Non Linear Editing

Over the years as technology has evolved, so have many aspects of media production. When video could only be shot on film, the editing process was a tedious one, involving physically cutting and taping film together to form sequences. This process in known as linear video editing, or more commonly ‘film editing’, and can still be used for specific purposes today.

With the rise in the computers in the 80s and 90s came an influx of non-linear editors. These allowed for greater freedom in the editing process. Rather then physically manipulating the film, NLEs store and reference the video files from an archive. This means the software edits a copy of the footage and allows the original material to remain without degradation. The common features of NLEs, which made them distinct, were the timeline, where the project is built, and the bin, where clips are stored.

The rising trend of NLEs paralleled that of the rise of personal computers. However, footage still had to be converted from analog to digital. The commonality of computers being used in editing gave way to DV-based video formats in the 90s. Meaning ‘digital video’, DV formats removed the analog conversion step and were easily compatible with the computer systems of the time.

This progression would continue in the early 2000s with the introduction of the HD video and the HDV format. Now standard computer systems could do professional work using large amounts of high quality footages. Avid, Final Cut Pro, and Adobe Premiere have been mainstays of the NLE market and have advanced along with the technology, still being used by professional editors all over the industry.

Editing has always been an art, and now the process has become richer and more diverse with options. JP Video Productions is knowledgeable and experienced using NLEs to create engrossing video projects. If you have an idea for a video, or need help editing your footage, contact JP Video today and we can help guide your voyage into video editing.