Taking an editing a video of kids dancing on stage advice

[steveatesh]

So went to see my 4 yr old granddaughter doing her Halloween dance with a dance school on a stage last night.

I have not done much in the way of video bar the odd few seconds of her playing or riding her bike but I thought I’d give it a go with my iPhone 17 pro.

I set it to 4K so I could crop in when coming to editing.

During the shoot I used a combination of wide across the stage and zooming in on her rather than just one focal length. I was in the audience 2nd row from the front, stage was built up about three feet from floor level.

I’m looking for advice around editing the video to crop out the stage front and negative space at the background if possible and accommodate the wide and zoomed shots without breaks or sudden changes if possible

As a complete novice do I have to break the video up into smaller clips and treat each one with separate cropping to suit?

If so do I use a transition between these clips to make the complete video smoother ?

Any good tutorials I can watch to get a general feel of how to edit such a video so it doesn’t jar the senses or look a mess (which it did after my first attempt!).

I’m using iMovie but have downloaded Da Vinci Resolve if I need to use something better (I’ll have to learn how to use it first!).

[StevieBee]

steveatesh said:

So went to see my 4 yr old granddaughter doing her Halloween dance with a dance school on a stage last night.

I have not done much in the way of video bar the odd few seconds of her playing or riding her bike but I thought I d give it a go with my iPhone 17 pro.

I set it to 4K so I could crop in when coming to editing.

During the shoot I used a combination of wide across the stage and zooming in on her rather than just one focal length. I was in the audience 2nd row from the front, stage was built up about three feet from floor level.

I m looking for advice around editing the video to crop out the stage front and negative space at the background if possible and accommodate the wide and zoomed shots without breaks or sudden changes if possible

As a complete novice do I have to break the video up into smaller clips and treat each one with separate cropping to suit?

If so do I use a transition between these clips to make the complete video smoother ?

Any good tutorials I can watch to get a general feel of how to edit such a video so it doesn t jar the senses or look a mess (which it did after my first attempt!).

I m using iMovie but have downloaded Da Vinci Resolve if I need to use something better (I ll have to learn how to use it first!).

First off, stick with iMovie. If you're new to video editing, you'll find Resolve a very steep learning curve. Learn it by all means - it is good - but for now, mastering the basics with iMovie will serve you well.

The challenge you have is sound. When you chop the video up, you'll also chop the sound up - as odd as it sounds, this will make the video 'look' bad.

So, this is how I'd do it.

Place the entirety of the video into a time line. Duplicate the clip and lay it above but for this one, disable the sound. Then just cut away the parts of the upper clip either side of the part you want to focus in on. Then on the bit the remains, you can play around with cropping, effects and the like. And providing you don't move the clip, the movement will be synced to the sound.

As for transitions, you need to keep in mind that you shot from a single vantage point. This means that all you can achieve is essentially zooming in and out but without the 'zoom'. The trick here is not to try and hide this. I'd be using things like flashes at the beginning and the end of each top clip. These are pre-loaded transition effects in iMovie. Just drag them to the beginning and end of the clip and it generates a flash of light between the cuts. There's loads of others as well so just have a play and see what works.

You could also try making the top clips black and white - might work. Might not!

For the next (Christmas?) performance, see about getting hold of a GoPro or similar and sticking this somewhere to get a different angle. You can then blend the two clips together in a single film and will make you look like Kubrick

Hope that helps.

[Simpo Two]

I was halfway through replying to that then thought - 'Steve will be along in a minute, it's an ideal question for him!'

[essayer]

CapCut works well for this

[steveatesh]

Wow that sounds brilliant thanks Stevie, im not sure exactly what you mean about the cutting part but I’ll have a look at that tonight , currently she’s wiping her nose on my sleeve during a days babysitting!

Really appreciate it cheers

[StevieBee]

steveatesh said:

Wow that sounds brilliant thanks Stevie, im not sure exactly what you mean about the cutting part but I ll have a look at that tonight , currently she s wiping her nose on my sleeve during a days babysitting!

Really appreciate it cheers

You're welcome.

Cutting - easier to show you:

This shows the main clip below. You can see the audio is there too. Above it is a duplication of the same clip but with the audio disabled.



Using something called a 'blade tool' you cut the the top clip at points you want to do something different with. The time line then looks like this:



You can add or delete to those cut clips if you need to by highlight them and dragging the toggle that appears backward or forward.

Simpo Two said:

I was halfway through replying to that then thought - 'Steve will be along in a minute, it's an ideal question for him!'

It's like a Bat Sign shone into the sky - only showing a video camera!.... my people need me!