Question for Newbie Director/Writer/Producer/Editors – SHOULD YOU EDIT YOUR OWN MOVIES?

 By Peter John Rosswww.sonnyboo.com

 Very rarely in the movie industry do the Filmmakers actually edit their own productions. There are exceptions like Robert Rodriguez and the Coen Brothers, who use the pseudonym “Roderick Jaynes”. But then there are the director’s who “co-edit” their movies with another editor, like Kevin Smith and his uber producer Scott Mosier, or James Cameron who always edits alongside other editors.

 On the micro-budget level, where the funding for the DV short may be in the tens of dollars, there is the mythology that you should edit your own movie. Heck, anyone with a $10 firewire card and a home PC 5 years out of date can now edit, so obviously all you need to do is learn what button to push. This is why most DV shorts suffer, especially in the editing.

 For newbies, which we all were at some point, it’s hard to hand over such a crucial aspect of the moviemaking process over to someone else. And since the technology is so readily available, the Newbie often does not. Some people have a natural knack for editing, and this is not always bad. Then there are the majority who cannot separate the objectivity of the big picture & the minutiae of the script versus the shoot versus the edit.

 If you are one of those directors that can look at the raw footage, or even edit a scene together, seeing it in the context of the overall movie, and then make the decision to cut out one of the best moments the actor gave because you realize that the scene is erroneous THEN SKIP THIS ARTICLE. 

 However, if you have what you thought was one of the funniest jokes on paper, and even if it’s not 100% great delivery, but you choose to use it anyway because it “might” be good, then please READ ON.

Help Each Other – Take Turns Editing

 There exists a misconception that you just hand the movie over to the editor, then you sit and wait to see IF they made it the way you want. The Editor’s job is to work WITH the Director and/or Producer. Together, they shape the movie with the NLE chisel. An Editor brings objectivity and a fresh perspective to the table that isn’t there with a One-Man show.

Since this article is geared towards more the extremely low budget movies, the first worry is $$$. An good option for us No Budget Moviemakers is to help each other out. Find another no budget filmmaker and edit each other’s movies, rather than take it on by yourself. Give each other that new opinion or fresh idea that might enhance the movie. Creating movies in a vacuum can hamper the outcome for the best possible movie.

 Much like working with an actor to help shape a character, collaborating with an editor/director can help make a better movie. It may not be what you, the director, exactly intended, but movies are a team effort. It’s less about the director’s singular vision, and more about the story, the finished movie. Much like a character, the movie can take on a life of it’s own. I say let it breath and give it some freedom, rather than choke on the ego of one individual. 

 Objectivity is difficult for directors when they go to edit. The director was on the set. He knows the actors and he remembers what happened on those days. This taints the viewing of the raw footage. An Editor will look at these raw materials and try to build something and not see it for the shoot, but rather the pieces of the puzzle that need to fit just right. Another, more basic concept is the job of the editor to “orient” the viewer. A director may not realize that the edit they did does not reveal the location or the positions of the characters – because the director was THERE. Whereas the Editor was NOT there and will more easily recognize that you need an establishing shot or a wide shot to give the audience a sense of spatial relations.

 Now some people learn through time & effort that they can be objective. Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier are two of the most brutal editors of their own work. They will chop scenes out that do not stand up in the editing room. James Cameron also attacks his movies with fervor. To bring a movie down to its essence, he will cut out whole subplots in the editing room, even ones that cost several million dollars to produce (see THE ABYSS: SPECIAL EDITION). * Please note that on the big movies, even though a director supervises the edit, if there is a fight between the editor & director, the producer is the boss that has to settle the dispute.

 Everyone should at least attempt to work with a separate editor once. You can find that a different approach or a new idea will only serve to enhance the story, which is all a movie is supposed to do – TELL A STORY.

Related Articles

1-2-3 Guide to Making Movies

Consumer Video Editing Solutions

Contracts for MovieMakers

Edit DV

Indie Film Cliches

The Truth about Robert Rodriquez and Low Budget Filmmaking

Shoot2Edit

Using Time Code Burns for Editing

Video Editing Center

Video Editing Systems