Steve's Tips
A/B roll editing in Premiere Elements
The term “A/B roll editing” is an essentially archaic term left over from the days of traditional, linear editing. The “A roll” contained the main video of the subject – a person speaking, for instance – while the “B roll” contained video of separately shot, related subject matter, such as reaction shots of the interviewer or cutaway clips illustrating what the speaker was speaking about. The A and B rolls often existed on two separate video tapes, and the challenge for the editor was to combine these two sources into one cohesive product.
In these days of non-linear editing, we generally don’t think in terms of separate physical sources for our clips. Every audio and video clip we will use in our project is simply imported into the Media panel, and how it is assembled and how each clip is played back in the final cut is determined simply by its placement on the various video and audio tracks. In other words, while not an entirely accurate expression, when someone talks today about doing A/B roll editing, they usually mean combining a main video source with cuts from second, third or even fourth video sources.
In my example, I’m combining three video clips of the same event. The principles of combining these sources, however, are the same no matter how many sources you combine. (My November 2005 Steve’s Tips article explains the basic principles of covering a scene from many angles.) Click on the thumbnails to see them full-sized illustrations.
Synchronizing the clips
The scene is a conversation between two people, shot simultaneously from three different angles. My goal is to intercut naturally between the video clips of the sequence in order to tell a cohesive story.
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My first step is to synchronize the clips on the Timeline. Note that, to maintain the same sound presence throughout the scene, I’m going to use a single audio track source. Using lavaliere microphones concealed on my actors, I was able to record a high quality audio track to one of my camcorders, and so that is what I will use as my master audio. The other clips will be added to the Timeline as video only.
To synchronize the audio and video tracks, I lined all the clips up on a visual and audio cue that will be easily identifiable on all of the clips. Because this was a scripted scene, I had one of my actors clap her hands once (as seen in the illustration to the left), similar to the way professional moviemakers use a clapper at the beginning of every scene they shoot. It can be a bit more challenging to find an audio/visual cue if you are covering an unscripted, spontaneous event, such as a wedding, of course. And, in this case, you’ll need to search for your cue in the scene’s environment. Watch for someone coughing, a bell ringing, something falling to the floor or some other clearly visible movement that simultaneously creates a distinct sound.
Continue to add your video tracks to the Timeline, syncing each clip by lining it up on the cue point. Once these clips are all in place, don’t move them! After our editing project is finished, we can select all the clips, Group them (right-click on the selected clips and select Group from the menu) and then trim off the “clapper” segment if we want. But, for now, assume that, once all tracks are in sync, nothing can be moved without shifting the whole sequence out of whack.
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Now that our tracks are all synchronized and running parallel, we can begin planning our cuts. It may help you, in deciding where to cut, to see what’s going on on the other video tracks. One method for doing this is “onion skinning,” or making the upper tracks semi-transparent. To do this, adjust the Opacity of the tracks, either by changing the Opacity settings in the Properties panel or by lowering the yellow Opacity line that runs horizontally through the clips as show in the illustration to the right.
Basic principles of cutting a scene
As you plan your cuts, try to remember that where you cut and what camera angle you cut to should, first and foremost, be about finding the meaning of a scene. In other words, don’t always cut to show the face of the person speaking. Sometimes the face of the person listening or even a long shot of all the actors tells us more about what’s going on in the scene. Cut away to another angle mid-way through a line of dialogue. Cut to a reverse shot. Cut to a close-up. Cut to show something or someone relevant to what’s being said. Observe how the pros do it. Often the reaction shot to a line of dialogue speaks much more profoundly than anything the speaker is doing.
A common technique – and one I employ in my example – is to cut on action. In other words, cut in mid-sentence or as someone is moving, turning or lifting his arms so that the movement begins in one clip and completes in the next. In this way, the movement helps to unify the two clips in the audience’s mind and makes the cut seem more natural and almost invisible.
If meaning is firstly important in planning your cuts, pacing runs a close second. Cut often. Keep your clips short. Never go more than five seconds without a cut, unless you’re intentionally holding a shot for dramatic effect. Watch how it’s done in movies and on television and try to master those techniques. Nothing makes a scene less interesting than a shot that goes on too long.
Cutting without losing sync
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As for physically cutting the clips in Premiere Elements, use the Razor or Slice tool to slice and remove the clip or clips on the upper tracks to reveal the lower. Slice at the beginning and at the end of each perceived cut. Then – and this is singularly important – make sure you Clear rather then Delete the segment! Premiere Elements’ Timeline uses a ripple delete feature. In other words, when you Delete rather than Clear, the clips will shift positions, and we want to keep our clips in sync throughout! The process is illustrated to the left.
To Clear a portion of a clip, right-click on the sliced segment and choose Clear from the right-click menu. This will remove the segment without shifting the positions of any of your clips. Likewise, if you want to fine tune your cuts by shortening or lengthening a clip, be sure to do so with the Ctrl key held down. This overrides the ripple feature of the Timeline and keeps everything in place as you make your adjustments.
And, if anything does jiggle or shift out of place, be sure to press Ctrl+Z immediately to undo your damage!
A well cut video is a thing of beauty. Masterful cutting can raise a home movie to the level of a professional film. Cutting through various angles of the same event gives your audience a sense of time, place and context and adds excitement to a recording that otherwise couldn’t possibly capture what it was like to actually be there. To master the art of cutting is to learn to breathe life into an otherwise lifeless video.
To see my final cut of the above sequence, click here.
June 2006
About Steve
Steve Grisetti earned a master's degree in writing for television and film from Ohio University. He has instructed college-level courses in television and video production, and has taught adult education classes on Photoshop and principles of design.
Steve spent nearly 10 years in the Los Angeles-based entertainment industry, working on the sets and in the production offices of several large television and film companies. Currently, he is employed as a graphic designer in the Marketing & Communications Department of a Milwaukee-based investment firm.
He also serves as host on Adobe's official Premiere Elements Support Forum and is author, with Chuck Engels, of "Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0 In a Snap," from Sams Publishing, Pearson Education.
