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removing word in interview technique
Does anyone have any techniques for editing “umms” and other awkward pauses out of an interview? I’ve been cutting out the word and inserting a cross dissolve between the two segments and reducing the duration to something like 5 frames, but it’s still noticeable that it’s an edit. I didn’t know if there might be another trick out there.
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4 Replies
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sporoco22- Edit the audio tight and cover the jump cuts with b-roll cutaways.
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I usually just cut the audio track and remove the um fill the spaces with room noise. This way the subject looks like they are taking a breath, and it’s not so noticable.
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It’s more art than science really.
Cut out the ummm.
Replace if necessary with room tone.
Use a 1, 2 or even 3 frame dissolve to smooth out the cut especially for low frequencies. Find a breath to replace the ummm.
Find an “and” to replace the ummmm.
Find some nats in your b-roll to bring up instead of the ummm then continue the interview after you’ve let your nats play for moment.
There are more ways but keep at it and you’ll discover your favorite. Make it sing! -
Dialogue editing really needs a sub frame capable editor that can also do dissolves of any length, anywhere within the frame – in short an audio DAW. I have seen editors struggle with neat dialogue edits in FCP and AVID that would be simple in an audio editor.
Filling with matching room tone is essential. The best room tone comes from a clean section as close to the dialogue that you are editing. It is nice when a room atmos is done after an interview, but in my experience, it rarely matches the hole you want to fill. This can be because something changes in the room, the mic is slightly differently placed or the level has been changed throughout the interview.
If the job is going to sound post then getting an edit close is nice for the offline screenings, but let the sound editor with proper tools get the final edit right. If you have to do it within FCP then try Sound Track Pro. I never use it because I have audio DAWs here that are much better but if it lets you do sub frame accurate edits then that is an improvement.
Also invest in a good pair of speakers or headphones. Most picture editors when they get into sound post say.. “oh I never heard that before”.. when their dialogue edits and atmos fills bump all over the place.
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