I’m a fan of movement. You should be a fan of movement. I like to have as much movement in a story as possible. Often, I base my edit decisions on movement. If I’m choosing between two shots, I’ll choose motion over a better-composed shot with no action happening in the shot.

We are a visual medium.

Give your viewer as much to look at as they possibly can handle. Our story for this post is It’s Bad.

This is a spot news story edited in about an hour.  There are practices you can learn here and apply to any edit. The idea of motion isn’t a new one. Next time you are editing a story, think about the exact frame you are choosing as your IN point and the action in that edit.

There are a lot of static shots.  The standard video for stories like these is;

Crime tape

Paramedics working

Cops observing

and spectators watching

We know what the video is going to be like in any type of story like this. So often in stories like these, I see edits chosen with nothing going on.

Only 6 shots with no movement, count them.

Pay particular attention to the next few shots and what I choose as the IN point.

[:07] IN point when S.W.A.T member puts on his helmet

[:08] – IN point when another S.W.A.T member move his head

[:09] – IN point when a police officer takes a step

[:11] – I wait until just before you see many S.W.A.T members moving forward

I’m trying to keep the story moving.  This may sound obvious but watch a newscast and look at how often there is nothing is going on within a shot.  I strive to have something going on in as many shots a possible.  Even little things like;

[:15] – Crime tape blowing in the wind

[:20] – Cops walking from frame right to frame left

[:38] – Officer’s arm moving in the left-hand corner of the screen

I’m waiting for something to happen before I set the IN point.

Watch It’s Bad again.  Now that you know what to look for, notice how much all the little things like a bit of movement adds to the story.  Next time you edit a story like this think about it

• Think about what’s in the shot

• Is there something going on you can show instead of just a static shot

• Wait for something to happen and then set your IN point