11 thoughts on “Tips on Making Better Flatland Web Edits by Jim McKay

    • Interesting Topic that I feel a total novice talking about (i.e never edited a video in my life!), but like Jim I can say I watch a lot of videos.
      And whilst I agree with Jim, as I watch james smiths videos more than any other. I think everyone has different outlooks on it, which is healthy. Some of the best edits have been also been the most raw, Martti’s spring to mind. Where its more about what he’s doing and documenting it for the first time.

  1. I also wonder at it, this time I also had to edit the video based on it. it’s cool, thank you so much flatmattersonline ^_^

  2. Jim Mckay seems like one of the nicest dudes ever, I think he’s being pretty objective too. If you want to make your edit better just consider some of his suggestions.

    I mean, if you’ve worked hard to film a new trick, wouldn’t you want to film it in a way that does the trick justice? Or if you’ve worked on an edit, wouldn’t you rather scrap of the filler shots so people would be more likely to watch the entire video?

  3. Editing for me is frustrating. So who will be the first one to start charging a flat fee to edit some footage for riders to post up!

  4. I watch almost every vid tagged w/ flatland on vimeo & youtube, and I don’t think Jim offering some of his opinions and advice is a bad idea. Everyone wants to improve with their flatland, what is wrong with working to improve edits too? I know I want to improve mine.

    Edits with a lot of extra non riding clips or “Artsy” edits can be really good, but I agree with Jim, sometimes it seems to much. I really like tripod self filmed edits, it’s a window into a riders personal session, often at their spot. Jim’s example of David Nagy’s edits was spot on to me, his are always crazy good! I also loved when Martti was putting out self filmed edit after edit. Very inspiring to me!

    When I make an edit I try to keep it interesting and fast paced, and I hope the viewer will be wanting to see what the next clip is, right up to the end. The edits that seem really great, I always perceive them to be a lot shorter then they really are. A really great ten minute edit may only seem like a few minutes..

  5. Adoro ver o trabalho de Jim McKay, ele editada seus videos com o coração!
    Gosta do que faz e agrada a muita gente, basta ver seu numero de visitas em um video, o video de Voo Doo Jam, e muitos que não me vem a cabeça.
    essa reportagem vai ajudar a surgir novos e bons videomakers!

  6. @john, i agree with you man. i’m not, but it sounds like i am. i need to work on my writing before doing anything like that again.

  7. It’s a good topic, but with anything else, it’s not black and white. Jim’s suggestions are just that…suggestions. Take ’em or leave ’em. It will always come down to having content that is interesting or compelling. If you watched a James Smith or sevisual quality-level edit of me riding, it would be boring….no matter how beautifully filmed and edited, no matter how great the music was….my riding is just not good content.

    But, take your iPhone out and film some raw clips of Martti riding his spot with just natural audio and that video will blow up. The videos I tend to watch again and again have only one consistent thread: great content.

    I’d also add it’s so much more interesting to watch a video edit when there is voiceover. Like everything else, it does not have to be overdone. But it’s so much more interesting to me when there are a couple of soundbites. Diversion videos always did this well in my opinion.

    All of that said, thanks to technology and desire, flat edits are as good as numerous as they’ve ever been and that is certainly better than the alternative. They are fun to make and that should always be a primary goal…have fun doing the edit. If you make an edit with the intent to get a million views, you’ve already missed the point.

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