey" - A Documentary On The Origin Of Our Species

A group of filmmakers from Edmonton, Alberta have been working on a three-part science and nature documentary called The Great Human Odyssey. I recently spoke with some of the crew to learn more about how a production team approaches a project that involves planning and shooting in some of the most remote environments in the world. Check out their behind the scenes video, but read on for more videos and insight into their process.

Is It Possible To Produce High End Video With A $600 Point & Shoot?

If you’d asked me this question last week, I would have said no. What a difference a few days makes. Ruslan Pelykh, a New York City-based videographer and photographer, is creating outstanding video with a Leica D Lux 6, a 10 megapixel, $600 point and shoot. This post is a kick up the butt for anyone hanging on for a piece of gear as being the reason they can’t create with what they have. Welcome to creating more, with less.

Vimeo Quietly Introduces 4K Streaming!

Not quite in full effect just yet but out of the blue it appears that Vimeo is slowly implementing 4K streaming capability. It is a feature which has been hinted at and many have been waiting for. Philip Bloom and James Miller break it down.

Making The Most Unbelieveable Basketball Trick Shots With After Effects And Some Creativity

This video reminds me of my college days– spending time working with a friend while having next to no budget, but coming up with a fun idea for a short video that would allow us to flex some creative muscle. Corridor Digital may have a (small) budget for these, but what I enjoy about them is that the fun and creativity feels authentic, which you often only get when no agency or corporate sponsor is pushing creative decisions. In this video, you'll see the final clip, with the behind-the-scenes video inside the full post.

Film Yourself Easier Than Ever with the New SOLOSHOT2

When it comes to making video edits and sports demos of yourself, finding a friend to film can be the biggest challenge of all. With this second generation advancement of the SOLOSHOT you can film yourself in endless scenarios, photograph panning DSLR timelapse, and forego the need for a buddy on the beach.

Fstoppers Reviews the FroKnowsPhoto’s Guide to DSLR Video DVD

As a professional photographer I have always been curious about the art of videography since the two seem to go hand in hand, but I have never made the jump to shooting my own content because I was always quite unsure of where to start. I wanted to quickly learn the basics and start shooting right away. I’m a visual learner, and I figured a crash course in an online tutorial would be my best bet, but searching for tutorials scattered across Youtube seemed tedious. Recently Jared Polin, better known as Fro from FroKnowsPhoto released a comprehensive guide to shooting video using a DSLR called The FroKnowsPhoto Guide to DSLR Video.

Famous Album Covers Came to Life in This Creative Music Video - Find Out How it Was Done

"Mayokero" may be the best music video that came out in 2014, yet you probably never heard of it before. In the video, famous vinyl album covers come to life and they all lip-sync to Roy Kafri's singing. Michael Jackson, Abba, Madonna, The Beatles, Elton John and Bob Dylan are only few of the "collaborators" in the video. Check out the BTS video below and also the amazing final result.

PES Releases New Stop-Motion Short Film "Submarine Sandwich" and BTS

Whether or not you knew it, you have most likely viewed a short film by Adam Pesapane, better known as PES. The director and animator has released several immensely popular stop-motion shorts, directed numerous commercials for major companies such as PlayStation, Scrabble, and Bacardi, and has even been nominated for an Academy Award. Along with the release of his newest short, "Submarine Sandwich," PES and Nikon Cinema have teamed up to bring you a rather comprehensive behind-the-scenes look into the process that goes into the making of PES’ films.

Learn How to Quickly Add and Manipulate Realistic Snow to Your Videos in After Effects

Through Premiumbeat.com's Vimeo channel and blog, motion graphic designer Kevin Gater did the world a huge favor by recently providing a tutorial on creating realistic, falling snow with RED Giant's After Effects plug-in. There are a ton of settings in After Effects, let alone in the RED Giant Trapcode Particular plug-in, that would take forever to navigate; but Gater does a great job going through which settings to ignore and which ones to pay attention to so you'll know exactly what to tweak for your needs. Thankfully, in 15 minutes, you can be ready to add great snow effects for the holiday season or that high-mountain horror short with just a few careful clicks.

