Topic: Editing today compared to the 80's

How easy it is video editing today on a computer, I bought my first video camera and tape machines in 1979, we crash edited from machine to machine, it was very time consuming then.

here is my set up in the early 80's

https://i.postimg.cc/s1wbSDnm/Analogue-editing.jpg

Post's attachments

Analogue editing.jpg 228.39 kb, 1 downloads since 2024-02-17 

You don't have the permssions to download the attachments of this post.

2 (edited by pberk 2024-02-18 00:43:32)

Re: Editing today compared to the 80's

Yipes.  I first used a Sony PortaPak in about 1967 while a grad student at UCLA.    Talk about analogue.  There was no way to edit that stuff. It was 1/2" I think but later on it was 1" .. Not sure. But it was helical scan so you couldn't physically edited the tape as it generated a horrible roll bar as the helican scan caught up.  But it did give us a "cheap" way to shoot.  It was B&W but it was sound and picture.  We learned to do "optical transfer add-on edits" in our TV studio which had a 2" broadcast standard VCR.  I shot something like 30 hours on a particular documentary, did the laborious "add-on"editing in the studio and the show aired on our local PBS station.  Nifty.

3 (edited by Alan Hodkinson 2024-02-18 13:14:14)

Re: Editing today compared to the 80's

pberk wrote:

Yipes.  I first used a Sony PortaPak in about 1967 while a grad student at UCLA.    Talk about analogue.  There was no way to edit that stuff. It was 1/2" I think but later on it was 1" .. Not sure. But it was helical scan so you couldn't physically edited the tape as it generated a horrible roll bar as the helican scan caught up.  But it did give us a "cheap" way to shoot.  It was B&W but it was sound and picture.  We learned to do "optical transfer add-on edits" in our TV studio which had a 2" broadcast standard VCR.  I shot something like 30 hours on a particular documentary, did the laborious "add-on"editing in the studio and the show aired on our local PBS station.  Nifty.


That's very interesting, thank you, my first days with film was cut and splice with film cement, the same with my early audio tape recording

My brothers Wife's Brother was a film editor, started with Gainsborough Studios, went on to edit the Hammer Horror films, his name was James Needs.

4 (edited by pberk 2024-02-18 21:32:39)

Re: Editing today compared to the 80's

Alan Hodkinson wrote:
pberk wrote:

Yipes.  I first used a Sony PortaPak in about 1967 while a grad student at UCLA.    Talk about analogue.  There was no way to edit that stuff. It was 1/2" I think but later on it was 1" .. Not sure. But it was helical scan so you couldn't physically edited the tape as it generated a horrible roll bar as the helican scan caught up.  But it did give us a "cheap" way to shoot.  It was B&W but it was sound and picture.  We learned to do "optical transfer add-on edits" in our TV studio which had a 2" broadcast standard VCR.  I shot something like 30 hours on a particular documentary, did the laborious "add-on"editing in the studio and the show aired on our local PBS station.  Nifty.


That's very interesting, thank you, my first days with film was cut and splice with film cement, the same with my early audio tape recording

My brothers Wife's Brother was a film editor, started with Gainsborough Studios, went on to edit the Hammer Horror films, his name was James Needs.

Wow! .. James Needs was born on October 17, 1919 in Holborn, London, England, UK. He was an editor, known for Horror of Dracula (1958), The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Quatermass and the Pit (1967). He was married to Mona Reilly and Wynifred Rose Makin. He died in 2003 in Ynys Mon, Anglesey, Wales, UK. 

Internet Movie Database (IMDB) keeps all this info -- apparently in perpetuity so a thousand years hence, Jim Needs will be still be part of the data.  Who knew back then?

Re: Editing today compared to the 80's

Alan Hodkinson wrote:

My brothers Wife's Brother

Or, to put it another way, your brother’s brother-in-law. https://punster.me/images/smile.gif

pberk wrote:

Ynys Mon, Anglesey, Wales, UK

Ynys Môn is the Welsh name for Anglesey. Pick one! https://punster.me/images/wink.gif

"Has it ever struck you that life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going?"
― Tennessee Williams

Re: Editing today compared to the 80's

Alfred wrote:

Or, to put it another way, your brother’s brother-in-law. https://punster.me/images/smile.gif

I didn't know the best way to describe him.




pberk wrote:

Wow! .. James Needs was born on October 17, 1919 in Holborn, London, England, UK. He was an editor, known for Horror of Dracula (1958), The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Quatermass and the Pit (1967).

He started with Gainsborough Studio as a Lift Boy when he left school, I suppose that's a good way to go up in the world, he went on to be a cutter, then moved up from there, I only talked with him on a couple of occasions

Re: Editing today compared to the 80's

Alan Hodkinson wrote:

He started with Gainsborough Studio as a Lift Boy when he left school, I suppose that's a good way to go up in the world

Where’s the ‘rimshot’ GIF when you need it? https://punster.me/images/biggrin.gif

"Has it ever struck you that life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going?"
― Tennessee Williams

Re: Editing today compared to the 80's

Alfred wrote:

Where’s the ‘rimshot’ GIF when you need it? https://punster.me/images/biggrin.gif

Ah, found it!

https://c.tenor.com/_t4txFnfSdYAAAAM/bu-dum.gif

"Has it ever struck you that life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going?"
― Tennessee Williams

9 (edited by GStree 2024-02-28 02:10:39)

Re: Editing today compared to the 80's

Couldn't agree more, editing is a doddle ! I too started when I was still at school with 8mm "proper" film. It was time consuming and could be expensive but was worth it when you first dimmed the lights and showed it to the family. I was lucky in that I knew someone that worked at Kodak who used to give me some odd lengths of 16mm B&W film that I used to split down the middle and re perf it when I had my old clockwork cine camera. I used to develop it as well.
The thing was that you used to have to take a lot more trouble to get it right back then, whereas now you can instantly see what's happening through the lens and adjust it on the fly. I had a load of tin tacks in a row inside of a wardrobe door to hang the edited 8mm strips on ready to stick together and would often make 400 footers !  Thank Christ all that is in the past !
I then went on to various S8 cine cameras including sound, and then to video cameras with separate VHS recorders/8mm tape camcorders and finally getting to where we are now. The picture was early 80s I think ?
https://i.postimg.cc/gr0tR5sK/Gordon-Video.jpg