Editing Tricks for Amateur Vacation Video #122

China 2001:  Beijing Szechuan Restaurant

Much of the fun on this trip revolved around meals with our friends.  This banquet for nine was paid for with the money I had made from video of the Air Rage incident,   Everyone was obviously ready to have a good time, so it was natural to place my camcorder on the turntable -- once again everyone got a chance to speak their mind.  Lots of weak Chinese beer and a lot of laughs.  Don't miss the talking fish at about 03:30

I love this vignette.  While it's probably best enjoyed by the people who were there, everyone can appreciate the good times we were experiencing.  And I think that many viewers would wish they were there with us!

Lessons Learned:

Keep the camera running.  The turntable shot of interviews is just one long take!
If the shot is good, there's no reason to cut it.

(But don't forget to turn on the room lights and prop up the camera so that it points to people's faces.)

Suggestion:

One of your editing goals could be, "Make the viewers feel like they were there, or at least wish they were there!"

FYI:

All of the China trip vignettes are already loaded onto YouTube.  They may be viewed on one of my YouTube channels: HENBCtravel

I have three other channels that might be of interest:  HENBCvideo (miscellaneous videos that try to look professional, with particular respect for copyrights), RAGEAIR (advertises the licensing availability of my newsworthy videos), and this YouTube Channel of Shame (an odd collection of stuff, not respectful of others’ copyrights).