When Should You Hire The Editor?
You only have to look at the filmmaking forums where people post expenses-only jobs to see how many filmmakers look for an Editor to cut their short only after they’ve finished shooting.
As I’ve mentioned on here before, I still believe that the edit suite is a great place to learn how to be a filmmaker, and any editor who has cut a few shorts can be a valuable aid to an inexperienced short film director. Working on shorts by new directors, you also see the same basic mistakes made again and again, so as a director, surely having someone involved who can make up for your own lack of experience is a no-brainer.
Because the work of pretty much everyone involved in the earlier stages of the production is funnelled through the editor, the editor gets the almost unique opportunity to analyse the successes and failures of many of the people involved in the film. A big part of an editor’s job is to refine the structure of the film, get the beats in the right order, and get all the narrative and dramatic elements in the right places, which means that in many ways, they act like a Script Editor.
So, if one of an editor’s key jobs is to help get the structural fundamentals of the film right, then why not let them help you do that before you shoot, rather than waiting till after?
Link of the Week: Script Editors
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Filed under: Directing, Editing | Leave a Comment
Tags: Directing, Director, Editing, Editor, Film, Short Film
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