Best transition for interview with no b-roll at DVinfo.net

Leon Davis · April 26th, 2010, 07:27 PM

I am currently working on award acceptance speeches that need to be edited for time and also to clean up the pauses and "umms". The speeches were shot with one camera with no re-framing as the speaker basically just started giving "thank you's" and telling stories with no pause. With this being an acceptance speech there really isn't anything that I can use for b-roll or a cut away. What is the best transition to use where there are jump cuts? I have tried both a cross dissolve and a quick dip to white transition. They both look okay but I want to make sure I am using the most professional technique for this project. Thanks for any suggestions.

Leon

Mike Brice · April 26th, 2010, 07:52 PM

Can you use still pictures that are topic related to what he is speaking about?

Leon Davis · April 26th, 2010, 08:19 PM

Not really, I have a few photos of the speakers but they are being used for an intro and aren't specific to their speeches. The speakers are telling 1 or 2 stories and giving thanks to various people who have helped them.

Chris Barcellos · April 26th, 2010, 09:10 PM

any crowd cut aways ?

Roger Shealy · April 26th, 2010, 10:17 PM

Sometimes you just have to cross-fade with the bad taken out. Another idea is to do a jump-cut with the bad taken out and digitally zoom in just before the cut or just after the cut (resize and reframe) so it looks like a camera change.

Time to make lemonade!

Min Lee · April 26th, 2010, 10:20 PM

in addition to digital zoom and reframing, sometimes you can get away with flopping the image to look like a second camera from the other side.

Robert Turchick · April 27th, 2010, 12:54 AM

I've dealt with this a bunch and my favs are the 8 frame dissolve (used to see it on all the news shows like 60 Minutes and Dateline) and the sparingly-used dip to black dissolve. I have also used the digital zoom but that really depends on the delivery format. If you're scaling down, works great. Otherwise...not really.
As Chris mentioned, crowds would be the ideal on this situation.

Bill Ward · May 1st, 2010, 08:29 PM

Or, if it's a lockdown and the speaker is pretty much in the same place, you can do a quick "morph" effect.

Sometimes it works like magic...sometimes it looks like a bad sci-fi movie.

Rickey Brillantes · May 3rd, 2010, 11:22 AM

I usually scale up and scale down during cuts and reposition them around, sometimes off center to the left in the middle or anywhere that looks best.

That effect gives you like you were shooting with 2 camera's with wide shots showing the head and a little bit of the shoulder and tight shots just showing the head.

Gabe Strong · May 4th, 2010, 11:50 PM

I like the Nattress film flash transition....about a 5 frame one. It's similar to a dip to white, but a little
different....I think it gives a good look. I've also used the flop video filter as mentioned (but it doesn't work
if there are any signs or things like that in the background as the words then are reversed and a dead giveaway). The digital zoom in the NLE is a good idea as well as long as you don't zoom in too far.
For a commercial, I've used the standard 'freeze the video, make it go black and white....and sometimes even slid a new background behind the speaker' move, but that probably doesn't work in a award acceptance speech.

April 26th, 2010, 07:27 PM	#1
Leon Davis Tourist Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Lexington, KY Posts: 2	Best transition for interview with no b-roll I am currently working on award acceptance speeches that need to be edited for time and also to clean up the pauses and "umms". The speeches were shot with one camera with no re-framing as the speaker basically just started giving "thank you's" and telling stories with no pause. With this being an acceptance speech there really isn't anything that I can use for b-roll or a cut away. What is the best transition to use where there are jump cuts? I have tried both a cross dissolve and a quick dip to white transition. They both look okay but I want to make sure I am using the most professional technique for this project. Thanks for any suggestions. Leon

April 26th, 2010, 09:10 PM	#4
Chris Barcellos Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Elk Grove CA Posts: 6,838	any crowd cut aways ? __________________ Chris J. Barcellos

April 27th, 2010, 12:54 AM	#7
Robert Turchick Trustee Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Mesa, AZ Posts: 1,389	I've dealt with this a bunch and my favs are the 8 frame dissolve (used to see it on all the news shows like 60 Minutes and Dateline) and the sparingly-used dip to black dissolve. I have also used the digital zoom but that really depends on the delivery format. If you're scaling down, works great. Otherwise...not really. As Chris mentioned, crowds would be the ideal on this situation. __________________ The older I get, the better I was!

April 26th, 2010, 07:52 PM	#2
Mike Brice Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Toledo, Ohio and SLC, Utah Posts: 69	Can you use still pictures that are topic related to what he is speaking about?

April 26th, 2010, 08:19 PM	#3
Leon Davis Tourist Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Lexington, KY Posts: 2	Not really, I have a few photos of the speakers but they are being used for an intro and aren't specific to their speeches. The speakers are telling 1 or 2 stories and giving thanks to various people who have helped them.

April 26th, 2010, 10:17 PM	#5
Roger Shealy Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: Fayetteville, GA Posts: 772	Sometimes you just have to cross-fade with the bad taken out. Another idea is to do a jump-cut with the bad taken out and digitally zoom in just before the cut or just after the cut (resize and reframe) so it looks like a camera change. Time to make lemonade!

April 26th, 2010, 10:20 PM	#6
Min Lee Major Player Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 200	in addition to digital zoom and reframing, sometimes you can get away with flopping the image to look like a second camera from the other side.

May 1st, 2010, 08:29 PM	#8
Bill Ward Major Player Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 580	Or, if it's a lockdown and the speaker is pretty much in the same place, you can do a quick "morph" effect. Sometimes it works like magic...sometimes it looks like a bad sci-fi movie.

May 3rd, 2010, 11:22 AM	#9
Rickey Brillantes Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Ontario, California Posts: 309	I usually scale up and scale down during cuts and reposition them around, sometimes off center to the left in the middle or anywhere that looks best. That effect gives you like you were shooting with 2 camera's with wide shots showing the head and a little bit of the shoulder and tight shots just showing the head.

May 4th, 2010, 11:50 PM	#10
Gabe Strong Major Player Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Juneau, AK Posts: 814	I like the Nattress film flash transition....about a 5 frame one. It's similar to a dip to white, but a little different....I think it gives a good look. I've also used the flop video filter as mentioned (but it doesn't work if there are any signs or things like that in the background as the words then are reversed and a dead giveaway). The digital zoom in the NLE is a good idea as well as long as you don't zoom in too far. For a commercial, I've used the standard 'freeze the video, make it go black and white....and sometimes even slid a new background behind the speaker' move, but that probably doesn't work in a award acceptance speech.