When I was introduced to Avid Media Composer, I had been working in Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects, so I had a general understanding of the NLE system I was being introduced to. But I found the layout of Avid Media Composer to confuse me at first. I was something different from what I had been used to, but after some practice I had a good understanding of how to use it. I understand why it is an industry standard, since a lot of the functions in the programme is controlled with keys or short-cuts, which makes the editing process faster and more reliable.
To fully understand Avid Media Composer, I felt like I had to start over again in tearms of editing. It is completely different to work in a highly professional editor, and along the way I felt like the progress started paying off. To this day I still do all my editing in Premiere pro, since I am almost 100% familiar with it's limitations and possibilities, plus it is a great tool to use as an independent film maker. I would definitively pursue a more advanced skill set for Avid Media Composer, if I were to work in a professional environment.
I think it would be a good idea to explore Avid Media Composer to its full potential, but I believe a good edit can also be achieved with other NLE systems. As Thompson and Bowen suggests:
"Other factors involved with editorial and transition choices include your own creativity,
the vision of the director, the suggestions of a producer, and the quality of the raw foot-
age that you are tasked with editing together."
(Thompson et al., 2009)
Trauma Room:
The Trauma Room exercise was the first Avid Media Composer exercise we had to do. The exercise allowed us to become more familiar with the layout and functions of Avid Media Composer, and was a good exercise to practice getting better. The meaning of my edit here is to create a tension with a fast cutting rhythm, to intensify the situation at the hospital.
The second exercise was the Car Theft exercise. This one alloed us to become familiar with the skill set of a professional TV editor. We were given a lot of rushes - meaning raw clips, to cut and edit as we thought it fit the edit. This exercise was longer than the first one, as this one not only taught us proper sound edit, but also how to put animation on to a freeze frame, much like a real TV presentation.
For this exercise brief I was not present in the classroom. This assignment was given to us as I was healing from a broken collarbone. I was told I had to make the sound flow smoothly, and perfect the cut the best I had learned. So when I felt a little better, I decided that I could probably manage this with the use of mostly one arm. It turned out to be okay, and I put a lot of thought into the intensity in the end, and how to cut so it seemed natural. I wanted to underline the romance the best I had learned, and decided to focus on the eye contact between the two characters, and a slow cutting rhythm towards the end of the clip.
In the edits it is clear to see how I have progressed as an editor while I did my post-production classes.
The edit files can be found here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11934314/Avid%20Edit%20Files.zip
Sources:
Thompson, R. (2009). Grammar of the shot. 2nd ed. ed. Focal Press. Amsterdam ; Boston.
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