I’m using Microsoft Photos 2020.19111.24110.0, Windows 10, and Audacity 2.2.3.
I am editing a video for my church to post it to their website. The video was shot for a Facebook Live post and the person shooting it had their phone turned sideways (so person is facing left). About halfway through the post, they turned the phone 180 degrees so now the person faces right. The entire video is about 22 minutes and the camera doesn’t start moving until about 0:13:13 and then is stable again at about 0:13:26. So, there’s roughly 15 seconds of video that I want to cut out.
I can get the orientation fixed for the first part of the video by clicking rotate but then when they turn the camera it’s upside down. I’m thinking it might be easiest to use Audacity to separate the audio from the video. Then use Microsoft Photos to make two copies of the video: one that ends at the point the camera starts to move (about 0:13:13) and the second one starts when the camera is stable. But how do I get the audio to match without cutting out what the person is saying while the camera’s being moved?
That’s probably clear as mud so I’m including a link to the video so you can see what I’m working with.
Generally, you should keep the audio & video together for any cutting/splicing or anything that affects the timing.
This is a video-editor job, not an audio editor job. (It’s OK to split-out the audio if you want to adjust the volume or EQ, etc., but many video editors can do some audio editing/processing without separating it from the video.)
But how do I get the audio to match without cutting out what the person is saying while the camera’s being moved?
What do you want to do? Maybe splice-in still image or a blank image or some “filler” video? And/or you might want to add a “subtitle” that says “Video Problems” or something.
I don’t think I would split or separate anything. I think I would straighten out the orientation so the beginning and end match, and then throw picture black over the action and correction frames—14 seconds by my count. Let the sound track through. You’ll be turning it into a radio show for 14 seconds.
If you insist on taking it apart, you could be until next Sunday getting it all to work. There is no easy way to maintain sound sync with home computers. You will have to look carefully at the lips and try to match up the sound in the video editor—beginning and end. You will need to add software to Audacity to make it open the MP4 movie, etc. etc. etc.
It’s not fun. Cheat it with the black frames.
Then have a nice chat with the camera operator. Do you know why they flipped the camera over? Somebody must have thought that was a good idea.
Visually you could freeze the the last stable frame
There’s no end of patches. Make a frame with the congregation name. Repeat the opening frame of the movie (if any). Make a frame with the chapter and verse in the dialog. etc.
That last one could backfire if everybody liked it.
The point is not to take the video apart. Once you leave the video world, you’ll need careful use of a video editor to put everything back together again. Audacity doesn’t edit video. It’s the same editor you’ll need to just cover up the video mistake without all the timing and editing errors.
You could Hollywood it up and have him read the rotation sentences again and just drop the corrections into the main show, video and audio (after correcting the camera rotation). Wear the same clothing and make sure everything on the desk is the same.
Capture a frame of the original on your phone and use that to match the scene. The tissue box is here, the pencils and phone are here. Whatever you do is going to be less intrusive than the camera move and spinning frame.
I still can’t help wondering why the camera operator thought that was a good idea. Any possibility of finding out?
Once people find out you can edit, you may change careers. Nobody has to make it through a whole performance with no mistakes. You can edit around them.
Nobody said you have to make it through a whole Sunday gathering all at once. You just have to make it look like that.
I wonder how the Catholics are dealing with communion…? It’s rough to do the wafer thing from 6 feet away.
Anyway, shoot the leader opening up the door to the meeting place. Maybe waving everybody in. Cut to a frame of the chapter and verse printed out. Cut to seated at the desk. You get the idea. I know everybody wants to just shoot the silly thing and go home.
Do a soft dissolve or crossfade at edits so they’re not as obvious. I caught one of my favorite podcasts doing that. Match-framing and dissolving. It Looked like one continuous 3-minute video…
