Editing - The Block edit

The block edit

Ok so I don’t know where the phrase “block edit” came from. I think I might have made it up. Other phrases for similar things are ‘Storyboard Edits’ or an “offline edit”. 

Let me show you an example of what I mean.. This is a old commercial project, but I think this highlights what a block edit is quite well, because it’s very exaggerated. I’m aware this style is very commercially shot, and not the normal YouTube stuff, but that doesn’t matter because this is just an example..

(GO THROUGH THEM HERE)

Ok so to try and define that, I’d say a “block edit” is laying your story out in clips, with music, and some basic titles, that have a focus on the story and the contents of the video.Some sections might include drawings if you haven’t shot them yet, or it could just say on screen [FALLS OFF BIKE HERE], or similar. In the industry, you might hear it described as an ‘offline edit’. With the ‘online edit’ being a more refined version.. with titles, colour grading, sfx, all included in the edit. But I see a block edit as even earlier than an offline edit.

It's important to focus on getting the overall structure and flow of the video right before worrying about the small details. If you’re there animating titles before you’ve even edited the core of the video, you’re doing it backwards, and probably wasting time. You can always come back to fine-tune and polish individual parts later on, once the story elements are more tied down and confirmed.

I have this visual in my edit when I’m editing sometimes, and it’s a little wierd, but it’s a wall that I’m building, and I build from the bottom left and kind go up and across. You’re building your timeline, up and out, ish. You’re not building the first row perfectly first, you’re maybe building a base layer first, and then building up, but with a slight priority to the beginning.

It’s about getting the story down first, without worrying about the little details. The last thing you want to do with your edit is spend the first two hours getting the first 5 seconds of the edit absolutely perfect, but none of the rest is even started. You might finish a “block edit”, and think, actually we need to change the start anyway. So this method allows for moving things around easily.

Things to note:

• It’s important to be careful showing people an unfinished product. When we watch back an Offline Edit, we as the creator are thinking “ah this needs to change”, or “ah ok this will go here”, the viewer isn’t thinking any of that. The viewer is thinking “why’s there a black screen here, that’s dumb”. So yeah, just be careful and make it clear what it is you’re showing someone if you chose to that. Most of time though, I would refrain from showing too many people anything until it’s finished - This isn’t their video, this is yours, and it’s supposed to show your uniqueness. And on top of that, your friends and family are more than likely not even your audience, my mum can barely watch my videos, they’re too fast for her. Can you imagine if she was the first person I showed, and said “it’s too fast”, and then I slowed my edits down because of that. That’d be crazy !

So do think about some of these things when you’re doing your edit, be aware of where you’re putting your time, and how future changes might affect the work you’re puting in now. A block style of edit, especially when you’re working with clients, can really help avoid too much wasted time.

In the next lesson I’m going to edit the footage we’ve shot, and explain my process through every step. I think it’s going to a long one, because there’s a lot of stuff, but hopefully, really beneficial !