Offline and Online Editing

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Offline And Online Editing

Offline and online editing refer to a traditional two stage process in post production, although in today's ultra-flexible world of video editing, the two worlds are merging.

The Short Answer

Offline editing is the primary stage of editing, traditionally done at a low resolution. Online editing is the final stage of editing- the edit is reconstructed and finished at high resolution, and usually done on a more "fully featured" and expensive editing system. On the other hand, both the offline and online can happen on the same system. The offline would be done at high compression (lower resolution), then for the online stage the edited sequence is re-captured at low or no compression for high quality output.

 
More Info

Next is a bit more detail on these processes.

Offline Editing

The first stage of editing. The creative stage. Traditionally, in non-linear editing, this involved digitizing video at somewhat low quality (high compression) into a somewhat "cheap" editing system. Because the editor(s) may be working on a project for up to several months with a lot of source material, it was essential to make efficient use of video storage (therefore the high compression), and not pay high rentals on the editing equipment. All the creative decisions are made in the offline edit, until the picture is "locked", in other words, finished.

Online Editing

The final stage of editing. The edit that was created in the offline edit is re-created in an online edit at the best possible quality. An edit decision list (called an EDL), derived from the offline edit, is used in the online edit as a guide as to how to re-create the edit. The online editing suite has higher-end equipment. The video is digitized at the best possible quality (lowest compression) for final mastering. Because of the high costs of online editing suites, the client spends as little time as possible here, making sure that any creative decisions have already been tackled in the offline. Online may or may not include other finishing elements as well, like color correction, titles and effects. Most effects will generally be finished in other systems, and the final elements delivered to the online for inclusion in the final program. Audio is usually finished separately, and then laid back to the final video online master tape.

The Paradigm Is Changing

Lately, with the advent of cheaper and more accessible non-linear editing systems, and the ever-decreasing costs of hard drive storage, sometimes there is no traditional offline/online, especially in the low budget world. The video may be captured at a high resolution right from the start. After the edit is completed, the video is color corrected, effects are done in the same system, and the final video is output to tape, DVD or the internet. Although the traditional offline/online system is still used more often than its not- especially in larger budget productions.