- An editor's first job is to tell a story -- no matter the genre
- An editor can make a good film great, an OK film good, and a bad film short
- A good story has a three-act structure (Plus an exciting intro.)
- Every scene should have a beginning, middle, and ending. And be dramatic
- A great ending surprises, satisfies or devastates, and resonates
- For the best edit, watch ALL the footage. Footage before "action" and after "cut" can save an edit
- Movie 1st, Scene 2nd, Moment 3rd - Montage Fact 1: In essence, a cut highlights the difference or similarity between two shots
- Montage Fact 2: A cut creates meaning not inherent in the individual shots
- Montage Fact 3: Montage allows you to tell a story in compressed time. And can make a gradual change more dramatic
- Tell the story with cuts! It's what separates motion pictures from other art forms
- Directors: read On Directing Film by David Mamet to learn how to tell a story with cuts
- Each shot already has an inherent beginning and ending. These are your edit points
- Start the scene as late as possible
- End the scene as early as possible.
- A cut should move the story forward
- Every cut should be motivated
- When in doubt, cut
- If not sure what to cut to, ask yourself what the audience would want to see
- Make is easy for the audience to see what's important
- Use all the angles that were shot
- Use cutaways
- Reactions are as important as dialogue
- Remember Ekman’s Six Universal Emotions: Anger, Fear, Disgust, Surprise, Happiness, and Sadness - Pay attention to sight lines
- Weave story lines with parallel editing
- Time does not have to be linear (In reality it isn't...)
- Make everyone on camera look good
- Cut on motion
-Match action across edits
- 3 is a magic number. 2 is a coincidence. 4 is boring
- Force the footage to work -- Zoom in, reposition, flop, color correct, composite, loop audio, etc.
- A good cut flows like a piece of music
- The director and actors have established a rhythm during shooting. You can change tempo and pace, but you must find this rhythm in your edit. Then create counterpoint to this rhythm with your edit
- Music also establishes a scene's rhythm. And your edit should create polyphony with the music. If you cut on the 1 of every measure, your edit will get boring. Use movement in the shot to hit beats - not just cuts
- Musicians make great editors
- "Hitchcock only finishes a picture 60 percent. I have to finish it for him." -- Bernard Hermann
- Use room tone/nat sound. Insist that the crew records it
- Add sound effects
- If possible, make it shorter (However, suspense comes from slowing things down)
- Even if the long complicated and highly choreographed tracking shot doesn't work, the director will insist that it be used, so put it in your cut
- When acting and/or cinematography is beautiful, you don't have to cut!
- Actors: read On Acting by Sanford Meisner, On the Technique of Acting by Michael Chekhov, Acting in Film by Michael Caine
- Cinematographers: Watch Visions of Light
- Cinematographers: Please shoot chip charts for every scene
- Don't get too attached to your edit. The director and then the producer have the last word.
- Watch these films for picture, sound and story editing:
ALL THAT JAZZ (1979) AMELIE (2001) APOCALYPSE NOW (1979) BREATHLESS (1960) CINEMA PARADISO (1990) CITIZEN KANE (1941) CITY OF GOD (2002) DEAR ZACHARY (2008) DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS (2001) DONNIE DARKO (2001) GOODFELLAS (1990) A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (1964) HAROLD AND MAUDE (1971) JFK (1991) LOVE IN THE CITY: "PARADISE FOR THREE HOURS" (1953) MEMENTO (2000) NATURAL BORN KILLERS (1994) PULP FICTION (1994) RAGING BULL (1980) SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998) TRAINSPOTTING (1996) THE TREE OF LIFE (2011)
- Pay your people when you receive their invoices. Pay them even if your client has not paid you. They have a contract with you -- not with your client! This builds loyalty
TECH TIPS
-16:9 Aspect Ratios: The 16:9 Formula is x÷16=n×9=y
4800 x 2700 (5K) 3840 x 2160 (UHD) 1920 x 1080 (1080i) 1280 x 720 (720p) 960 x 540 640 x 360 480 x 270
- 4K - 4096 x 2160 - 2K - 2048 x 1080
- 4:3 - 1440 x 1080
- 1080i Field Dominance is Upper-Odd
- 24fps usually means 23.976 - 60fps usually means 59.94
- DVD Studio Pro Menus (I still get requests to make DVD's...) DVD Studio Pro is not good at interpolating images. To make sharp menus with proper aspect ratios, create menus in Photoshop at 720 x 534, 72dpi, square pixels. Then re-size to 720x480 before importing into DVDSP. In DVDSP set menus to 4:3 and videos to 16:9.