The first thing you want to do is make sure you have all the media you need imported.
So I've got my video files brought in from File and Transfer, I've got an audio track
to go in the background, and I've got a motion background to go behind my titles.
First bring down your audio track and put it in tracks 5 and 6 of your timeline.
Then click the overlays button so you can bring down the volume so it will only be heard
in the background.
You always want to edit to the rhythm of the audio.
So listen out for how long you want the intro to go for, and where the rhythm of the audio
feels like you should bring it in, and set that as your first in point.
Check your video sources on track 1, and your audio on track 1 and 2.
Now you can open your first interviewee segment by double clicking it, that will bring it up
in the viewer.
You want to set where you want the interviewee segment to start with an in point, and where
you want it to finish with an out point.
Then click the overwrite button and it will bring it down in the timeline at the in point
that you set before.
Use the same method to bring in the rest of your interviewee segments.
Listen to the rhythm of the audio, both the speaker and the music, to work out when it's
getting a little bit boring and you might need to take a break.
And then listen to the rhythm of the music as to when will be the best time to bring
back in the interviewee.
Set an in point and you can lay your next interviewee segment there, and we'll fill
the gap later.
Keep doing this until all your interviewee segments are in, and your video is at the
length that you wanted.
Now we fill in the gaps.
You can use X to select the region under your playhead.
Then I'll open up the motion background in my viewer, and then I can just press overwrite
and it will fill in that region.
Selecting the point where I want my fade in to finish, I'll change to the pen tool, set
some keyframes, and drag down the first one to the base.
You can open up the text tool to insert a title over the top.
Select where you want it to start from, and then change your video source to video2 and
override it over the top.
Then you can bring back the length to when you want it to finish.
Double click it to open up its settings in the viewer.
Select control, and then you can type in the text you want, adjust the font, and various
other things.
You'll find things like drop, shadow, and blur under the motion tab.
You can then use the pen tool again to make a fade in.
Now fill in any other gaps that you want to put any kind of text in for, by again putting
the motion background in the first track, and then the title in the second track.
Fill the last gap with your credits, and try to finish on the rhythm of the music.
Now setting the audio input to tracks 3 and 4, use cutaways to fill any remaining gaps,
but also make sure to try and cover as many cuts between the interviewee segments as you
can.
Again, use the rhythm of the audio to work out when's the best point to bring in the
cutaway shot, and then try to match the words that the interviewer is saying with the cutaways
as best you can.
For all remaining uncovered cuts, put in a fade to black that covers about 3 or 4 frames
either side of the cut.
You can use the same keyframe method as before, or you could also use a dip to colour dissolve
for the effects menu, so long as you avoid the cheesy transitions in there.
To mix your audio, mute tracks 3 to 6, and then start with your interviewee.
Find the loudest of your interviewee segments, and then adjust the audio level so that it
maxes out at about minus 2 dB.
You can check that on the audio meters when you play it.
Once you've got that so that it's not peaking, you can then adjust the level of all your
other interviewee segments, so that they sound about the same volume as that first one you
adjusted.
Unmute in tracks 3 and 4, and then move on to adjust the levels of our cutaways.
Make it so that when the interviewee isn't speaking, that the cutaway sounds about the
same volume as the interviewee, but when it is, that it's in the background.
Then unmute tracks 5 and 6, and we can adjust the level of the music.
You want it so you can just hear it behind the interviewee, but so that it's not smothering
what he's saying.
Again make sure the audio isn't peaking.
Where there's no speaking, we again want to bring up the volume so that it sounds about
the same level as the speaker when he is.
So put in the keyframes, bring up the volume, and listen to how it sounds as it transitions
into the speaker.
Then you can use a simple audio cross dissolve, sending it down to about 2 or 4 frames, that
you can add over any cuts in the audio to just hide any little jolts that there might
be.
Finally, you can check for audio peaks, and you do that just by clicking outside your
timeline so nothing is selected.
Going to the mark menu, and selecting audio peaks and mark.
If there are any, just bring down the volume a little bit in that part.
Finally select all your video footage, and then from the effects menu, add a broadcast
safe filter.
That will just guard against any color peaks.
Then select outside again, and you can render the whole thing by render all with everything
ticked.
Be prepared that this can take a while.
Once that's done, I'd usually export it as a quick time movie, making it self-contained.
Then I'd use something like compressor to put it in whatever format I need it.
