Video editing is people watching

Editing video, cutting audio or writing people’s stories – if you do any of those you’ll know how much of a people watching experiences they can be.

I’ve been working on videos for two clients today – sitting in front of a computer, scrubbing backwards and forwards at the end of sentences, listening for a satisfactory intonation in a person’s voice as I try to find a place to cut.

I’m trying to find an image of a speaker to turn into a still, moving forward and back, frame by frame, to find the best expression in which the person’s eyes are open and at their friendliest, so the person’s appearance and attitude are positive and reflect well.

Think about that: who else watches, and re-watches the same person doing or saying the same thing over and over again? We have the facility on our PVRs and computers nowadays, and may view a scene or programme several times, but we generally don’t scrutinise individuals multiple times.

It’s like in speech radio. For 7 years, I spent a whole day in each week sitting in a studio listening to what people were saying in the recordings my presenter made for our programme. After a while you tune into emotions which people express through their voice and not through their words.

And then you start to anticipate what people are thinking and really get in among their motivations. That’s interesting to do just with people’s voices, but of course having video adds an extra dimension.

Most people are very similar, they look at you, then look away; they stumble at the start of their sentences; they respond to replies and comments.

I remember when I was a reporter in England and speaking on the phone to a guy suspected of, but not charged with, murdering his business partner. My colleague opposite me scribbled an instruction on a notepad and handed it to me.

It said: ‘Ask him if he murdered…NAME…’

I asked him. He said, ‘No, of course not.’ He was trying not to be angry with me.

It would have been fascinating to have that on audio or video tape.

He was found guilty and is probably still in jail.