PRAISE FOR GAEL CHANDLER

“Once again, Gael Chandler has pulled together a useful book for both the seasoned
and beginning director to make the process of realizing a vision easier. From getting
it right in the field through ample coverage and detailed documentation, to choosing
and developing a relationship with an editor early in the production process, Gael’s
knowledge, experience, and practical caveats provide a roadmap that ensures the
director will reach their destination. Some points are fundamental, but in the hot
traffic of production, missing the right turn can add hours, even days to the journey.
Gael’s smart review of the traditional workflow process, as well as how things have
changed due to technology, is invaluable to every auteur.”
Ken Roth, Producer-Director, What We Didn’t Know
Producer, The Fred Snowden Show

“Chandler takes the director by the hand and leads them through the process of
postproduction both fiction and non-fiction, answering the questions you were afraid
to ask and many you didn’t think of, illuminating the joys and pitfalls of editing from
preproduction through delivery.”
Paris Poirier, Director, Last Call at Maud’s
Associate Professor of Film Studies & Entertainment Technology,
Santa Monica College

“Never has such a clear and considerate handbook for editors been produced. It
has become the go-to manual here at the busy Raindance Film Festival. Whenever
we have a workflow question, we find the answer with the easy to navigate index.
Indispensable.”
Elliot Grove, Founder, Raindance Film Festival
EDITING
FOR
A GUIDE FOR
C R E AT I V E
C O L L A B O R AT I O N

DIRECTORS
GAEL CHANDLER
 To Dave Chandler, my brother (1952-2018),
Published by Michael Wiese Productions who lives forever in a medium wide shot in Woodstock.
12400 Ventura Blvd. #1111 A life cut short is the unkindest cut of all.
Studio City, CA 91604
(818) 379-8799, (818) 986-3408 (Fax)
[email protected]
www.mwp.com
Manufactured in the
United States of America

Copyright © 2021 Gael Chandler

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in

any form or by any means without permission in writing from the
publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

This book was set in Arno Pro, Gotham and DIN

Cover design by Johnny Ink. johnnyink.com

Interior design by Debbie Berne
Copyediting by Doreen Alexander

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Chandler, Gael, author.
Title: Editing for Directors : a guide for creative collaboration /
Gael Chandler.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020047530 | ISBN 9781615933280 (trade
paperback)
Subjects: LCSH: Motion pictures—Editing. | Motion picture edi-
tors. | Motion pictures—Production and direction.
Classification: LCC TR899 .C455 2021 | DDC 777/.55—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020047530
 CONTENTS

Foreword ix IN THE CUTTING ROOM

7 
Preface xi
PART 2:
Introduction 1
FROM DIRECTOR’S CUT
TO LOCKED CUT 
1 SHOOT RIGHT 136
FOR EDITING 
3 CREATING SOUND
8 
AND MUSIC 
2 WHAT AN EDITOR 164
BRINGS
TO THE PARTY  EDITING AND MIXING
9 
23 SOUND AND MUSIC 
188
THE FLICKERS
3 
AND THE FRAMES: FINISH AND DELIVER 
q 
A SHORT HISTORY 210
OF EDITING 
37 Afterword 237
Acknowledgments 238

HIRE A COLLABORATOR:
4  Permissions 239

THE DIRECTOR-EDITOR Glossary 243

Bibliography 259
RELATIONSHIP  Filmography 263
78 Index 267
About the Author 271
EDITING: WHAT AN
5 
EDITOR DOES 
86

IN THE CUTTING ROOM

6 
PART 1:
FROM DAILIES TO
FIRST CUT SCREENING 
116
FOREWORD

I love film, movies and the process of making the writers’ vision come to life. I started
my directing career on a show Gael was editor on. We had many discussions about the
best way to approach the various problems I would have to deal with, and boy was there
a lot of stuff to learn. From the information in her book, you will have enough knowl-
edge to feel comfortable tackling anything thrown at you.
I believe the premise for this book is two-fold. 1) To act as a re-fresher course for
seasoned directors and 2) To give enough information so a new director can step in,
not with all the answers, but with enough confidence to manage a movie, television, or
documentary set. You will appreciate the sections explaining what to expect when you
walk into an unfamiliar environment.
STORY . . . STORY . . . STORY . . . Some directors approach the job from a writing
standpoint, others from working with actors in the theater, and still others from tech-
nical experiences. But if the story is paramount in your decision-making, as the book
makes clear, you’ll be moving in the right direction.
I’ve spent over 60 years in the business, the last 18 as a director, and gosh do I wish
this book had been around when I started directing. It has is a ton of information, but
the most interesting part to me has to do with the teamwork and relationships neces-
sary to squeeze all there is out of a sometimes not so great script. Egos are the enemy
of filmmaking. Anybody who is any good at their craft has an ego, including you, but it
must be kept in check if a working relationship is to survive. The success of a project is
dependent on the connection you as the director form with those at your side willing to
help, be it the writer, DP, production designer, actors, producers, editor, or many others.
A television series is the only place where you are limited in your decision making.
The style of the show and the actors’ characters are well defined and post pretty much
runs on a schedule. On other projects, the director’s input is essential in all areas from
re-writes, to casting, to the final mix. You will be working with many different people
with varied personalities; all, well, most all, are there to help you. They have years of
experience for you to take advantage of if the working relationships you form are strong.
I don’t believe another book has been written that gives so much practical and technical
information that really gets to the heart of the matter; how to approach relationships, so
everyone can perform at the top of their game.

