DaVinci Resolve

 

Learning to Edit

Week 5 Post 3

Before this class, the only editing I have done was on iMovie. At the beginning of the school year, we were given the name of a free editing software, DaVinci Resolve. When I first opened it, I was overwhelmed with all of the different sections, dropdown bars, and names of things I have never heard of. I explored a little and edited my first piece of the school year, which was our 'One Word' project. We were given one work and had to depict it using no words, just visuals. When editing, I just had to merge the clips together, shorten them, and tighten them if needed. Although this sounds simple, it took me quite a while. Knowing this, I know I need time to really focus on editing this film.

DaVinci Resolve's website restates the following... "DaVinci Resolve is the world's only solution that combines editing, color correction, visual effects, motion graphics and audio post production all in one software too! Its elegant, modern interface is fast to learn and easy enough for new users, yet powerful for professionals. DaVinci Resolve lets you work faster and at a higher quality because you don’t have to learn multiple apps or switch software for different tasks. That means you can work with camera original quality images throughout the entire process. It’s like having your own post production studio in a single app! Best of all, by learning DaVinci Resolve, you’re learning how to use the exact same tools used by Hollywood professionals!"

The following is what is included in the software...

EDITING: The edit page is the world’s most advanced professional non-linear editor. The familiar track layout, dual monitor design and traditional workflow makes it easy for new users to learn while still being powerful enough for professional editors. It’s perfect for larger projects such as feature films, television shows, streaming, commercials, documentaries and more. The edit page features drag and drop editing, context sensitive automatic trimming tools, fully customizable keyboard shortcuts so you can work faster, and a library full of hundreds of titles, transitions, and effects that you can add and animate. You also get complete media management, organization and timeline management tools.

CUT:  The cut page is perfect for projects with tight deadlines that you have to turn around quickly. It’s also great for documentary work. The cut page has a streamlined interface that’s fast to learn for new users and designed for speed. Features such as source tape, dual timelines, fast review, and smart editing tools help you work faster than ever. The sync bin and source overwrite tools are the fastest way to edit multicam programs, making it easy to create perfectly synchronized cut aways! Everything on the cut page is action based so every click does something. That means you’ll spend more time editing and less time hunting for commands. Plus, the scalable interface is great for portable editing!

COLOR: The DaVinci Resolve color page is Hollywood’s most advanced color corrector and has been used to color and finish more high-end feature films and television shows than any other system! It’s also approachable with exciting new features designed to make it easier for new users to get great results while they continue to learn the advanced tools. For example, new primary control sliders will be familiar to anyone that’s used image editing software, making it easy to adjust contrast, temperature, midtone detail, saturation and more. The color page has an incredible range of primary and secondary color grading features including Power Windows™, qualifiers, tracking, advanced HDR grading tools and more!

FUSION: The Fusion page lets you create cinematic visual effects and broadcast quality motion graphics right inside of DaVinci Resolve! Fusion features a node based workflow that makes it faster and easier to create sophisticated effects and animations than you could ever create using a layer based approach. You get hundreds of 2D and 3D tools for visual effects and motion graphics, along with advanced animation curve and keyframe editors that allow you to create incredibly organic and realistic animations. Fusion has everything from point, planar and 3D camera tracking to rotoscope and keying tool for creating photorealistic composites, stunning animated titles, 3D particle systems and more!

FAIRLIGHT: The Fairlight page features hundreds of pro tools for audio post production. It’s like having a professional digital audio workstation (DAW) built into your editing and color system! Familiar keyboard based editing tools let you work extremely fast, especially if you’re moving to Fairlight from another system. The incredible new Fairlight Audio Core lets you work with up to 2,000 tracks at a time with real-time effects, EQ, and dynamics processing! You get sample accurate editing tools, advanced ADR and Foley, and Fairlight FX such as reverb, de-esser, hum remover and more. You can mix and master stereo, 5.1, 7.1, and even the latest immersive 3D audio formats, all within the same project!

MEDIA AND DELIVERY: The media and delivery pages have everything you need to import, manage and deliver final projects. While you can import and organize footage into bins on both the cut and edit pages, the media page gives you a dedicated full screen workspace so you can focus on preparing footage, syncing clips, organizing footage into bins and adding metadata before you start editing. The media page also lets you clone camera media cards for backup purposes. The quick export tool lets you output and upload files to YouTube, Vimeo and Twitter from anywhere in the software, but the deliver page gives you total control over all encoding options and formats, along with a render queue for exporting multiple jobs!

Citations:

Blackmagic Design. (2022). DaVinci Resolve 17 | Blackmagic Design. DaVinci Resolve 17. Retrieved November 3, 2022, from https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/