FOCUS Enhancements MX-4DV manual Performing Roll Edits, Cutting Between Scenes, A/A Roll Edits

ADVANCED OPERATIONS PERFORMING ROLL EDITS

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PERFORMING ROLL EDITS

Two types of roll edits are commonly used in video editing — A/A rolls and A/B rolls. You can do both types of rolls with the MX-4 DV. A/A rolls can be accomplished with relative ease. As you’ll learn later in this section, you can also do A/B roll editing with the MX-4 DV, although it does require good preparation and manual control of the devices.

Cutting Between Scenes

Simple cuts between scenes do not require special features. All you have to do is pause the record- ing VCR at the end of one scene, then release pause when the next scene begins.

A/A Roll Edits

A/A roll edits can be defined as Single-Source editing because all of the original materials come from a single videotape. The MX-4 DV offers special features designed specifically for these types of situations.

An easy way to add interest to a single-source transition is to use the A/A roll edit (sometimes called an A/X/A edit). In this situation, the video freezes at the end of one scene, then a dissolve or other effect transitions to the next scene.

Example…

You are producing a murder mystery. The door opens and the villain sneaks into the room. Slowly he moves toward the camera, then you press FREEZE to freeze the killer’s menacing glare!

Next, you pause the recorder and set up the MX-4 DV to perform a dissolve. Then you find the next scene and start it playing a bit before the scene starts. There’s the victim — it’s granny, sitting in a rocking chair with her back to the camera. You start the recorder. It’s still recording the frozen picture. At the correct moment you transition from the frozen close-up of the murderer to granny in her chair. As the killer’s face dissolves away, granny turns and we discover it’s the constable, ready to arrest the scoundrel!

To perform a roll edit such as this:

1Roll the tape and press FREEZE at the appropriate moment to freeze the end of the scene.

2Pause the recording device.

3Set up the transition you want.

4Position the source tape just before the next scene and let the scene play.

5Release pause on the recording device to record more of the frozen picture.

6At the appropriate moment, run the transition between the frozen picture and the rolling video from the next scene.

This type of A/A roll works best when the recording device has flying-erase heads — a feature that lets the VCR make a clean break when you pause the recording.

You can perform an A/A roll with an automatic editing system. Press FREEZE at the end of one scene and wait for the editing system to start the next scene. While the controller locates the next scene, set up the transition you want. When you see the editor release the recorder from the pause state, press PLAY on the MX-4 DV to run the transition.

Limitations on Transitions might not produce the impact you want when the frozen picture is similar to the incom- A/A Roll ing video. Experiment with various transitions to determine which ones produce the results you

Transitions want.