Tony Dow
Director-actor

  ix
PREFACE

Writing a book is a lot like making a film: You begin with a concept of a golden
narrative that reaches people and makes a difference. You research, ponder and
plan — ­preproduction. You start production ,  writing ,  and find yourself slogging
through doubts, blocks, and turn downs, along with new discoveries, joys, connections,
and the satisfaction of completing another section. Then you edit — move sections
around, delete sentences, expand others. At all times, the project is never far from your
mind. Finally, you send it in  and  let it go,  accepting what it has become and hoping your
intentions for your audience or readers will be realized.
And so it is with this book. Its chapter lengths are like scenes; some longer, some
shorter, each saying what needs to be said, then moving on. While books are silent, they
are not without pictures, and I enjoyed pulling frames and finding photos for this book,
especially for the history chapter. Be you a director, an aspiring director, a producer,
client, manager — the person who will be interacting with the editor and overseeing the
show to the final cut — I sincerely hope this book helps you.

  xi
INTRODUCTION

It’s been a long haul. Weeks, months, maybe years through preproduction and pro-
duction. You’ve trusted the writer, the DP, the crew, the actors, and your documentary
interviewees. Now all that hard earned footage is in the hands of someone you may not
know, this editor person. Why should you trust them with your baby? How do you talk
to an editor? Finesse cuts? Shore up a weak performance or interview? Compensate for
bad audio?
For a so-called collaborative art, we filmmakers all too often become compartmen-
talized. We think we know about other parts of the process, but we don’t fully. Writing
and shooting seem straightforward, but editing? It’s an alchemy of sound and image
and arguably the most mystifying part of filmmaking.
This book helps you make your way through postproduction and tells you what to
expect from an editor. Whether you’re directing your first show or have a few or many
shows under your belt, you’ll discover how editing, like the rest of filmmaking, is both
mundane and magical. Specifically, the book covers:

• How to plan for editing before you shoot a frame and during filming.
• The skills an editor brings to a film.
• The history of editing and cutting tools and how they have affected the
language of cinema.
• What to look for when hiring an editor and the best ways to work
with an editor.
• How to communicate with editorial: cutting room terms, practices,
and workflows.
• Editing: How exactly an editor approaches the footage and puts a
show together.
• The postproduction process, from dailies to director’s cut to locked cut.
• Creating and overseeing VFX (video effects).
• Spotting your show with the sound and music crew and creating,
editing, and mixing sound and music.
• Titling, color grading, the DI (digital intermediate) process, and
producing your show’s final deliverables.
• Archiving your show and why it matters.

  1
 1
SHOOT RIGHT
FOR EDITING
When you’re working on the set, your antennae are out and waving in a million
directions. You’re focusing on the actors, crew, weather, location, and countless other
details. As time and light run out each day, your goal — to get the footage you want in
the can — can be overrun by the daily compromises and challenges of running the set.
So you worry: “Am I getting the right shots?” You fight: “Why do I need coverage?” You
panic: “Do I have a film?”
These are all good signs.
You want to be thinking about the next phase — editing. This is where you’re headed
and is the finish line: Crossing it means you hand off your film to its audience. The
best way to prepare for editing during production is to shoot the critical images in the
format that best tells the story, and to capture the sounds you and your editor will need
to create the show you envision. Shooting smartly also saves time, stress, and money in
postproduction. Let’s get rolling!

MAINTAIN AN ORGANIZED SHOOT

When you keep a well-organized shoot on location or set, you contribute to a well-­
organized editing room. Here’s how and why:

Communicate clearly with your crew and the cutting room

Good interactions, particularly between you and your script supervisor, DP, camera oper-
ator, and sound recordist, translate into getting the shots you need and maybe even snag-
ging extra ones you think up. Clear communicating also means that editorial is on top of
the footage that is coming and does not have to chase down the crew to locate shots.

 3
Editor on the set
Commonly, editors never visit the set; they are fully occupied with the myriad tasks
that go along with cutting the show. Many editors have no desire to drop by; they want
to keep aloof, so they can best put the picture together without being influenced by
the challenges of obtaining the footage. Others want to visit the set to help you or to
observe shots and performances and start mentally editing the footage. They like to
escape the cutting room for a stretch, and meet the people on the other side, most if
not all of whom will not recognize them. Editors know actors intimately — their ges-
tures, reactions, characters — yet ordinarily remain the invisible people working behind
the scenes.
You may summon an editor to help with the shoot, a re-shoot, continuity, or for
other reasons of your own. Ordinarily, you’ll contact the editor in the cutting room
about issues. Also, your script supervisor will be in touch regularly with the editor
about script notes and pages, and occasionally regarding continuity issues. Assuming
you and the editor develop a simpatico relationship, there will be occasions when the In Fahrenheit 911 (2004), instead of showing the towers collapsing, Michael Moore told the story
through shots of New Yorkers reacting.
editor will alert you to problems with scenes or tell you a shot is missing. Sometimes
you swear you’ve shot something, but it never washes up in the cutting room. Better
to know you missed a shot before you leave a location and arrive in the cutting room. CUT IN THE CAMERA
NOT! You don’t know how long you may need a shot to run. Refrain from prejudging
Stick to the shooting schedule as much as possible where the cut points will be by ending a shot or pointing the camera away from the
This makes it easier to coordinate and schedule work in the cutting room. action too early. Keep in mind: The actor and camera set the pace of the shots, while
editing sets the pace of the show. An inexperienced camera operator, believing static
Ensure your crew keeps accurate records shots are boring, may push the zoom button as if playing a trombone. This can irritate
Script notes, camera logs, and sound logs are vital guidelines in the cutting room. If the audience and make the editor work overtime to find usable frames. The editor can set
your production crew fails to keep these records or does a shoddy job, your editorial a fine rhythm with a lovely series of static shots and should not be limited by a hyperac-
crew wastes time tracking down footage. Save time and money in the cutting room: tive camera that zooms and pans without purpose and gathers little or no usable footage.
Hire a crew that keeps clear, consistent logs and notes.

Frame and shoot every take with a slate clearly marked with: GET COVERAGE
• Scene and take • Camera roll and sound roll Be kind to your show! Shoot angles in addition to the master. Coverage — reverses,
• Director and production name • MOS (if shot has no close-ups, two-shots, overhead or Dutch angles, etc. — give you and your editor options
• Date and location recorded sound) in the cutting room. You can drop in a close-up to make your audience feel what a char-
• Camera designation (A, B, C, etc.) acter is experiencing, insert a cutaway to a key detail such as a letter or a treasure map,
milk a laugh in a comedic scene, or intensify a documentary or dramatic scene by sprin-
Voice slate every take kling in reaction shots. Coverage provides punch, pace, and points-of-view to scenes,
This is essential for dialogue editors who don’t view slates and locate takes by sound. plus adds depth and information. Sometimes it can even substitute for revealing the
Properly slating takes consumes nanoseconds in the field and saves valuable time and main action, as the frames above demonstrate.
tempers in the cutting room. Pragmatically, coverage acts like the cavalry, routinely racing to the rescue to cover
mistakes such as camera bobbles, interviewee fumbles, and continuity issues. Think

4   EDITING FOR DIRECTORS Shoot Right for Editing  5

of coverage as insurance. For example, as you screen your show, you may realize that
part of a master shot drags or is repetitive — in some way it doesn’t work to carry all
the action in a scene or isn’t engaging. By cutting to coverage, your editor can skip over
the slow spot, and cut back at a more vital point. Directors who don’t cover themselves
usually regret it. Plan for it!