Jackie Chan Explains Why Hong Kong Filmmakers Do Action Comedy Better

Growing up, I have been entranced by Jackie Chan films for their insane stunts, beautifully choreographed action sequences and hilarious physical comedy. His action scenes are both visually stunning and involving, playing underdog characters fighting against impossible odds. Chan’s dedication to his craft is unquestionable but perhaps he has not been given enough credit as an action director. In this video, filmmaker Tony Zhou breaks down the framing and editing techniques that Hong Kong directors use to create engaging fighting scenes, highlighting how many of these techniques are absent in Hollywood films of today. If you are interested in becoming a filmmaker, you need to watch this.

Watch This Incredible Timelapse and Drone Footage of Iceland

Patrick and I have been in Iceland for 2 weeks with Elia Locardi filming our next tutorial on landscape/travel photography. We brought a truck-load of gear with us but our favorite piece has been our DJI phantom quadcopter. Here's a quick cut of our best drone footage in Iceland.

Documentary Takes a Look behind the Film Restoration Of "Jaws"

As part of Universal’s 100th anniversary, a team of restoration experts took on the task of digitally remastering the classic film “Jaws.” The fully restored feature required intense labor from colorists, digital artists, audio engineers, preservation experts, and everyone in between. In this fascinating documentary, we get a look at all the various complex efforts taken in order to bring the ‘70s blockbuster in to the digital age.

12 Tips On How To Work From Home As A Freelance Video Editor

While sharing drinks with a friend, he started inquiring as to how I’m able to supplement my income with video editing projects. The more we talked, the more I realized that a lot of people have the ability and skill to do it, but they don’t understand the small things that can make or break being successful at it. In this post, I’ll share what I’ve learned about being a freelance editor.

5 Things We Can All Learn From The Best Reel On The Internet

Excuse me a moment while I try and reassemble my brain, it’s kind of just been blown by the video reel I’m about to talk about. While I collect my senses, feel free to join me as I showcase this piece of artistic genius and the talent of the young lady who put it together. This might just be the most insane, joyous 50 second video you’ve ever seen.

Inside The Edit - Is This The Ultimate Resource To Learn How To Edit Video?

Do you have an eye for editing video? The editor often wields the power and ability to breathe life into a piece of motion work, or to kill it off. But where do you go to learn how to edit? Inside The Edit recently launched the world’s first end-to-end online program, and while it’s not without it’s considerations, it represents a giant leap forward for anyone who wants to get hands-on experience in the world of motion storytelling.

New Red Giant Software Aims To Make Video And Photo Offloading Simple And Secure

Most people I work with manually dump thousands of files at the end of their shoot day (myself included.) A stack of cards, hard drives, and waiting for one card to finish before starting the next. All of this is followed by checking each dump to make sure nothing was missed. A new software app from Red Giant is looking to help this process, without bogging users down with extra steps.

Saturday Night Live's New Look And How They Did It

Alex Buono, member of the SNL's film unit, helped produce one of the coolest title sequences ever using time-lapsing, light writing, freelensing, and other effects. The show is celebrating their 40th season so they wanted this sequence to be classic and iconic, a little dressed-up, and typography integrated into the cityscape.

Red Giant Audio/Video Sync Program Pluraleyes Makes Editing a Lot Faster

If you aren't using some sort of software to sync audio, you're sitting in your edit bay manually matching audio to video queues, be that sounds, video hints or timecodes. But what if you could just dump all your camera footage from an interview and all the audio from your recorder into one program and hit one button to sync them all quickly and accurately? You can with Red Giant Pluraleyes, and it's nearly perfect.

Recreating The Back To The Future Delorean Time Travel Scene On A Budget

If you follow any of my work, you know I am a sucker for anything Back To The Future. I even recreated my own BTTF image using a real DeLorean awhile back, so I HAD to share this video. The guys over at Shanks FX have created another inventive tutorial on how you can create your own time travel scene on a budget using a DSLR, simple time lapse software, a toy DeLorean, and some LED lights. Think you may want to try something like this at home?

