Video Editing Guidelines
This guide will outline basic settings and conventions expected of all editors. It will only go over the most essential parts of editing style and practices, as both are mostly free to be determined by the editors themselves.
(Written by Sheer Curiosity & Terra, Last Edited: 2021/8/18)

Intro
This guide will outline basic settings and conventions expected of all editors. It will only go over the most essential parts of editing style and practices, as both are mostly free to be determined by the editors themselves. (Written by Sheer Curiosity & Terra, Last Edited: 2021/8/18)

General
At HLR, we believe editors should have full freedom to decide how they want to edit a video, within reason. However, since we are working on a team, there are certain conventions that must be followed so other members of the team can work with what you produce. They are only basic outlines, so you will still have control over most aspects of the editing process.

Editing Practices

Editing Software
You are free to use any editing software you wish, as long as it has support for one or both of the following: Chroma Key, or equivalent action allowing you to utilize green and other color screens MOV Transparent Video Files

Project File Structure
As an editor, we will ask you to periodically upload your project to our team storage so that, in case you become inactive for an extended period with the project unfinished, another editor can complete the video. As such, you should keep all files related to the project in a single folder. Video clips, images, audio, everything used in the video editing project should be in a single folder per project. We will now be following this industry standard with regard to folder organization: 01 RAW FILES 02 PROJECT FILES 03 ASSETS 04 EXPORTS The video editing project folder MUST contain these four folders in particular. Each folder can also contain sub-folders for further organization. Raw Files This folder will contain either the unsubbed clips or the hardsubbed clips, or both. Project Files This folder will only contain project files for both video editing and motion graphics. For example, your .prproj Premiere project files and .aep After Effects files live in this folder. Should you pursue motion graphics for a project, it is recommended to place them in a GFX sub-folder within the 02 PROJECT FILES folder. Assets This folder will contain any additional files required for the project; images, music, sound effects, meme videos, etc. Due to the variety of possible media in this folder, it is recommended to split the content here into sub-folders. For example, the 03 ASSETS folder would be divided into these sub-folders: BGM SFX MEMES ILLUSTRATIONS Dividing into sub-folders can greatly help and the format for this is up to your discretion. Exports This folder will contain only exported files from your project files. It is recommended to use version numbers when naming your exports so that QC is aware of which export is which when referring to it in QC docs.

Working With Color Screened Subs
This page is meant for HoloResort Translations staff and will contain links to files that are only accessible to HoloResort Translations staff. Apologies for the inconvenience. When adding the intro and outro, use the files located here for the intro, and here for the outro. (Our new official intro and outro are not ready yet, so please use these intros and these outros for now). When possible, use the MOV versions of the intro and outro, as those have transparency in the video, and no chroma keying is required. Only use the greenscreen versions of the intro and outro when your editing software does not support MOV transparency. 2022 Update The new intro and outro now use base videos and mask videos. The base video is the video itself that will be seen in the final video, while the mask video will be used as a transition into the base video. Please look up guides on video masking or custom transitions for your video editor of choice or ask for help in the HoloResort TLs Discord. The files are available here .

Export Settings
Export in H.264 MP4 at 60fps. Bitrate settings should be Variable Bitrate (VBR) in the range of 24-25 mbps. If you have a weaker PC and rendering at that bitrate takes too long, then you can render draft videos at a lower bitrate for QA review, but if a QA member asks for a higher bitrate version for review, you must provide it or find another editor that can render it for you. And please, for the love of everything that is holy, DO NOT EXPORT AS INTERLACED VIDEO. I will personally hunt you down and strangle you if you do.

Editing Style

Editing to “Fit The Mood”
(Shamelessly stolen from the QA guide) Make sure you consider the overall “mood” of the clip, and ensure the editing style you were planning to use meshes well with that mood. In general, clips can fit in 4 broad moods, and your editing style should fit one of the following: Comedic (Meme-worthy, comedy bits, gags, etc) Exciting (Gameplay, focused effort, hype, motivational) Serious (Explanatory, informational, deep) Poignant (Reflective, sad, inspirational, cute, teetee)

MADs, Montages and Memes
If you aren’t currently assigned a project, you got some free time on your hands you want to waste, or you want to shill your oshi by making a video solely focused on him/her, you can make MADs, montages, or memes. All editors are not only free to make, but encouraged to make these. They serve as good interim content that doesn’t need to pass through the entire workflow pipeline, and let editors flex their editing muscles a little more than in the normal subbed clip videos. As of right now, there are only a few guidelines to follow when making MADs, montages, or memes: Use non-copyrighted music. While we are not a monetized channel, there is still risk involved in using copyrighted content, so please avoid using it altogether unless absolutely necessary (IE the meme is the copyrighted song)