B-roll
An insert shot of a name and title on a door succinctly informs your audience about a character’s
Primarily perceived as establishing or transition shots, approach B-roll shots cinemat- name, job, and workplace and transitions the story inside. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007).
ically, as you would A-roll, by asking: “How can B-roll enhance my project and tell its
story?” Don’t just grab static background shots. Snag a variety of shots with different Plan montage shots
angles and focal lengths, as well as moving shots and rack shots. Try some experimental You can pull a montage out of the best takes, out-takes, or stock shots, however, most
ideas that have been simmering. You never know what might end up being a memorable outstanding montages (think of your favorites) the director planned and shot for.
interlude or montage. In his self-deprecating acceptance speech for the Academy award Consider a montage not just an interlude in your film, but a story (a short one) unto
for Cinematography in 1986, for Out of Africa, David Watkin remarked about how peo- itself. What facts do you want to re-cap or information do you want to convey? What
ple complimented him repeatedly on the gorgeous shots of Kenya and its animals. He feelings do you want your images to evoke? Anticipate sound. Normally a montage is
bestowed the credit where it was due; on the second unit — B roll — cinematographers. covered with music and possibly some narration or ambient sound, and usually doesn’t
contain dialogue or sound effects: Envision what might work for yours.
This predominantly B-roll montage fortified
the main character’s romance as well as her
love of Kenya in Out of Africa (1985).

Selma (2004) ends with a searing

montage under the credits, evoking the
pain of history followed by the hope and
determination of the future, underscored by
the music, which starts with a Spiritual and
shifts to hip hop.

Consider transition shots

Along with anticipating and shooting coverage, consider how scenes start, end, and
segue from one to another. The editor will likely be able to make something work from HOLD AND REPEAT ACTION AT THE START AND END OF TAKES
your planned masters and coverage, but you may want to shoot some specific shots to When shooting a new angle, don’t just continue from where the last angle left off; repeat
bridge scenes. Especially in documentaries, these transitions or interstitial shots can dialogue and actions from shot to shot. As with getting coverage, this gives you choices
give your viewers time to breathe and absorb what you’ve just shown and told them. in editing and can help tell your story more smoothly and efficiently. Here’s an example:

6   EDITING FOR DIRECTORS Shoot Right for Editing  7

 1) Shoot cuttable angles
Shots that are similar in angle and focal length jar the audience when cut together. If
jarring jump cuts are what you want, shoot for them. Otherwise, stick to the 30-degree
rule: Vary the new camera angle at least 30 degrees from the last, and your angles should
cut together “like butter.” (For more on cuttable angles, see the sections on smooth cut-
ting angles and mismatches in Chapter 5.)

The repeated action of the cascading water advances the story in Pan’s Labyrinth (2006).
2) Match eyelines
Eyes convey emotion and vital reactions. When a scene calls for cutting back and forth
You’ve filmed a master shot of a dining room scene where wacky Aunt Jackie sits down between shots of interacting characters, they need to be looking at each other, which
and tells a weird joke. When you film the medium shot of Aunt Jackie, don’t start with means their eyelines — lines of vision — must match. If you ignore this, their eyelines
her joking. Rather, begin with her sitting down, repeating the action of the master. Now, won’t match and the characters will not be looking in the right direction. This may con-
if desired, your editor can cut from the master to the medium shot, during the mundane fuse the audience and cause them to take an unintended meaning from the characters’
action of sitting. This speeds your story along to the weird joke and the family responses interaction. The example below illustrates what matching and non-matching eyelines
that follow. When you repeat action at the tail of one angle, and the head of the next show about characters.
angle, you have the latitude to cut to an action at the best moment.

Hold the camera

Before starting and after ending every shot, be it a static shot, a zoom, pan, or dolly,
direct camera to hold still for five seconds. As with repeating the action, these station-
ary seconds give your editor more elbow room in choosing cut points. In addition,
these action handles provide the frames you’ll need, should you want to dissolve or
wipe to the next shot. Occasionally, holding the camera even solves an editing problem,
as editors sometimes use the footage from when the camera was rolling before you
yelled, “Action!” or after you said, “Cut!”

SHOOT GOOD CONTINUITY

We’ve all noticed the mismatch of a car traveling with different scenery in each shot.
Mismatches underscore why continuity is critical. Mismatches can take viewers out of
your film, risking their distrust, disengagement, and negative word-of-mouth.
Listen to your script supervisor. A good script supervisor who keeps an eagle eye on
continuity is an MVP on a film set. Make every effort to match actions, lighting, ward-
robe, position of props and people, hair, makeup, etc., from take to take. It’s a shame to
force your editor to cut earlier or later than optimal, due to a lack of continuity. Here are
the five major components of achieving good continuity:

In Babel (2006), a married couple (played by Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt) deals with the death of
their baby. In Cuts 1 and 2, their nonmatching eyelines demonstrate their disconnection from each
other. Their matching eyelines in Cut 3, show them beginning to grapple with their pain and each
other.

8   EDITING FOR DIRECTORS Shoot Right for Editing  9

POV and eyeline Framing
A common eyeline error can occur when you shoot a Point of View (POV) shot. Match the space around characters or objects 
— how they are positioned and
Regularly, you’ll shoot a close-up of someone whose head and/or eyes move left to right framed — from take to take.
as they look at something, let’s say a mountain. When you film the mountain — what
they’re seeing — you’re filming their POV. To match their eye and head movement, the Pacing
POV shot must move in the same direction as the character’s head or eyes, from left to When the camera pans, tracks, tilts, dollies, or follows, keep the speed of the movement
right in this instance. consistent so it isn’t slower in one take or faster in another.
If filmed incorrectly, you might be able to reverse the POV shot, but this can be
problematic if there are birds, cars, people, etc., in the shot as they will move backwards.
And yes, a video effects (VFX) editor could likely paint them out, but oh the time and
expense! Better to get it right from the start.

