FAQ: Discussion: Learning to edit. How do I decide where to cut?

[EuanWilliamson]

When should I make a cut while I’m editing?  Please allow me a moment to give you some thoughts

It’s a simple question with a great many answers depending who you speak to and the genre of project you are editing.

Simplistically:
You will find some say 4-5 seconds is about right for general work.
For conversational dialog, at the end of a sentence.
For documentary, you can let a shot hold for much longer.
For action, cut every 1-2 seconds and so on.
Or you may have heard of Walter Murch and “In the blink of an Eye”
There’s a good synopsis at : http://filmbooknotes.blogspot.com/2009/05/in-blink-of-eye-by-walter-murch.html

I’d like to offer another thought and to make it clear, let’s have an analogy with the craft of the wordsmith. It’s an almost forgotten art of writing good copy that engages the reader.
I think it’s best summed up in a short section of a book by the sadly deceased Gary Provost.
https://www.garyprovost.com/how-to-tips/

In his book, “100 ways to improve your writing” he offers the following sage advice:

“This sentence has five words.
Here are five more words.
Five-word sentences are fine.
But several together become monotonous.
Listen to what is happening.
The writing is getting boring.
The sound of it drones. It's like a stuck record.
The ear demands some variety.

Now listen.
I vary the sentence length, and I create music.
Music.
The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony.
I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length.
And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with the energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals - sounds that say listen to this,
it is important.”

There’s a very nice version of this adapted to video by Russel Berg.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VQzALPQ3fI

So, don’t just cut methodically at 4-5 seconds, don’t action cut it every 2.
( This applies particularly to cutting to music )
Instead look at your footage, how long does a clip hold your attention.
Surprise your audience with a long lingering look.
Snap them back with a few shorter cuts.

You may think that you don’t have this editing skill.
I would suggest that you do and that you’ve been editing by looking and feel ever since you picked up a TV remote and went channel surfing to find something to watch.
You will have instinctively scanned a channel and assimilated the meaning and made a decision to watch or move on.

Please let me know your thoughts.
Does it help? Do you agree? Hit up a reply and lets chat.

I’m hoping this can be the start of a series of editing thoughts that will go beyond the technical.
If there’s a specific topic, let me know.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Thanks for an inspiring post. I agree that formulaic attempts at video editing will eventually fail. I like to let every performance "breathe" as much as it needs too. At the end of this process is an overly long rough cut with plenty of options.

After rough cutting, I go in and "kill all my darlings," that is, delete any shots (or entire scenes) that are just not working to propel the story; even if the shot was pretty looking, expensive, or took a long time to pull off. This is the most painful part of editing.

I then go in with my samurai blade and fine cut the entire sequence. I like to use Trim Mode to carefully add and subtract small numbers of frames as "loop" around the cut. I always loop the cut before moving on the subsequent cut. Before long, I have a pretty nice cut working. I then go through the entire sequence looking for better meaning, thought beats, cutaways, J or L cuts, and I can keep refining in this manner for as long as a period as I have.

I think it's important for all editors to also write. Screenplays, that is. It helps you understand story and that assists your editing skills tremendously. Glad I did it while I was still young.

Would love to keep this discussion gong.

Sincerely,

Kevin Monahan

[Kona_Bob]

I appreciate all of these really great ideas.

The one thing I always do when I start getting the feeling that the movie is about "finished" and ready to lock down:

I render out to a thumb drive- usually as Blu Ray- sit down in the living room with the big HDTV and a good sound system and watch the movie start to finish. I'm always amazed by what I "notice". Everything from tiny transition glitches to pacing issues.

The great shot that seemed fine while editing, but now I can see that it doesn't work. 

Anyway, for me, when I can do this and not "notice" anything, I feel confident that I'm finished.

[EuanWilliamson]

Thanks Kevin,

Yes, I'd agree with all of that. Iterative refinement!

Forth Rail Bridge

This bridge near me in Scotland was famous for it's colour and the fact that when they paint it,

they get to the end of the bridge and have to start all over again. **

It's analagous to editing, isn't it.

Until as you say, your times up!

That's why these new speedy NLEs give us more time to be creative and need less time to wrangle the tech.

(** they now use paint that lasts 30 years )

Euan.