So lately with various jobs/coursework assignments I've been doing a lot of editing, now don't get me wrong, it's not that I dislike editing, in fact I love editing; it's one of my strongest talents as a film maker, and one of the few that I'd say I'm most competent and confident in, but editing can be tedious, I'll explain...
Most people think of editing as adding in CGI monsters, and making epic montages. Yes these things have a home in editing, but what I've found is that editing is 50% preparation 50% actually doing work, yes you can get a bunch of random/off the cuff shots and edit them together to make a good sequence, but I'm confident in saying that nobody has ever edited together a good sequence just by pressing random buttons, it's the Infinite Monkey Theorem, yes it's possible in theory, but in practice it simply won't happen, editing takes time, and editors have the hardest job in the film-making process, as they're there to eliminate the flaws that have gone on during the production, and effectively have to make up for the mistakes of others, and if they fail, that then becomes their responsibility and their failure.
The editing process almost always begins with reviewing the footage, you can check what's good and what's bad, and what I tend to do if working on a scripted piece is separate the files into good takes and bad takes, I keep all the good takes I can use in one folder, and all the unusable takes in another folder, these aren't deleted as sometimes there are elements from them which can be used later if needed. Now I'm not saying you need to utilise the folder method, I personally find it a much more hassle free system for editing, as there's less clutter when you get to your composition, I know editors that don't adopt the filing method, and their work is just as good, so find what suits you best! But always make sure you review your footage so you know what you're working with!
After the organisation and/or review it's time to go into your composition!
For composing films/videos it's helpful to have good editing
I'm going to quickly list my experience of how editing works for a pre-planned production:
- Watch over all the footage
- Separate it into two folders, good takes & bad takes.
- Sit through hours of meticulously cutting everything into the right order and length on the timeline. And transitions, lots of transitions.
- Colour correction, so much colour correction.
- The added extras - Tracking objects, overlays, etc.
Obviously this isn't to be followed to the letter, but generally this is what I find to be the case, especially when putting together shorts, and especially Indie-Film which tends to be less CGI heavy, so the editing process is more about the cuts and colour.
Now, how do you become a good editor?
It's a question I've been asked a few times, and even though I struggled to answer it the first time, I think I have the answer now. A good editor is a person who can make themselves a hybrid between a film maker and the audience. Let me explain, if you look at the film Skyline it's a good film if you just look at the technical aspects of it, the CGI, cinematography, and editing are very good and there's no arguing against that. But as a viewer it's very tedious to watch (As seen in the reviews) mainly due to the pacing etc, but I feel that the film could have been cut in a more interesting manner, it would have helped make up for the god awful story, and dry acting, editing would not have completely saved this film.
The best way for an individual to get into the hybrid mindset is to watch a lot of films, and get involved in a lot of productions, by watching films you will pick up on good editing, and another good method is to watch parts of films with no sound, that way you're completely immersed in the visuals and it's easier to watch how a film is cut (This also works to analyse cinematography).
The other part is to get involved in productions, the more you understand how films are made, the more you can talk with the director and achieve your goals as film-makers, and make something that is visually fantastic! And you just have to make lots of film, the more you edit the better you'll be at it!
Thanks for reading!
-Geraint
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