Non-Linear Editing

2 Pages 435 Words

WHAT'S NON-LINEAR EDITING?
Editing film on a flatbed or workbench is basically non-linear editing. That is, the film can be assembled in any order from beginning to end, and changes can be made in the cut anywhere at any time.
Contrast this with editing on video, where an editor must begin the cut at the beginning of the program and lay down shots in story order. Often an project edited in this way must make several versions of the program-- an "off-line" edit, where the basic decisions of the cut are made, and then an "on-line" edit, which includes all the bells and whistles of the edit-- dissolves, wipes, etc.
Similarly, a film editor must make all his or her decisions without benefit of these effects, marking the work-print edit with grease pencil where the dissolves are supposed to go. The film editor has the benefits of being able to break a splice in half and make changes in the middle of the film edit, but has the disadvantages of having to keep track of thousands of little film trims.
Non-Linear Editing, in the context of computer editing, is to film and video editing what the word processor was to the typewriter. Non-linear editing offers the best of both the film and video worlds..and more.
The benefits of Non-linear editors (NLE) are greater than I could explain in one article. A NLE allow you to make changes in your edit anywhere at any time. A NLE can easily save multiple cuts of one program. A NLE can save hours of work logging and ar chiving footage. A NLE can remember and undo your recent edits that you aren't happy with. A NLE can generate an Edit Decision List (EDL) for film (a "cut list") or video to be sent to a negative conformer or in the case of video, can be imported into a n edit controller. Most NLE's use all digital sound. Many NLE's allow you to do titles generation, dissolves, wipes, video and 3D effects, and other custom effects on-the-fly or in real time. Many NLE's allow you to convert to and fr...