Real World Digital Video, Second Edition

Chapter Ten. In The Cutting Room

A familiar Hollywood truism tells us that a movie is “written” three times: once by the writer, once by the director, and once by the editor. In some ways, the last of these “writes” is the most important. Editors are primarily storytellers, and the digital video revolution hasn't changed that part of the job one bit.

Editing is a heady experience. When all the footage is put together, the editor's version of a scene might be very different from its original description on the page, or even its performance on the set. With little more than a mouse click or a keystroke, the editor can put a fire truck in the middle of a scene where no fire truck existed before. Or, she can delete a scene that cost $250,000 and ...