Phone conversation
You can fudge a little here, but normally when two people are talking to each other,
screen reality requires that they face each other or at least look in the same basic direc-
tion, unless turning their back on or looking down or away from each other is part of
A pair of daughter-mother raking shots from Lady Bird (2017), matches angles as well as framing and
the drama. lighting.

3) Match camera angle, framing, and pacing

4) Match Screen Direction
Angle
You’ll often be creating pairs of shots to work together during editing, such as a mas-
ter and reverse. Dialogue scenes between two people routinely have pairs of medium
shots, over-the-shoulders, raking shots, and close-ups. When you shoot pairs of shots
for intercutting*, make certain that their angles match.
Follow the floating balloon as it matches
screen direction.

If a character(s) or object(s) moves left out of the frame, shoot them entering the next
shot from the right of the frame. This way, they look like they’re moving normally, from
left to right. If exits and entrances don’t match, your viewers waste time keeping up with
the action instead of immersing themselves in your movie.

A matched pair of Dutch angles accentuates danger and chaos, as Lord Voldemort’s followers menace 5) Don’t cross the line: Observe the 180 degree rule
Harry in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005). Crossing the line (a.k.a. crossing the axis), is an extension of screen direction and can
be avoided by following the 180 Degree Rule. It’s important to understand the rule,
then if you decide to deviate from it or to devise a new method you will understand the
* When you cut between two sequential scenes so that they advance and complete together, you are intercutting. ramifications.

10   EDITING FOR DIRECTORS Shoot Right for Editing  11

 Crossing the line: Shoot the
pawns from the correct cameras
or they will appear to jump sides.

The 180° Rule: How to observe it

There is an invisible line in every camera set up that bisects the scene horizontally at
180 degrees.
In this episode from True Blood, Frame 1 shows Hadley on the right in front of an aquarium. Motivated
by her desire to introduce her son to Sookie, in Frame 2 she moves and establishes a new 180°
Scenario. If two people face each other, the 180° line runs across their heads. line, completing the action in Frame 3. The scene then cuts to Sookie in Frame 4, who now has the
aquarium behind her.
During editing, if you cut to the angle behind them, the person on the left
appears to jump to the right, disorienting your audience. Add another person,
and you add another 180° line. Shoot cutaways
Robert Wise would always plan his axis change . . . there was always one key shot. When you
don’t get those shots . . . then you have a scene where nobody relates to anyone. Nobody is
The rule. When shooting, keep Person A on the left and Person B on the
looking anybody else in the eye and it’s totally disorienting. The audience might get thrown
right by not moving the camera across the 180° line. out of the scene because it’s non-connective. Film is connective; that’s what film is.
—EDITOR DEDE ALLEN, The Breakfast Club, Dog Day Afternoon, Reds

Example. Sports crews observe this rule daily as they shoot football games
from one side of the field only. This way there is no chance to cut to the other Cutaways diminish the disorientation and allow your editor to cut away before cut-
side of the field and make the players appear to be running toward their oppo- ting to the line-breaking angle. For instance, shooting an overhead angle keeps your
nent’s goal. audience oriented and frees you to cut to any angle. Jumping the line disturbs the
audience, especially in 3D movies, which, by their nature, immerse viewers more
Get the angles you need without crossing the line deeply than 2D movies.
Of course, there are many times when you want to shoot a lot of angles that cover both
sides of the action. Here are several methods: Break the 180° rule deliberately
If you’re shooting a riot or battle scene, directors often strive for chaos and know-
Establish a new 180° line ingly ignore the rule. If you break the rule in any scene, do yourself a favor: Shoot
Direct your characters to move or move the camera within the shot to break the line some cutaways, just in case things don’t work out as you’ve planned in editing.
and create a new one as the frames below illustrate. Finally, of course there are some situations where you won’t have a choice about
observing the rule: If you’re shooting a herd of wild stallions, you won’t have any
hope of the action matching on either side of the line.

12   EDITING FOR DIRECTORS Shoot Right for Editing  13

CARRYING THE IMAGE THROUGH:
CHOOSING YOUR SHOW’S FINISHING FORMAT AND LOOK

Part of putting your project on a proper path toward postproduction entails determin-
ing its finishing format and look. Base your decisions on what images will best suit your
story and on how — on what venues and devices — your audience will watch your show.
Your producer may have input and your DP will be your collaborator on all shooting
decisions.

Format
The format you will shoot your show on will be digital or possibly film. Today it’s not
uncommon for a show to shoot with multiple camera types in multiple standards and
aspect ratios: Sense8 (2015-2018) shot its final season in nearly a dozen different coun-
The 2019 documentary, Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project, depended on the 70,000 VHS tapes
tries. Even if you’re shooting on film, you will edit digitally. However, you may finish Stokes recorded 24/7 of news stations in a room of her home, for 30 years.

on a different format(s), depending on how you answer this question: Where will the
audience view my show? The table below outlines the four viewing venues and their Shooting formats — picture
formats. Study them to pinpoint which one fits your project and note its finishing for- The format you shoot on may not always be the format you finish on. For example, you
mat(s). You may pick more than one venue; for instance, your audience may see your may shoot digitally to a file on a memory card or hard drive but deliver on film and disk.
show in a movie theatre and on TV. Usually, your finishing format is specified by your show’s delivery requirements, which
you’ll find in the film festival submission guidelines, the TV network’s contract, or your
Where audience will Finishing Behind the scenes: agreement with the distribution company. No matter what you shoot on, your editor
view show Format(s) How your show will be screened
may receive footage from on all different formats: film, file, disk, and tape. For instance,
Movie Theatre Your show will screen from 1) A digital documentary projects often call for digging up footage from past decades on legacy
file on a digital projector or 2) On
film reels run through a film projector
formats such as 8mm film or ¾” tape. Luckily, all formats can meet up and be converted
File Film (abroad and in a few U.S. theatres). to digital files for editing on the editor’s digital system.

TV Your show will be broadcast from a file

Shooting formats — sound
uploaded from the network’s server.
Sound can be recorded by the camera with a high-grade audio input to the memory
File
card along with picture, which is referred to as single system. This is preferable for shoot-
Home or Business Viewers will pop a disk (DVD or Blu- ing news or other shows with quick turnarounds as well as those with low budgets and
Entertainment System ray) into a drive, to see your show or little time for layered sound editing. For a higher audio sampling rate (better sound),
stream it from YouTube or an internet
File Disk entertainment service such as Netflix. you’ll choose double system where the sound recordist records the sound to another
format such as DAT (digital audio tape), memory card or stick, or hard drive. The post
Computer (includes Viewers will watch your show on a house will sync up the audio or the editorial crew will do it on the digital editing system.
devices such as an iPad file streamed or downloaded from
or cellphone). their corporate intranet (example: a
QuickTime file) or from the internet
File Disk (examples: a YouTube video, webisode,
or Hulu show). Alternatively, they may
insert a disk to see it.

