It’s a popular school of thought that a Director should NOT edit his, or her, own film. This should be left to an outside person- An Editor.

My belief? It all depends.

As the Director...

* Are you relatively proficient in any semi-professional video and sound editing programs?

* Do you know how to organize your scenes and clips for an efficient edit?

* Do you know the keyboard short cuts and editing suites well enough to move along quickly and efficiently?

* Can you avoid being a perfectionist?

* Can you brutally trim away awesome shots and performances to create agood pace and a tight story? (this will be like cutting your arm off an inch at a time if you’re doing it right)

* Do you reeeally want to trade thousands of hours of your life obsessing over details, when you could be writing or directing your next project?

A good Editor will!

Their job is to arrange the pieces quickly, efficiently, objectively, artistically and according to plan. A good editor will know and follow YOUR PLANNED vision, and you better have one!

Make sure you’ve determined that your editor, is a talented “artist.” Don’t just take their word for it, view their work. Any monkey can edit clips together and call themselves an editor, but an artist creates more than an edit, they create emotions. An artist understands how powerful timing is. An artist creates tension, heart break, humor, excitement and joy. They make you want to outwardly react to what you’re seeing on screen. Bottom line- Get an artist.

Now, let’s just say, for the sake of argument, you, the Director, want to edit your own film, or you want to have your nose over the editor’s shoulder the whole time. Fine. I’m a writer/director, I’ve edited most of my own work, and I’ve received quite a number of compliments on my editing. That said, I’m not here to go into the whole editing process. It wouldn’t help you much anyway. You just need to dive in, have fun, make mistakes and learn. I will, however, give you seven tips that have worked great for me.

1. IN LATE, OUT EARLY- Think of each scene as if it were a bad “day job.” You show up as late as you can, and you leave as early as you can, without getting yourself fired. For each scene, show up as “late” as possible, and cut out as “soon” as possible, without losing the purpose of the scene.

First, We show up late. This could mean you lose those great close-ups of Johnny sweating as he’s loading each bullet into the gun. Instead, we cut in where Sally slams the door, turns, and gets a bullet the head. OF COARSE Johnny loaded the gun. We don’t need to see it. We don’t need to see anything before the moment Sally enters. Johnny’s nervousness in preparation for the shooting doesn’t add to the scene. It doesn’t build up tension. All it does is take up space, announce the punch, and give away what should be an emotional surprise. Slam, turn, BOOM! “Holy shit! He shot her...!” Sally falls to the floor.

Then, we cut out early, this could mean you lose that awesome performance Johnny gave. You know, the one where Johnny panics: freaking out, as he rants through the house about how stupid he was for not planning this out better. Then, finding a large rug, he rolls up the body and duck tapes it tight. Finally, looking at the ceiling with tears in his eye’s, he cries. “Why God? Why did she make me do it?!!” Sure, this performance would have won Johnny all awards this year, but it serves no purpose. It doesn’t move the story forward. So, like a bad day job, we’re cutting out early. Sally collapses to the floor. We watch for a brief moment as panic washes over Johnny’s face, and we get the point- “The shooting was an emotional, unplanned act of murder.” Now, we’re OUT OF HERE. CUT TO: Rolled up body being tossed in the trunk of Johnny’s car.

2. THE THREE MINUTE RULE: If possible, never stay in one immediate location for more than three minutes, and that’s pushing it. Cut away to something, anything, and then come back to the location if you need to.

Example: Billy and Bobby sit around the campfire trading stories of psycho-chicks they’ve dated in the past. This conversation could easily go over three minutes without leaving the immediate location. But, we can break this up by periodically cutting away to a flashback, or maybe Sally and Susan’s conversation in a nearby tent.

3. READY, ACTION, CUT: Clips tend to cut together while an actor is moving: A punch being thrown, a character turning away, etc... As long as the action matches in both clips.

4. GO WITH THE FLOW: Watch the positions and movements of your characters. Keep a close eye on their movement and composition.

5. GO UNNOTICED: Assemble your clips and time your cuts in such a way that we are not drawn to the edit, but rather, to the action.

6. SWEETEN THE SOUND, or find someone who can. Imagine editing for weeks or even months on end only to have everyone thinks your film looks kinda amateur. That’s what will happen if you have poorly recorded, poorly mixed sound. If you say to yourself, “I guess that’ll due.” I guarantee, “It won’t!” Now, all those weeks, or even months, of writing, shooting and editing are going to amount to little more than a well made home movie.

Why? Because, people will forgive what they see, but they won’t forgive what they hear! Let me say it again, and listen well... “People will forgive what they see, but they won’t forgive what they hear!” It’s the first, tell-tale sign of a low-budget flick; Thin, hissy, roomy, echoed, inconsistent sound. You have three options for dealing with bad sound...

Lose it, remix it or re-record it.

You’ll have to analyze the quality and the nature of the poorly recorded sound to determine just how to deal with it. I’ve seen some amazing things done through remixing and reprocessing, but sometimes your only option is to lose the line or record a new vocal track, otherwise called A.D.R. Don’t be lazy. Do it if you have to.

7. MOVE TO THE MUSIC: We’ve all seen enough music videos to know that snapping, blending and moving clips to music creates a fluid, energetic, “bigger than life” feel. Once you’ve trimmed your edit down to the bone, it’s time to score it. My advice: Work the score to the edit, but also work the edit to the score. Use on-beat cuts, slow-motion and ramping effects, and get creative!

* Bonus Tip- THE INVISIBLE CHARACTER: This is not just an editing concern, but a writer, director, actor, etc... concern, all the way down the pipe. If a film is done right, we, the audience, become an “invisible character” in the story. We will stand beside our on-screen heros, reacting both internally and externally to the events happening in their world.

When our on-screen character’s slowly creep into the old, abandoned house, in the middle of the woods, we are there saying, “what the hell are you doing? You shouldn’t go in there!” We become that emotional voice of reason and common sense. This goes back to whole “artist” thing we discussed earlier. As the editor, you are the last man up to bat. You are the one who will bring it all home. Include “us” in the story, and you will create something truly special.