Edit a Corporate Video Like The Lord of the Rings Films

Video editing is story telling. You’ve captured a basket of moving images and now you have to assemble them into a compelling narrative. Story telling is story telling is story telling. We live in this weird age of memes and reels, but the method of constructing a good and compelling story has not changed. It’s the same method William Shakespeare used. That Ernest Hemingway used. That Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino use. It’s so simple and so understudied. Abandoned in an attempt to capture that viral moment. Search Youtube for “How to be a better editor” and it won’t be on the front page. It’s not sexy enough. I’m talking about the three act story structure. Even the name is boring. I actually have a bachelor’s degree in digital cinematography. People ask me all the time, was it worth it? You can pretty much learn it all from Youtube, but the one caveat I always tell people is, “It did teach me how to craft a story.” You’d think cinematography school would be all about lighting but it wasn’t. It was about story construction and how you as the cinematographer fit in that process. We drilled the three act story structure to death. Every year, every class, it was there. This is the key to video editing. When I talk about video editing today it’s not about the buttons and the stupid effects. It’s about the mindset you need to have when constructing your story. To demonstrate this, I am going show you how one of the greatest stories ever told can be broken down into the same components that make up a corporate or commercial video. But first, we need some software.

The Tools

Film editing used to be an expensive and specialized endeavor, but in the digital age the playing field has been leveled. We can edit in the same software that’s used to create Hollywood blockbusters like “Lord of the Rings.” There are 4 professional edit softwares. Sony Avid, Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro, and Black Magic Da Vinci Resolve. There are thousands of video edit programs, but these are the 4 used by Hollywood and commercial professionals. You will not be using Avid so don’t worry about that one. This leaves you with the other three. 

The new series “The Rings of Power,” the most expensive TV show ever made is edited on Adobe Premiere. Adobe Premiere requires a subscription. You pay $30-$50 a month and have full access to their professional edit tools. Personally I use Premiere because I need all of Adobe’s tools. Lightroom, Photoshop, Audition, etc.. You can sign up for a thirty day trial and then go month to month and see if video editing is something you’d like to pursue. You will also be able to expand your skills down the road with things like Adobe After Effects. Which is professional special effects and graphic software.

If you’re a Mac user you can bundle Final Cut Pro in your computer purchase for an additional $300. This gives you Final Cut for as long as you use a Mac. Over the long run this is far and away cheaper than Adobe’s subscription plan. The fastest edit software on a Mac is Final Cut for the obvious reason that Apple makes both products. They have designed Final Cut to work specifically with their computers, very Apple of them. In more Apple shenanigans, they didn’t make Final Cut like a traditional NLE (non linear editor).

Final Cut uses what they’ve dubbed a magnetic timeline where every other software uses tracks. Tracks are simple to understand. Take this photo of a Premiere Pro timeline. You can see V1, V2, V3 on top and A1, A2, A3 on bottom. Super simple. Video tracks on top, audio tracks on bottom. 

Premiere Pro Timeline

Here is a photo of a Final Cut timeline. In the same way video is on top and audio is on the bottom, but there is a free flow to it. The whole timeline ripples. When you delete something the whole timeline snaps together closing off blank spots on your timeline. This sounds minor to the non experienced but trust me it’s not. It changes your entire workflow and makes you rethink the entire edit process. For our purpose I won’t dive into it. If you’d like to learn more about the magnetic timeline here is a blog I found diving into it. What’s important for you to know is that Final Cut has the biggest learning curve. I used Final Cut for many years and I can say it’s the most challenging, but a powerful NLE when mastered. It’s also the most fun when you get the hang of it.

Final Cut Pro Timeline

Black Magic Da Vinci Resolve works very similar to Adobe Premiere Pro. The power of Da Vinci is in the color grading. Most Hollywood movies are color graded with Da Vinci Resolve even if they aren’t edited with it. They offer a free version that’s pretty great. If you’re not sure you even want to edit I would start with this. It’s the only free professional program out there. It does have limitations, but if you’re still shooting with a phone it is more than enough. If you find you like it you can upgrade to the the full version for a one time fee of $295. Making Da Vinci the cheapest option of the three.

Da Vinci Resolve Color Grading

Understanding Story Structure

Editing is an art. There are rules to art. The best art breaks the rules. You can not break the rules until you master the rules. To meta? There is a blue print to story that has been followed since the dawn of filmmaking. Of course some of your favorite films and filmmakers do not follow this blue print to a tee, and some crumple it up and throw it in a fire, but almost all successful stories follow this structure. If you follow it you will tell an engaging story. Once you master it you will learn to bend it and create something truly unique, but you must first master this blueprint.