Extra Stuff

Video and Audio Conversion
Oh boy, here we go. Converting video and audio is a delicate process. If done incorrectly, it can result in the quality of the video or audio dropping significantly. Sometimes, it can result in a file so bloated it puts some of Coalgirls’ releases to shame. Other times, video or audio quality drops even when the conversion is done correctly. All in all, video conversion should be avoided if possible. But, if you absolutely, positively, must convert a video, then this part of the guide will help you with that. First, some vocabulary you need to know. Codec The algorithm used to encode and decode a video or audio stream. It is stored in a Container Container The file extensions you are all probably familiar with. MOV, MKV, and MP4 are all “containers” that store video and audio streams encoded using codecs. Most containers, like MP4 and MOV, can only store specific codecs. A few, like MKV, can store almost any codec. Next, install ffmpeg. Ask in #general-discussion on the discord for help with installation if you don’t know how, or consult everyone’s good friend Google. Make sure at some point you add ffmpeg to your “System PATH Variable,” sometimes just called “PATH.” There are other ways of converting video, but this guide will only use ffmpeg for the sake of simplicity. First, navigate in the command line to the directory containing the video file you want to convert. Next, run this command: ffmpeg -i “(filename).(fileext)” (Replace “(filename)” and “(fileext)” with the file name and file extension, respectively) You should get a bunch of text that looks something like this: The most important part here is to check both streams (In the case of this image, streams #0:0 and #0:1), and see what codec each stream is using. Looking at the image, we see the “Video” stream is using the avc1 codec, and the “Audio” stream is using the mp4a codec. This is good, as both these codecs are supported by the MP4 container, and we can convert the container to MP4 without losing any quality. HLR operates mostly on MP4 files, so your goal when converting video should be to convert the container to MP4. (Full list of codecs supported by the MP4 container can be found here ) To do this, we would run the following ffmpeg command: ffmpeg -i “(filename).(fileext)” -c copy “(filename).mp4” But let’s say, for example, the Audio stream is using a codec not on the list, but the Video stream is. In this case, we can convert the audio stream to a codec compatible with MP4 (albeit with some quality loss), and copy the video stream without converting it. This is done with the following ffmpeg command: ffmpeg -i “(filename).(fileext)” -c:v copy -c:a aac “(filename).mp4” For a case where the video stream is not compatible with MP4, it’s better to not convert if possible, as lost quality in video is much more noticeable than lost quality in audio. But, if you must convert the video stream, you can use the following command: ffmpeg -i “(filename).(fileext)” -c:v libx264 -c:a copy -crf 18 “(filename).mp4” In the case where both codecs are incompatible with MP4, then run: ffmpeg -i “(filename).(fileext)” -c:v libx264 -c:a aac -crf 18 “(filename).mp4”

VEGAS Pro Editing Guidelines
The info in this article may be outdated. These include VEGAS Pro-specific standards and guidelines to keep consistency with the rest of the Hololive Resort Subs uploads, especially those using Premiere Pro or other video editing programs and NLEs. Version Specifics It is recommended that you update to the latest version of VEGAS Pro so as to avoid certain bugs and take advantage of more features. Of course, you may still use the current version of VEGAS Pro that you currently have, but it may make things harder for you as an editor. These are versions to keep in mind: MAGIX VEGAS Pro 18 Currently the latest version as of writing. The most important feature of this version is Advanced Save features, such as Incremental Save and Live Save. Incremental Save allows you to quickly save multiple versions of the same project, while Live Save lets you auto-save the project after every edit, in the same way as Google Docs-style autosaving. Both features allow you to prevent lost progress due to program crashing, which is expected from NLEs like Vegas Pro, especially with larger projects. MAGIX VEGAS Pro 17 The one thing to keep in mind in this version is that 17 supports experimental direct importing of MKV files. Since this is experimental, expect the possibility of errors. MAGIX VEGAS Pro 14 This version allows disabling resampling throughout the entire project. It is required that the project has resampling disabled on relevant parts, such as the clip being edited, as resampling may cause distracting visual artifacts or ghosting. Before this, you needed a script to disable resampling on the whole project. Sony Vegas Pro 13 The most popular and easily accessible version of Vegas Pro. It may not have all the features aforementioned above, but it may be the most stable for you, depending on your system. However, this will make it more difficult to follow our standard. Project Settings Please use these Project Properties when creating a new project in Vegas Pro. NOTE: The difference between “Good” and “Best” Full-resolution rendering quality is the resize algorithm. Best uses bicubic/integration while Good uses bilinear. If your PC can support it, select “Best”. If not, “Good” is fine. NOTE: In Sony Vegas Pro 13, the “Resample mode” option does not exist. Please refer to this guide for disabling resampling throughout the whole project for Vegas Pro 13. You may also just disable resampling in the clip that you’re working on and leave everything else resampled. Working with HLR Files As an editor, you will receive an MKV file from a subber. You have two choices for working with these files: MKV Import or MP4 Conversion. MKV Import You may directly import the MKV file using VEGAS Pro’s experimental MKV feature. This is disabled by default, so to use this feature, you will need to enable it. This can be done by going to Options > Preferences… > File I/O > Enable MKV Reader (Experimental) and enabling it. Should VEGAS Pro reject the MKV, it may be because the MKV has an unsupported audio codec. Please use this ffmpeg command: ffmpeg -i “(Subbed File Name).mkv” -c:v copy -c:a aac -crf 17 “(Subbed File Name).mkv” MP4 Conversion You may convert the MKV to MP4 to easily be accepted by VEGAS Pro. Please use this ffmpeg command: ffmpeg -i “(Subbed File Name).mkv” -c:v copy -c:a aac -crf 17 “(Subbed File Name).mp4” Same as was said on the other guide, Avidemux is also free and can do this with a UI. Working with Transparent Intro and Outro VEGAS Pro supports transparent MOV files through the QuickTime codec. Do not use green screen / chroma keying for this process, regardless of the presence of a green screen file. Please use the transparent MOV for this process. Render Settings Please use these settings for making the final render: To create this template, use the MAGIX AVC/AAC MP4 format or the MainConcept AVC/AAC format (for VEGAS Pro 13), select the Internet HD 1080p 59.94 fps template or the Blu-ray 1920x1080-60i, 25 Mbps video stream template (for VEGAS Pro 13), and click on Customize Template… to modify the template in accordance with our standards in the picture above.