14   EDITING FOR DIRECTORS Shoot Right for Editing  15

Color
I’m very aware of how color affects the way an audience experiences a character. With my
DP, costume, and production designers we carefully choose a specific color palette for every
character. —RYAN PIERS WILLIAMS, director, X/Y and Dryland

With the revolution from photo chemical film to digital images, directors and DPs are
not making final color decisions in production, but instead at the back end of postpro-
duction with a colorist during the color grading phase. However, it’s still important for
you to confer with your DP to establish a visual style or look for your film as well as to
discuss lighting and your color palette. You want to shoot to set yourselves up for color
grading, so you can spend the bulk of your time with the colorist creating, correcting,
and tweaking the images and your visual style, not just saving poor shots. (More on Three iPhones set at a 2.35:1 aspect ratio (equivalent to 16:9) captured the lives of two transgender
color grading in Chapter 10: Finish and Deliver.) This does not mean that color grading sex workers in Tangerine (2015, a short, award winning dramedy set in LA).

can save everything; your DP must properly expose shots and set the white balance*
correctly among other settings. Aspect ratio
Aspect ratio is the ratio of width to height in a frame. Cameras offer multiple aspect ratio
It’s all in the data choices, as do screens where viewers will watch your show. Most digital cameras shoot
You may engage a DIT (digital image technician), who will create a software chart called in 16:9, which creates a widescreen, landscape frame and is the standard for HDTV,
a LUT (look up table) containing the color and other image values for each frame. The disks, Netflix, YouTube, and other video sharing and VOD platforms. For years, aspect
DIT can also keep track of other data including files, drives, and camera info, such as ratios pushed horizontal limits. Now with social media channels, aspect ratio has gone
exposure values and slates. During color grading (and if you’re shooting film and doing vertical; Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accept 1:1 and 4:5, amongst other ratios.
telecine), you, the DP, and the colorist (who can also create a LUT), will depend on the You and your DP will decide what aspect ratio you will shoot at based not only on
LUT along with your artistic sense to perfect the lighting, color, and look of your show. which screens your audience will viewing your show but on the story you’re telling.
Is your show an intimate character driven plot? Then you might choose 4:3, the old
SDTV format. Do you want to set your characters against a wider backdrop? Or do you
need as much latitude as possible to show the action or include the background? Then
you’ll choose 16:9. In any case, make sure the action can be viewed on all anticipated
screen sizes.
Where does editorial enter in to all this? You can have editorial change the aspect
ratio — software makes this possible — but why would you? You and the DP have com-
posed all the shots to your chosen aspect ratio. Changing the ratio in post throws the
planned look of your show out the window.

What K is OK?
2K, 4K, 6K, and 8K refer to the horizontal resolution of an image measured in pixels.
2K contains 2000 pixels, 4K has 4000, and so on. The higher the K, the sharper and
DIT report for a commercial where the DIT aimed to match the look of DSLR still photos and videos.
more life like the picture. 4K, often referred to as Ultra HD or UHD, since it has four
times as many pixels as regular HD, is the current standard shooting resolution.
*Color science studies how humans react physiologically and psychologically to seeing color. DPs always balance whites, While streaming services have offered 4K and higher for years, only 40% of U.S.
so viewers perceive the white parts of images as white without a green or other color cast. They do this knowing that
during color grading they can saturate or desaturate a scene. theatres project 4K, and TV manufacturers are lagging, making 4K expensive and only

16   EDITING FOR DIRECTORS Shoot Right for Editing  17

available on larger screens. Hollywood reserves 4K for blockbusters, shooting 80% of
features 2K. Of course, this is all changing; we’ll likely be enjoying 10K and beyond in
not too many years. But for now, when you’re deciding what K to shoot at, consider the
above factors along with your budget. If you shoot 4K or higher, the files are currently
too big to play back, so your editor will cut with proxies — lower res files generated by
the camera or the digital editing system. As part of final finishing, the editor or the post
house will relink the proxies to the high-res files.

The future
Formats continue to evolve: The worlds of shooting, editing, broadcast, streaming, and
projection are in flux, so stay tuned.

SOUND ADVICE: HOW TO APPROACH YOUR SHOW’S AUDIO The sealed, non-stop “iron box” in Snowpiercer (2013) represents capitalism with each car segregated
by socioeconomic class, in this dystopian drama about climate change and status.
What sounds should I get on set? How do I know if they’re the right sounds? When
should I start exploring music? Sound plays a critical role in your audience engaging
with your film. However, with so many other issues to tackle, directors often neglect to What sound and music can say
consider it ahead of time. This next section addresses how to anticipate and acquire the Ensure that each piece of sound and music enhances and supports your story: Record
vital sounds for your show. vital onscreen and offscreen sounds. Consider using Hitchcock’s approach. He believed
that to “describe a sound accurately, one has to imagine its equivalent in dialogue,” and
Create a sound vision gave this illustration from 1963’s The Birds: “The flock gathers, surveys, and attacks,
. . . if you encourage the sounds of the characters, the things, and the places in your film to saying, ‘Now we’ve got you where we want you. Here we come. We don’t have to scream
inform your decisions in all the other film crafts, then your movie may just grow to have a
in triumph or in anger. This is going to be a silent murder.” If a sound in your film could
voice beyond anything you might have dreamed. —RANDY THOM, C.A.S., sound designer and
mixer, The Revenant, Cast Away, The Right Stuff, Star Wars: Episode VI- Return of the Jedi speak, what would it say about a location? How would it voice a character’s thoughts?