Seeing The Light - Shane Hurlbut’s Philosophy On Success

What sets you and your work apart? Having a clear idea of this is critical if you want to develop your work but when was the last time you actually thought about it? Shane Hurlbut is a veteran Director of Photography and today shares his thoughts on his career and success. Whether you work with stills or motion, his approach sets him apart and we can all learn from him.

Behind the Scenes of a 50s Inspired Music Video Shoot

Martin Melnick is a Portland-based director and colorist. His studio, Tree House Post, specializes in color, VFX, editing, and motion graphics. Recently he along with his team put together an amazing music video for the band Adventure Galley based on classic 50s and 60s scifi shows such as Men into Space, Destination Moon, and Dr. Strangelove. The video has already received quite a bit of attention from various film and music video festivals and Martin was kind enough to share a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the video in a brief interview.

California In Four Minutes: Explore America's Finest Natural Wonders and Urban Landscapes

The state of California is simply unmatched when it comes to beautiful, picturesque imagery in the United States. As the birthplace and home of timelapse photographer Hal Bergman, it was his goal to compile as much of the visual wonders California has to offer in to a tight four-minutes time. His newest video, aptly titled “California,” combines four years of filming in to a marvelous treat for the eyes that any citizen of the world can appreciate. Beyond the video, Hal also speaks to Fstoppers about the behind-the-scenes work and equipment used in the making.

The G-Speed Studio Desktop Backup/Working Drive Flirts with Perfection

A lot of my work is on the road, which is why I spent a long time looking for the best mobile storage options before eventually landing on the WD My Passport Pro and the LaCie Rugged SSD. But when I'm not on the road, I'm at my desk editing a wide range of video. It's here that I realized I needed not only a reliable backup, but also a powerful and fast working drive to burn through edits. What I found was the G-Speed Studio, and I love it.

Disney Develops an Automatic Editing Tool For Footage From Multiple Cameras

Smartphones have undeniably taken over our lives in the past few years and most of us carry one everywhere we go. One of the most-used features on a modern phone is the camera, and it's being used all the time. In many cases, more than one person is taking photos or videos of what is going on and each person gets different angles and maybe a different part of the action. There has not been an easy way to edit it all together, but Disney Research announced the development of an automatic editing tool that takes the different videos from a scene and intelligently combines them.

"The Greatest Car Film Event" Announced and You Can Get Involved!

Our friends at the automotive website Jalopnik have announced their second transportation-focused film festival, and it is great news for car lovers and creatives alike for a few reasons. First, you can attend an awesome film festival in New York City later this year and watch great car movie shorts. Second, you can submit your work and possibly win awards just as you would in any festival. Third, if you don't have a movie but always wanted to make one, you can possibly win the chance to have it made for you. Finally, you can help me create the ultimate car movie poster!

The "Cutting Edge Editing & Post Production Tour" Review

The premise for the Cutting Edge Tour headed up by Adam Epstein, five year veteran video editor and post production guru for Saturday Night Live, was a tricky one. I know because I spent a few days bouncing ideas around with him and looking at how to structure the thing. This review will set out specifically what you will (and won’t) find in the workshop.

Lighting a Short Film with an IKEA Trash Can

David F. Sandberg goes behind the scenes of his recent horror film Not So Fast and shows us how he lit and created the short. Sandberg reveals his innovative lighting set up that allows him to create a dark and haunting scene. This great behind the scenes video demonstrates that all you need to produce your next work of art is some creativity and innovative thinking.

How to Make Stylized Film Titles for Your Next Video

The guys from Film Riot catch ‘Guy Ritchie Disease’ and in the process teach you how to create the "Guy Ritchie" freeze frame effect. Whether you need an awesome intro title for your film or even a great effect for your own behind the scenes photography vlog, this Film riot video shows you how to create it in Adobe After Effects. If you’re more comfortable in Photoshop, you can put it together in there and then animate it in After Effects.

Fstoppers Review Of The Panasonic Lumix GH4: Is It Ready For Professional Use?

