Viewfinder: Two Product Concepts

Can I drive my car through this intersection? All drivers ask this question every time they get to a traffic light, and they get the answer in the form of a color--green, red or yellow. In fact, you can answer most questions with one of these three colors, and editing video is no exception.

I propose that some video hardware manufacturer apply the same simple "three-choice answer" interface to the process of video editing. This would be of particular value to people who have no plans to ever be too serious about editing, but have a basic desire to discard unwanted material.

Here's how it would work. The videomaker would have a remote control with only three large buttons on it--green, red and yellow--and the words "yes," "no" and "maybe" printed on the buttons. To watch their video, they would have to hold down one of the three buttons at all times; otherwise, the tape would go into pause. As the user held down the buttons, the remote control would log the decisions. Green would stand for "copy this scene onto another tape," red for "skip it" and yellow for "let me see it again so I can hit the green or red button after further review." This system would not allow for rearranging of scenes; all it would do is allow the users to omit undesirable video. It's quick, chea…