Part of realizing the vision of your film is conceiving what viewers will hear. Start during
preproduction. Imagine how the world sounds in your film. Anticipate the soundscape
of different scenes and sections. Are they light and sprightly, cheery with an underlying
sinister tone, painful yet hopeful, etc.? Will the scenes or sections clash or complement
each other?
You might envision each character or object as an instrument or a theme: What do
they sound like? What tune do they play? What mood do they suggest? For example,
think of the roles that trains play in movies. A train rolls magically along in The Polar
“The Birds is coming” was the slogan used
Express (2004), steams relentlessly toward revolution in Doctor Zhivago (1965) and to advertise Hitchcock’s 1963 horror flick.
screams danger and death as it pulls into Auschwitz in Schindler’s List (1993). And here they come, launching from the
Jungle Jim outside the schoolhouse, and
striking the fleeing children. The Birds relied
heavily on sounds — there was no score — to
sustain its birdbrained plot.

18   EDITING FOR DIRECTORS Shoot Right for Editing  19

 The rumble of a U.S. tank approaching at
the end of 1997’s Life is Beautiful fulfills the LEFT: Ken Burns’ The Civil War series (1990) evoked the war’s tragic losses with poignant renderings
father’s promise of freedom to his son. of the era’s songs. RIGHT: Recording Wonder Woman (2017).

ON LOCATION: RECORD USEABLE SOUND

When you look at a possible location, listen to it too. Invite your sound recordist along.
Planes, trains, generators, traffic, wind, dogs, and the like annihilate takes and waste
precious shoot time while your cast and crew idle. Unwanted sounds on location are
Sound effects unavoidable at times, but if you and the recordist mull them over beforehand, you can
Think about specific sounds (hard sounds) and background sound (soft sounds) and prepare some workarounds. Do not count on bad sound being fixable in postproduction.
how they might work. Does the sound make us believe in the location whether it be
India or Mars? Is the sound, or music recurring? Is the source of the sound onscreen or Record clean tracks
offscreen? Does it create a mood such as joy, tension, relief, sorrow, or horror or rep- Be the sound editor’s best friend. Record clean tracks: no helicopters whirring overhead,
resent something important or symbolic? The goal is to get a sense of the subtle beats no doors banging, no dolly squeaking, etc. Make sure all dialogue is crisp and clear, so
and grand tones of your film’s sonic environment and how it supports your film’s beats, your audience won’t miss a word. Poor sound, especially dialogue, can only be cor-
characters, and themes. rected so much in postproduction — and at a cost — so get it right during production!

Music Get RT and WT on every location and set

Music is the emotional touchstone of your film, driving how your audience reacts to
what they’re seeing. Well thought-out music sets the appropriate tone for your picture, RT a.k.a. room tone, ambience, or presence: Record a minute of RT — wordless,
clueing viewers in as to what to expect: a comedy, a romance, or a chance to rock and noise free background sound — for every scene. Sound editors require RT to smooth
roll. Begin thinking about music during preproduction. Hire the composer and discuss out scenes, especially dialogue scenes.
your ideas with them so they can start experimenting, and then composing, as you send
them edited scenes during production. Once you’ve got your music plan, be sure to WT a.k.a. wild track or wild sound: Record WT — non-sync, non-dialogue
allow enough time to obtain rights, record that band you’re dying to use, or create it sound — on every outdoor location. Get the forest sound, the traffic, the factory — all
yourself. the organic sounds. Record specific sounds that are crucial to how you want your proj-
ect to sound. The sound editor can access thousands of sound effects but won’t have the
mating sound of the ring-tailed lemur your show is documenting. It may be impossible
or costly to pick certain audio up later.

20   EDITING FOR DIRECTORS Shoot Right for Editing  21

LAST WORD
There’s a belief in the film industry that you “Pay it up front during production or pay
more downstream during post,” so save yourself time and money by getting picture and
sound right, from the start. Shoot your footage correctly, so shots cut together the way
you want. Put your best show forward in sound and image: Your work and your audi-
2
WHAT AN EDITOR
ence deserve nothing less.

BRINGS TO
WHAT DIRECTORS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT SHOOTING FOR EDITING

… Maintain an organized set. Slate each take and ensure accurate script notes and

THE PARTY
shoot logs are kept. Communicate clearly with the cutting room.
… Don’t cut in the camera. Leave it to your editor to do the cutting and set
the pacing.
… Plan your B-roll and shoot coverage: reaction shots, reverses, close-ups, two-
shots, overheads, inserts, etc.
… Anticipate transition shots and montage shoots.
… Hold and repeat action at the start and end of takes.
… Avoid mismatches by shooting good continuity. Match angles, framing, pacing of You may wonder, “Who is this editor-person and what exactly do they do?” If you ask
shots, eyelines, lighting, screen direction and position, along with props, hair, and them about their work, they’ll probably tell you what show they’re cutting, and perhaps
wardrobe. whether it’s going well or badly, not much of a clue, really. You may then think, “What is
… Observe the 180 Degree Rule or break it with deliberate awareness. the big deal about editing? All the editor does is remove the useless frames and slap my
… Shoot with your eyes and ears: Envision your show’s sound and record audio on stellar shots together: What does that take, about a nanosecond on a computer?” And
set and location to realize it. you may ponder, “Why, oh why, would anyone want to sit in a dark room poring over
… Muse about music ahead. Talk it over with the composer and/or musicians you sounds and images when they could be outside doing anything else?”
plan to hire. To begin answering these questions, it’s important to realize that editing, like most
aspects of filmmaking, is both mundane and magical, technical and artistic. It demands
organization, listening to you — the director’s intent — and melding it with the reality of
the footage. A supple editor can shift from the intimacy of one scene to the broad view
of the entire show and back in an instant.
While editors may seem invisible, concentrating on a screen in a typically window-
less room away from the set, their contribution is visible in the story, the emotion, and
the flow of your show. In this chapter we’ll open the door to the cutting room with all its
rhythms and routines, both inspired and practical, and begin to reveal what the person
sitting at the digital editing machine does.

22   EDITING FOR DIRECTORS  23

MISCONCEPTIONS OF EDITORS AND EDITING
What editors do not bring to the party constitutes a couple of common misunderstand-
ings which are worth elaborating on to better understand what they do bring.