In short, no it is not. But a few minor dealbreakers are all that stand between leaving this camera on the shelf, and making it best digital camera in its class.

After nearly a month of capturing video, stills, and timelapse media with the Panasonic GH4, I laughed, I cried, and I almost threw it off a mountain. At times it was a joy to shoot with, and other times it wouldn’t even power on with a full battery. I’ll give you a complete, unbiased rundown in my full review, complete with video samples.

Be Creative with Your Edits Like These Japanese School Girl Ninjas

What started out as a couple of school girls playfully creating a video ends up as an ad spot for Suntory's C.C. Lemon. This is not an educational video so much as another good demonstration of how low cost gear and some skilled editing can turn out pretty awesome, that is, if the camera shakes don't make you nauseous. A lazy Sunday afternoon is a good time to take this inspiration, your creativity, a cell phone camera and a couple of fast moving Japanese school girls to go make your very own ninja video.

Game of Thrones Season 4 - Wight Attack Sequence Behind-the-Scenes

The ever talented team at Scanline VFX have posted their most recent BTS video of the popular wight fight scene from the Game of Thrones Season 4 Finale. In this run down you can see the incredible detail and heavy visual effects work that goes into each and every scene from that fight. This one sequence has been remored to be one of the most expensive scenes created for the show.

Game of Thrones Season 4 - Visual Effects Behind-the-Scenes

The hit TV show on HBO Game of Thrones has some stunning practical and visual effects. Season 4 was no exception, and the team has behind the VFX just released a behind-the-scenes video showing what they did. If you haven't watched the season yet, be aware, it contains SPOILERS.

Bayhem: When Too Much Isn't Enough

Michael Bay, the American movie director and producer, is worth millions of dollars. In fact, Forbes has Bay making $66 million in 2014 – and that’s just through the first six months of this year.

How’s he do it? Well, Tony Zhou has created a mashup of Bay’s movies for us to study. Let the Bayhem begin.

Top 10 Most Effective Movie Editing Moments of All Time

After watching a great film, it is rare that we give conscious credit to the editing (which is actually a silent compliment to the editors). However, how the film was cut creates most of the powerful feelings we get while watching and is a major contributor to our final thoughts on a film. CineFix has put together what they believe to be the top 10 most effective editing moments of all time, and it's certainly worth noting the editing mastery at work.

The Revolution Will Be Televised - The Meteoric Rise Of Stijn Verlinde

Stijn Verlinde is boarding a flight home to Belgium from a shoot in Las Vegas. “The one piece of advice I would give to anyone starting out is 'be dedicated'.” Stijn, who started out a few years ago with some basic gear has lived by that advice. He is constantly working and is revolutionizing dance music festival videos across the globe. His success is not elusive or down to luck – it’s the result of three very clear factors we can all apply.

Side by Side Video Highlights The Talents of Visual Effects Teams (NSFW)

From time to time, we show of some behind the scenes videos of popular movies and TV shows that highlight the hard work done behind the camera to make the stories come alive. However, rarely do we get to see a side by side comparison of a visual effect heavy movie such as Final Destination 5, showing us all the hard work that is done to seamlessly create exciting moments on a budget.

BTS: Helicarrier Crash Design VFX in Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Wired's Design FX has given us a great behind the scenes video of everything that was involved in the updated Helicarrier crash scene for Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The sheer scale of the project is astounding as FXGuide.com's Mike Seymour and ILM's Digital Models Supervisor Bruce Holcomb take us through the design of the crash and its scale to the actors on the green screen.

How Much Is Too Much For Stock Video And Photography?

Most of the readers of this site I’d wager fall into the category of content creators, not content consumers. That being the case, rants about not being properly compensated for the hard work put in to producing images comes up every so often. But have you ever been on the other side of that situation?

How To Make A Sick Mountain Bike Edit

While browsing the web for editing tips, I ran across this video tutorial that had me intrigued based on the title "How To Make A Sick Mountain Bike Edit." I normally don't watch mountain bike videos, but this one had me from the beginning.