Video Editing for Harm Reduction Advocacy

Simple video editing for advocacy

1. Fresh Cuts: A Primer on
Editing the “Microdoc”
Harm Reduction Advocacy
and Video Storytelling
Greg Scott
DePaul University

2. Start with the Big Questions
Figure out the story. What's it about?
Don’t get mired in the details
What is the emotion of the story? What
do you want the viewer to feel?
What do you want the viewer to do?

3. Getting Started
Editing is like writing. If you can write, you can edit video.
No matter what your video’s about, its success or failure is
a matter of storytelling power.
A shot is a word. A few shots strung together make a
sentence, or a scene. A few strings of shots and you have
a sequence, or a series of scenes. A few sequences and
you have an act.
Keep repeating this and you'll end up with a movie.

4. Tips 1
Cut the crap
Tag and organize clips –bins/folders
Select the necessary/critical
Then select the wonderful
Audio / Video –checkerboarding
Watch your selections. Step away. Tell the story
to someone else, using as your material only the
shots you've got in your rushes.
Start laying out clips on a timeline

5. Tips 2
Figure out a basic structure (be flexible)
Opening scene should be a hook and should
set the tone for the whole piece --capture
the feeling, tone, pace, and if possible, it
should emblematized the theme or
message.
Change pace with purpose ....::..::..::….

6. Shot Density: Purposeful Pacing

7. Use text slides strategically & economically.
For directing the viewer’s attention / thematics
Make good transitions. Don't get hokey.
Audio mixing and mastering volume.
Silence is a virtue (so is negative space)
Subtitle as appropriate.
One sentence = 3-4 seconds of screen time
Watch it ruthlessly; refine
Tips 3

8. Now Let’s Edit!!!