Audio and Video Editing and Post-production
Audio and Video Editing and Post-production tests whether you can assemble a sequence deliberately and finish it technically. Expect questions on edit types, timecode and frame arithmetic, track discipline in audio, and the difference between correction and grading.
Editing craft
- Non-linear editing is random access on a timeline; linear editing was tape-to-tape and destructive in sequence.
- Three-point editing sets in and out on the source and one point on the timeline to define the fourth.
- Cuts: straight cut, cross-dissolve, fade, wipe, match cut, jump cut; ripple edits shift all later clips, roll edits move a shared boundary.
- J-cut brings the next audio in before its picture; L-cut lets outgoing audio run past its picture.
- Continuity editing preserves screen direction, eyeline and action matching; montage compresses time.
Audio post
- Tracks are separated into dialogue, music, effects and voice-over; sync must hold frame-accurately.
- Foley recreates everyday sounds; ADR replaces unusable dialogue; ducking lowers music under speech.
- Loudness targets: broadcast around −23 LUFS (EBU R128), streaming around −14 LUFS; peaks must not clip.
Finishing
- Colour correction fixes exposure and white balance; grading creates a look, usually after correction and before final export.
- Scopes: waveform for luma levels, vectorscope for hue and saturation, histogram for distribution.
- Export codec, bitrate, resolution and aspect ratio must suit delivery.
Worked example. At 25 fps, timecode 00:00:10:12 means 10 seconds plus 12 frames, that is 10 + 12/25 = 10.48 s, or 262 frames. Reasoning: frame count = (seconds × fps) + frames = 250 + 12.
Traps
- Confusing J and L cuts; J is audio early, L is audio late.
- Thinking ripple and roll do the same thing to sequence length.
- Grading before fixing exposure and white balance.
- Normalising peaks instead of measuring integrated loudness.