Removing the bad frames

The main misconception people have about editors is that in order to put a show
together they simply remove the bad frames from the best takes. This is like saying a
chef picks the best apples, cuts out the bad spots, and bakes them into a pie. There’s a
lot more to concocting the perfect pie or edited show.
Editing is an elimination process: The editor does leave out the bad, boring, and
unnecessary frames and selects which parts of which takes to include. But this only
partially defines the job. Simply put, the editor takes the raw ingredients — the film you
shot, plus any archival footage — and blends them together to realize your vision of
the show. While this gives us a general definition of what an editor does, we now need
Editor and actor. Photo courtesy of Chris Senchack.
to refine this with the attributes — the ingredients, if we stick with our cooking meta-
phor — to fully describe what an editor brings to the party.
editor a writer, using picture, sound, and occasional subtitles to create the final, audi-
Actor’s Enemy No. 1 ence version of the script or outline — becoming the final writer according to many
A secondary misconception about editors — that they are the actor’s enemy and leave filmmakers? At times, every editor feels like a seamstress, sweating to stitch poor shots
them on the cutting room floor — is downright myth. Au contraire, I would counter, the together, to make a passable show and tailoring it to others’ poor visions, while dream-
conscientious editor is the best friend of the actor (or whoever is being filmed), ded- ing of decent footage and a collaborative director for whom they can construct a supe-
icated to bringing out the best from everyone on camera. Editors polish great perfor- rior show that dazzles the audience. Editing incorporates part of these five arts and is
mances, upgrade mediocre ones, and rescue poor ones. While the editor should have its own unique art.
input into dropping or recasting a character, the decision will be made by you and/
or the producer or client. This cutting room floor myth is so entrenched that I was
once denied a preferred rate on home insurance because the company thought an actor EDITOR AS CREATIVE ARTIST
would sue me over it. The agent went to his boss but no amount of explaining the reality As Kurosawa used to say, ‘The only reason you write and direct is to get material to edit.’
And that’s exactly true. Editing is where you make the film. It’s a very beautiful thing . . .
changed the company’s stance.
I shoot to cut. —ALEXANDER PAYNE, director, Nebraska, The Descendants, Sideways, Election

Reality Independent Eye

So, what is editing exactly? It has been likened to Like the other principal players on your film, the editor has read the script or gone over
music for its rhythm and flow, beats and rests, pauses the outline for the documentary (or often created it themselves). Unlike everyone else,
and pacing. It’s also regularly compared to sculpting, the editor has not experienced what you suffered to get shots: the snow or heat you
since the editor works through all the footage, select- endured on location, the difficulty you encountered with an actor, the standoff you had
ing the shots and frames necessary to tell the tale and with a documentary subject who suddenly clammed up. This removed perch gives the
rejecting the rest. Or is editing more like architecture; editor special insight and a unique perspective. Their clear eye is critically important to
the editor builds the show from the blueprint of the your success.
script with the building blocks of the filmed shots, cut The editor first views the show as raw footage on their screen. It is raw
by cut, scene by scene, section by section. Or is the ingredients — groceries — but not a meal, until the editor blends everything together.

24   EDITING FOR DIRECTORS What an Editor brings to the party  25

 The Editor’s Prayer
Our perfect director who art in heaven,
Showered with Oscars be thy name.
Thy Lifetime Achievement will come, thy will be done
In the editing room as it is on location.
Give us this day our dailies on time and
Forgive the missing footage as we also forgive
the person in charge of continuity.
Lead us not into frustration
But deliver us to the talented director,
For ours is the splicer, the mouse,
and the objective eye.
Forever. Amen. Rewind.

The eyes have it with the editor. Photo courtesy of Chris Senchack. Storytelling
And if you’re not telling a story, it doesn’t matter how much razzle dazzle there is. It is not
about the tools. It’s about the story. —ZACK STAENBERG, editor, The Matrix Trilogy
There’s likely a recipe — the script or an outline — but these are blueprints for the editor
to brew from. The editor may add some sizzle with jump cuts or quick cuts, or simply The essence of editing is not eliminating shots or making fancy cuts, it is simply making
let your magnificent master sing out in one unbroken take. Cooking at the editing table the story work. The editor is your final writer, a storyteller who composes with picture
is an experimental process of adding, subtracting, and moving sections around. Each and sound. Whatever didn’t work in the script, on the set, or in the dailies, must now
successive cut shows you more of what you want your film to be. be wrangled with and made to work. The editor reads the footage; views it, listens to it,
Attentively watching your footage with an unjaundiced eye, the editor lasers in on visualizes the story, and then builds it. Like a writer, an editor sets up the story, decides
what serves the story and winnows out what doesn’t work, for reasons such as shots, when and how to reveal important information, contracts time or expands it with the
lines, or scenes being repetitive, unnecessary, or not believable. The editor deals objec- length of each edit and number of edits, and structures it, to most effectively tell the tale.
tively and tenderly with each character or interviewee’s words, looks, arc, and progres-
sion with an eye to the purpose of each scene or segment, and to your show as a whole.
In choosing what goes in and what stays out, your editor will strive to bring out the
best in not only performance but also cinematography, art direction, sound, and the
rest of the elements you and your crew labored so hard to capture. A magician, some-
times an alchemist, the editor forges your film with image and sound, frame by frame,
shot by shot, scene by scene.
You are the ringmaster, and the editor is there to tame your film, but the editor
stands apart with their independent perspective, seeing the forest and the trees. This is
Beginning: Marjane bets her friends she’ll
a unique gift to you and your project. remove her veil. Middle: They take the bet.
End: She removes it and they all shriek with
joy in Persepolis (2007).

26   EDITING FOR DIRECTORS What an Editor brings to the party  27

 Story problems
The buck stops in the cutting room. —DEDE ALLEN, editor, Bonnie and Clyde, Dog Day
Afternoon, Reds, The Breakfast Club

The problems with a film become glaringly apparent during editing. The lead perfor-
mance isn’t consistent. The ending doesn’t work. There are lots of fine scenes — too
many — and the show stagnates. This is where you and the editor become problem solv-
ers and collaborators to make the large fixes and small adjustments. This may involve
telling the story from more points-of-view or fewer, intercutting scenes or moving them
around, or rearranging or tightening lines. You and the editor will create the final story
that your movie will tell.

