Careers in Television and Video: Film and Video Editing Concepts

Starting a career in the film, television or video industry as an editor is a universally desired position for any aspiring job seeker in this field. Here is my advice to those bright-eyed and bushy-tailed editing hopefuls. Learn other skills. How can you express yourself visually with each scene, if you do not understand the lighting fundamentals that created them? How can you edit if you do not know how to capture the scene you need with a camera? How can you edit one scene next to the other, if you do not know how they were written into a screenplay? The common misconception about editing is that this is where the creative process really happens. It depends on how you look at it. Yes, there are many artistic aspects in the post-production editing phase. Elements like creating graphics, making and using animations, creating musical ambience, integrating dimensional sound effects, and much more are tied together to create an audio and visual mood and feel. Stop me. My mouth is watering. I love editing.

While this really does happen, the truth is that all of this creativity was actually written-in months before during pre-production, in the screenplay. During production, the scenes were shot in a calculated and methodical manner similar to an assembly line. On major productions, when it finally gets down to post-production, the editor(s) is merely piecing it back together at the direction of the producer(s). The creativity at this point is in the finishing touches, but this skill is nothing to be taken lightly. I find this stage of the production the most exhilarating. It is the art of taking several creative elements and combining them into artistic expression. The edit session may be preplanned and formulated, but the final touches are what makes or breaks the project, in timing, logic and viewer interest. There is an art to editing, and before you ask which editing software is the best to use, let us put that to the side. I will get to that in another segment. However, you might get the idea about how I feel about that by continuing to read this one.

Consider this. Think of any film, TV series or program, commercial, music video or anything else you can think of that was professionally edited. Leave out wedding videos and local television. Think about how the characters and action played before your eyes, keeping you glued to the storyline. The heroes won! They saved the day! Oh, it was great wasn't it? Think about it. How did they transition from scene to scene? Cuts and dissolves my friends, cuts and dissolves. The truth is that editing is mostly just that, cuts and dissolves. There is not any big secret to the actual mechanics of editing other than manipulating the video images and effects, and most of the time even that is on a limited basis, unless you are working on a high-budget special effects project. Most special or customized graphic work for television and video is created for openings, which only last thirty seconds at the most. The same opening graphic is sometimes repeated at the end for a credit background. This saves on time and money. Other than children's programming, custom graphics and animations are mostly done in commercials and music videos. Animated graphics are used in sports programs, but these are usually pre-prepared fill-in-the-blank automated templates called up live during the telecast.

Before I begin, allow me to explain that in some instances like news stories, there are times when you just slap some b-roll footage together and cut it into story. If it is well shot and makes sense with what is being said, put it in. Occasionally I still do it to this day, especially if the piece will only be shown several times. I personally call this method of editing 'salad bowl' editing, just chop it up and toss it all together. Mmmm, good. There is nothing wrong with this method. In fact, learning to edit quickly is a very desirable and necessary skill to have. When you have ten or more stories to cut together, the skill can be very valuable to an employer. You do not want to spend hours editing a three or four-minute news story. Your employer will not want to pay for that.

Having got that all out of the way, let us examine the concepts of editing. As it was stated before, editing is about timing, logic and viewer attention. Every element you use in the process should flow and not distract. Timing is crucial. The script dictates which shot will go after another, but timing them together so that they flow fluidly with one another without distracting, is what you are trying to achieve, even if it is only a cut. For example, let us say that you have a MLS of someone holding a can of soda. The shot lasts for 14 seconds, and includes the talent holding the drink for several seconds, and then raising it to their lips and drinking the soda for several more seconds. The next shot you will be cutting in is a MCU version of the same thing for the same amount of time. You want to cut into the MLS at midpoint of the talent raising the can of soda, and cut in the MCU at the same point. This is an example of timing and continuity.

The timing of the scene is easy to explain. You want to make both shots look like one fluid motion. Continuity comes into play at the point where these shots meet. For instance, if the MCU is cut in before the can enters the shot it will become distracting to the viewer. It may only be a momentary distraction, but it is enough to make the viewer think about it. At this point you have lost the viewer, if only for that moment. You have broken the illusion and removed the viewer from what is happening in the scene, to the MCU not fitting right with the MLS. Sound familiar? It should if you read any of my other articles. It is the same thing camera operators have to remember when zooming the camera.

When editing, some scenes may only need the spoken dialogue with ambient background noise, and some scenes may require music to set the mood or move it along. Audio is an important element in editing. It can make or break a whole project, it is that important. Sound effects are important too, and add dimension and realism to a scene. Just about all sound effects in movies are recorded later in post-production. This is called Foley work, and is a whole industry in itself. They have large studios with different floor arrangements and computer programs to customize sounds for film and television. Foley work is my personal dream position. If you have an opportunity to add sound effects in your editing project, do it. Working in stereo or surround sound, it is even possible to place these audio enhancements in different audio spectrums, increasing realism.

During an edit session there are many hurdles throughout the process. Is the music loud enough here? Should it be lowered there? How long should the graphic or title be shown? Is there too much text to read in the allotted time? Is there enough? I do not have the right footage for what is being said. Should I make do with what I have, or go back and get what I need? Can I cover it with a graphic? This clip looks great here, but this other clip will have to be taken out to make room, should I? What can I do to make this sequence last longer? What will I have to take out to make this one shorter? Because the camera operator decided not to make this shot any longer (grrr!), and did it on hand-held (double grrr!) how can I make it fit? I would rather not use a freeze frame of it. Maybe if it were slowed down, hmm, let's try it.

These are the questions and conflicts I come across during most of my edit sessions. The issues do not last very long though. The trick is to make these decisions in a quick amount of time, so that you may move on and complete the edit. From an employee perspective it is just one more in the pile waiting for me to cut, but even if it is a part-time endeavor or your personal project you are working on, these questions and conflicts will cross your mind when in post-production. It is the final stage, after many hours of planning and shooting. How you envisioned it would look, how the story would flow, what would happen, what would be said, and the statement you wanted to make, is finally complete from beginning to end. If it is all put together right, whoever sees it will come away with what you are trying to say. This my friends, is editing. Good luck in whatever dreams you may have.