Editing Tips: Sorting Footage and Creating Quality Timelines
In this tutorial, I’ll teach you how to build an editing sequence that helps you learn your footage while also selecting the best clips for your edit.
I call this a Cherry-Picked Timeline, and it has saved a ton of projects I’ve worked on. Editing big projects can be daunting, especially when it comes to floods of footage. So how can you get through it all and end up with a decent timeline to edit?
Step 1: Organization
Organize your footage into folders before importing it into a timeline. For example, one folder could be primary footage, and another could be B-roll. In this situation, I’ve separated my footage into locations (Tree Bridge Hike, Mt. Doom, Fiordlands, etc.).
This organization process is time-consuming; however, in a moment you’ll understand why it will eventually save a ton of time.
Step 2: New Sequence
Create a new sequence for the organized footage. Now, drag and drop your footage into the new timeline.
Step 3: Let the Cherry-Picking Begin
This is the first step in the cherry-picking process. Play through the timeline as if you’re watching back an edit. While watching, make in and out cut points on the coverage you like by using the blade tool. Once you’ve selected your points, drag the specified clip into the second video track on your timeline. Now, repeat this with every favorite clip.
Note: Make sure that the only clips that live in the second video track are the ones you like.
By the end of this process, you should have a timeline broken up in multiple spots, with clips resting on both the first and second video tracks.
Step 4: Delete the Unwanted
Here’s the final step: create a highlight table square by clicking and dragging your cursor across the timeline. With the square, highlight just videos in video track 1. Avoid highlighting any of the audio tracks.
Once those tracks are highlighted, ripple delete by either right-clicking and pressing the ripple delete option from the dropdown menu, or by pressing Shift + Delete.
Step 5: It’s DONE!
Now you have a timeline containing only your preferred shots! If you’re afraid of deleting some usable footage, you can always duplicate your timeline before deleting the unselected coverage in video track 1!
Interested in the tracks we used to make this video?
- “When Everything Was New” by Magnetize Music
- “The Road Forward” by Nick Petrov
- “Sunny Days in June” by Sonic Sanctuary
Looking for more video tutorials? Check these out.