Editor and actor

On most shows the editor seldom if ever meets the actors or interviewees. To an editor,
an actor is a character, and an interviewee is a subject. Yet in many ways an editor knows
This matchless doc on editing plays with the question of what editors do starting with quick cuts these onscreen people better than they know themselves. Editors take in their looks,
of . . . cutting. The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing (2004).
gestures, and the fullness of life they inject into their character or interview. The editor
is affected by the actor’s and interviewee’s delivery and performance. Editors put them-
Just as a script has a beginning, middle, and end, so does each scene. The editor selves in the subject’s shoes, and in turn affect their delivery and performance.
has to figure out how to get into the scene, how long to let it play, and when — on what Editors help actors in several vital ways. They spend an inordinate amount of time
shot — to get out of it. Consciously or unconsciously, they’ll ask: Whose scene is it? studying takes to choose the dialogue readings and reactions that best reflect the char-
Should it focus on the speaker or the listener? Which shot carries the information best acter and build the scene. Editors cement character arcs and coordinate actors’ timings
and for how long? Many filmmakers consider editing the final rewrite of the script and so that their characters are consistent and support the dramatic purpose of the story.
directing of the film. Editors can usually upgrade a poor performance, improve a lackluster one, and gild a
Good editing means good storytelling, sculpting what the footage and story great one by pulling out the best moments.
demand, and is the crucial, inalienable skill of an editor. Editors coordinate the actors’ timings and reactions so that each performance is
consistent and attains its dramatic purpose. Sometimes this entails holding a beat on an
Documentary storytelling actor to expand the emotion and time. Other times it calls for cutting tightly, to sustain
When you’re making a documentary, no matter how useful the outline (and it’s often a performance and keep a taut pace. Always, editors deal objectively and passionately
incomplete or non-existent), the editor is the initial shaper of the story, as well of its with each character or interviewee’s words, lines, looks, and total presentation, with an
visual style and sound design. Doc editing therefore can be an extraordinarily creative, eye to the purpose of the scene and the show as a whole.
collaborative, and rewarding experience for both you and your editor. You will thread
together statements by interviewees and experts, drop in cutaways to bridge lines or
sections, arrange images to clarify the thought process and points of view, massage gaps
and segues, create a montage or two, layer in music, add narration and sometimes a few
graphics or animated segments. Often the hardest part is deciding from all the stories
you’re keen to tell, which one(s) to drop due to length or from not wanting to overload
viewers.

A balcony scene brings a romance to a marriage proposal in Love Actually (2004).

28   EDITING FOR DIRECTORS What an Editor brings to the party  29

Left on the cutting room floor
When you elect to delete an entire character or interview subject, it usually isn’t due
to a weak performance or interview. Rather, it’s because the performance or interview
slowed down, got confused, or otherwise negatively impacted the show. For example,
you ax or minimize a character because you’ve axed or minimized a scene or a plotline;
you jettison an interview because the interviewee’s views and experiences are covered
by another interviewee or the narrator.
The famous 45” film shot in 1895 by the Lumière Brothers showing a train arriving at a Ciotat station
Stand in for Audience near Lyons, France.

The humbling truth is that a film is made in the editing room. The most magnificent perfor-
mances and the best intentions mean nothing if they don’t cut. . . The director, the actor, the
rejected a film about mosquito abatement which featured a close-up of the pest, insist-
designer, the writer can and do become sidetracked, confused, indeed even inspired into
serving two masters — the story and themselves. The editor serves only the story. As such, ing, “We don’t have mosquitos that big.” This reaction has been repeated elsewhere in
they are the best friend of the audience, and time and again, the salvation of the filmmaker. other cultures over the years.
—DAVID MAMET, writer, at the 2002 Academy Awards ceremony, State and Main, Heist,
Editing mimics thought and is what differentiates filmmaking from the other arts. It
Hoffa, Hannibal (screenplay)
accomplishes this with the editor’s selection of shots — close-ups, wide shots, reaction
However the editor may read the footage and weave it together, it is the edited form of shots, POVs, etc. — and their juxtapositions. The editor creates flash cuts, flashbacks,
the show — not the script or outline or raw dailies — that reaches the audience. Each flashforwards, short and long cuts, and manipulates the “real” filmed time to do this.
cut, whether picture or sound or both, communicates to the audience not only content Editing imitates the workings of the mind, and it takes the mind to do it.
and plot, but what the characters are seeing, experiencing, thinking and feeling and Editors speak the language of film and voice it with every frame. On each project,
how they are reacting and acting. This affects how the audience thinks, feels, sees, and the director and editor develop the language anew. For example, one scene may demand
reacts. The editor stands in for the audience. It’s a delicate business as the audience is expletives in the form of jump cuts that ratchet up the tension of a marital spat; the next
intelligent — has high movie IQ — and reads volumes into the subtlest gesture or look. scene may call for long sentences in the form of shots that linger in the aftermath of the
The editor is the eye of the audience, attuned to where it is looking at every moment. couple’s reconciliation. Your completed project, if well done, will equal more than the
From the shots, sound, and music, the editor shapes the story and sets each scene’s pace, sum of its cuts, as the editing imprints its own meaning and impacts your audience.
controlling what the audience sees and hears, and when they see and hear it. Whether
you call it manipulation, engagement, or just good filmmaking, it serves to give the
audience a fright, a tear, or a laugh. Fiction or nonfiction, editing makes a show feel real EDITOR AS PRACTICAL PLANNER
for the audience. A sign of success is enrapt viewers who, unknowingly, breathe with Editors are also part librarians: They catalogue and memorize all the footage. It’s a major
the action on screen. organizational job. The editor and their assistant and apprentice — if they’re fortunate
to have one or both — organize the footage as well as the script and notes, schedule
Film Language and the Editor and workflow, and the cutting room itself. Understanding the basics of what and how
Editing, meaning the way the film is put together and plays, is, simply and profoundly, editors organize will put you at ease with the components of the editing room, so when
the language of the film. Editing is how the assembled footage speaks to the audience. you sit in the cutting room with the editor, it will be familiar, and you’ll be ready to roll
In the over one hundred years of public cinema-going, the language has gotten quite up your sleeves and work.
sophisticated, a far cry from the start which Chapter 3 documents. According to film
lore*, Parisians famously fled the theatre in 1896 upon witnessing a short film of a train Cutting room
steaming into a station. First time moviegoers in rural South America in the 1980s It may be a dedicated suite, a cubicle, or a back house with just enough space for a couch
and chair. It could be at a studio or post house, in a motel or a mobile home. I once
* While this did not actually happen, it was an urban legend propagated at the time to alarm the masses about the
seductive power of film. edited in the director’s closet. A music video editor I know edited on a bus for months

30   EDITING FOR DIRECTORS What an Editor brings to the party  31