Basic TV Technology, 4th Edition

Traditional editing limits flexibility.

Problems of Traditional Editing

Although SMPTE time code and computerized editors have greatly enhanced the editing process, there is a problem that limits flexibility and creativity in traditional editing, particularly in off-line editing. Once you have edited a sequence of scenes together, you cannot go back and change one of those scenes without reediting the entire tape from that point on. Assume, for example, that you had edited a tape with four scenes in it. After looking at the tape several times, you decide that the tape would be much better if the second scene started two seconds earlier. That will make the second scene and the tape two seconds longer. If you go back and reedit that scene and include ...