This is the three arc story structure. It’s very simple, setup, confrontation, resolution. Introduce the story, an inciting action sparks the journey, rising action to an eventual crisis, climax, and resolution, before falling action and the end of our story. Look at Lord of the Rings. Starts with an introduction of the world. There’s some hobbits and a wizard and a birthday party in a peaceful hobbit hole. There’s an inciting incident, a magic ring is given to a hobbit who is forced to flee when some scary black riders show up looking for it. This sets off a long rising action, a journey across a world to a volcano. Ending with the hobbit destroying the evil, saving Middle Earth, before a quick falling action that shows the world at peace and the hobbit literally sailing into the sunset. 

That is an extremely simple way to look at the most epic story ever told, but it shows what an incredible story you can create using this very simple blueprint.

Of course your story is not some three hour epic. It’s probably closer to 3-9 minutes depending. Also unlike a blockbuster movie your video carries no anticipation with it. Your viewer didn’t see a trailer, buy a ticket, wait in line. They were searching for something specific related to a problem, and your video had a good enough title and thumbnail that enticed them to click. So you don’t have time to build anticipation, you have to create tension right away. The first 5-30 seconds should be an engaging hook. Put your best footage first along with the problem your story will tackle. You can then go back and address how we got to the problem following the three act structure.

I’ll harken back to Lord of the Rings. Can you tell I just rewatched them? I wanted to rewatch before the new series “Rings of Power.” Total side tangent, I think the show is fantastic. Anyways, going back to the first Lord of the Rings movie. You might remember the movie starting with a fun birthday party in the shire, but it doesn’t. It actually starts with a 5 minute backstory about the creation of the one ring, introducing the audience to the ultimate evil, Sauron. There’s a huge battle under a volcano with the eventual defeat of Sauron, for now. And then we go to the shire.

Hook

Even in the biggest blockbuster Peter Jackson added a hook. He introduced the problem with stunning visuals. A ring and the evil behind it. Do the same thing with your video in no more than 30 seconds.

From the hook begin crafting act 1. Address how the problem arose. Act 1 of the Lord of the Rings addresses the one ring. Why it needs destroyed, and how it came to pass to a humble hobbit. Do you make skin care products? What made you start selling them? Are you doing a client testimonial? How did their problem arise?

Act 1

Act 2 will address the solution. We gotta get this ring to Mordor people. From your idea how did your business start? How did a client find you? Act 2 also takes you along the journey. The Lord of the Rings movies have a three act structure across the entire trilogy, but each movie also has a three act structure. Looking at the first movie, this is the journey of the Fellowship. Act 1 ends when it’s decided Frodo will be the one to take the ring to Mordor accompanied by 8 companions. Act 2 is the journey of the Fellowship. What was the clients process with you? What was the journey of your business?

Act 2

Act 2 ends with the climax. Naturally we think of the climax as the end of the movie, but no movie ends with an explosion. It could be argued the final battle where Boromir dies is the climax to the first Lord of the Rings movie, but it’s the Balrog taking down Gandalf in the mine that’s the climax. This is where the fellowship breaks and the final act begins to unravel.

Climax

Act 3 is the solution to the problem addressed in the hook. Like I said, the Lord of the Rings also has the three act structure in each chapter. The solution in Act 3 of the first movie is Frodo must take the ring to Mordor alone. If you look at the trilogy as a whole Act 3 is after Frodo destroys the ring. For you it’s the solution, the solution to the problem your business set out to fix. This is also where your call to action comes. What do you want the person watching the video to do? Do you want them to call you? Do you want them to buy something? For videos like the first and second Lord of the Rings, they want you to watch the next movie. And the third, well… they wanted Oscar votes. Here is where you wrap the video up and leave the audience wanting your solution to their problem.

Act 3

How To Actually Edit

We have all our footage. We have our edit software. We understand overall story structure. How do we actually create the video? I’m not going to discuss shortcuts and the technical side of editing because that depends on what software you’re using. But the way I approach constructing a story is the same across any platform.

Organization is the first step. It can be as simple as interview footage in one folder and b-roll in the other. Or maybe it’s by frame rate or multiple cameras. Organize your footage in a way that makes sense to you.

Next start with the interviews. The story will come from these actual interviews so lay your interview footage on the timeline first and start crafting the story. You might have a 20 minute interview that needs cut down to 3-5 minutes. Get that interview chopped up.

After your interviews seem to be a complete story that follows the three act structure, find some music. I use epidemic sound. Music will help set the tone. Is your story fun? Is your story sad? You may need multiple songs for multiple moods. Roughly fit the music to your interview story.

Lastly add your b-roll. You can imagine why b-roll comes last. You want to add visuals that match what’s being described in your story. If you’re talking about applying skin care, show skin care being applied. You can also use the beats in your music to make cuts. Finish your video off with any graphics and you have yourself a corporate video!

Are you going to nail it your first time? No. Will you understand your software right away? Not really. You’ll probably be slow at first. But keep doing it, keep following the three act structure and you’ll get faster, better. When you run into a technical problem you’re not quite sure how to get past, google it! Everything you can learn about editing is on google. Here is a video I made about a video I made for a restaurant here in Boise.