Importing Footage

All good videographers will know that when you film a video, the best quality will be on actual rolls of film.

Not all videographers have it though, because it's expensive as hell. So, they turn to the next good thing: DV (digital video) tapes. You can see a VHS tape as a DV tape. I use a miniature version of these tapes, called a miniDV tape.

Now, these things are basically just tape right? How do you get this crap into an editing program on your computer? If you have a camcorder like a Sony Handycam, then all you need is a computer, your camera and a good-ol' Firewire cable. With the right software (Windows has it in Vista), you can take that footage off that weird roll of black tape and put it on your computer, great quality and totally digital! Very simple, very easy.

This is the first step in editing a video. Quite possibly the easiest part about editing. The only real thing you must focus on is the scenes you want to import.

I started importing today, and I was pretty excited to see the footage on my computer. But my camera isn't top of the line. Over 2 years old and only $300. The Firewire port in it is all effed up now, thanks possibly to my bad plugging skills. I got a few scenes in before I realized that the camera wouldn't connect to the computer. I was pretty damn pissed. The last thing I needed was for my camera to fail me at this point. Oh well, thanks to my bestest friend, Kristin, I'll be able to import the footage tomorrow with her awesome not-broken camera. Special thanks to KRISTIN.

I'll finish my importing tomorrow. Later friends and all.