Live Editing

Live Editing refers to a technique of video remixing where results are created and captured in real time. The primary tool for this technique is not necessarily any video editor, but rather screen recording software such as OBS to capture the result. Live Editing is limited in terms of what can be accomplished when compared to standard editing and remixing, especially in a tennis context, but among what is possible to execute through this technique includes stuttering, scrambling, ratcheting, reversing, pitch alteration and certain forms of vibrato, prepared Source Interaction, and clip speed alteration, all of which are uniquely defined by the in-the-moment mental decisions and motions carried out by the human hand using a mouse and keyboard. This allows for techniques usually rigid in their patterns to become marked by sudden, unpredictable and spontaneous fluctuations in their timing and execution, allowing for stimulating results that can often be impossible to precisely repeat or recreate.

Live Editing in standard YTP has its roots in TheBigL1's "Duck Twacy Gets His Hands on the Scrub Control"(2010), and saw a peak in attention in 2014 largely through the technique's execution by PresidentOfJelybeans(from their alt account pej/LesbianMagnet) in works such as "i hate my life"(2014), "i'm too fucking old for this shit"(2014) and "space fighting 3: revengers"(2014). dani_phantump began to first use the technique around the same time, introducing it into tennis through "THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BATMAN"(2014), their Round 3 with Nineroe, and has remained the primary user of this technique in a tennis context since then.

Process

Generally in live editing, a screen audio/video capture tool has its dimensions set squarely on the preview window of video editing software such as Sony Vegas, and proceeds to record real time manipulation of footage on the timeline that the playback line is set upon, and then set into independent motion with the "Play" button, to allow a visual result to be captured entirely. Manipulating the position of the clip itself is what provides instances of the first three effects provided above, dependent upon the speed at which the clip is dragged forward or backward across the moving playback line. A swift forward or backward motion in the dragging can create a result of incredible fast motion in either direction with the audio skipping at great speed in the respective direction to match; A motion in the dragging that generally hovers around the speed of the playback line's motion is generally considered to be where the most interesting results can occur in this facet of the technique, and usually with backwards motion. Matching the speed of the playback line is generally what creates the best instances of manufactured stuttering in a clip, which progresses into ratcheting the more gradually that speed is increased. The erratic levels of the motion during this in practice can depend entirely on the creator in the moment -- areas of the clip can be jumped around in quick succession to explore the potential in exploiting the motion that a clip provides, and the motion in between each area can be fast-tracked in either direction in these transitions.

The panel of buttons that control playback in video editing software can also play a part in contributing to the abstract and experimental flow in live editing. The "Play" button will always play from a fixed position until that position is changed with the "Pause" button, which will stop the playback line in its new position. This can additionally be activated using the Enter key on a keyboard, which can be mashed to create a skipping forward motion with small gaps of silence. The "Stop" button however ceases playback while reverting to the original starting position of the playback, and be additionally activated using the spacebar on the keyboard. The "Play" button can be pressed as frequently as the human hand is able to click it with a mouse, allowing for another way to execute live clip repetition -- this is not possible to do with the spacebar as it will alternate between "Play" and "Stop", similar to how the Enter key will alternate between "Play" and "Pause". The "Play From Start" button can be pressed while the "Play" position is still actively set elsewhere, allowing for a live editing method where the active moment focused on at the "Play" position can abruptly switch to whatever is at the very start of the timeline and then back again without any interruption in the flow of execution. The "Go To Start" button will both immediately play from the start of the timeline as well as resetting the "Play" position at this place, and is generally not recommended for this technique.

Typically in the bottom left of a Sony Vegas workspace is the Playback Rate slider, which can change the speed at which video plays forwards or backwards, including changing its audio pitch in tandem. This is how pitch alteration and vibrato can be achieved, and is the video equivalent of manipulating vinyl records on DJ turntables -- "scratching/scrubbing" with video can be achieved using this slider. This was the earliest tool to be discovered and utilized for live editing in greater YTP and remains the most signature part of this technique. While the forward or reverse playback rate in Sony Vegas has a minimum and maximum of (+/-) 20.00, it realistically is only able to achieve results that provide some kind of audio output as high or low as (+/-) 4.00. The slider itself is always fixed to 0.00 to define a "base" playback speed, but underneath it is an orange triangle fixed in the real-value "Normal Rate" of 1.00, which can be freely adjusted between a strictly positive value range between 0.00 and 4.00 to allow for video to permanently play at that speed as a new "base". Certain keyboards with extra keys, such as a column of "E" keys to the far left on some models, can sometimes contain a button that automatically starts or adjusts the playback of the clip with the "Normal Rate" shifted down to 0.25, or a quarter-speed of standard normal rate.

In most utilization of live editing, certain edits are "prepared" for the potential of their motion or sound being manipulated, and has been most often used on certain variations of stutters that are then transformed through playback rate sliding. In tennis, some visual sections can be constructed with the express purpose of distorting the visual motion in some form through any combination of the above technique variations.

OBS itself is capable of creating unique visual results through its "Video Capture Device" layer element, which can be used to create its own version of video feedback trails that are then able to be manipulated in real time themselves, both in constant and static motion. These elements of the technique were clearly captured in "]]]]876543210**Threatening[Tandemaus]Extrapolates[September]Catacombs**012345678[[[["(2025), Round 8 of Zekii vs. dani_phantump vs. system128, along with many other utilizations of live editing.