Effects and graphics are just a small portion of most films. Watch how the filmmaker used the opening credits to portray the mood of the pieces, as well as to give credit where credit is due. Pay close attention to any special effects, step through them frame by frame to see how they were shot and try to identify the technology behind them.
After transferring all of your footage to your edit computer, you sync each of your video streams at the beginning and roll all simultaneously. Your computer is now effectively a live switcher and you are the technical director, “cutting” from wide-angle to close-up shots on the fly. In the end, you should have a finished product, less possibly some graphics and music.
While there are not many unique aspects of editing a vidcast, several workflow habits will make your job easier when editing episodic shows. First, be sure to establish a consistent filing system. Have video assets you will reuse on each show, like your open, graphics, music, credits and any other transitional elements, all in one directory. This will greatly speed up your edit session. Next, create and stick to a consistent project naming system. There’s no need to get creative here; clarity is far more important. The episode number and date work well if used like this: “2007_Ep_45_5-01″ [signifying episode number 45 was shot or will upload on May 1, 2007]. This way, when you go to sort your project files in the same folder, they will be in order even across multiple years.
