After the shooting stops … (the cutting begins)
This is a wonderful book by Ralph Rosenblum, who edited six Woody Allen films. He also edited The Pawnbroker, The Producers, and Goodbye, Columbus. The book is a great insight into the world of feature film editing.
It’s unlikely you’ll be editing a feature film, but once you’ve finished shooting, the cutting (editing) does need to start. So what do you need to do with your client while you’re editing?
Hopefully you have agreed on a post-production timeline, so that your client knows when to expect a look at the first draft edit. This is sometimes called the ‘assembly edit’. This is where you have put all the segments together in a rough order and confirmed with your client that everything you talked about has been included.
There are usually no graphics, special effects or music at this stage. You can visualise where they will go and the difference they will make – many clients can’t.
Depending on your client, you may or may not need to show this to them. Generally the assembly edit is really just for you, the editor. Once you have this together you’re pretty confident you can proceed to the fine cut and then graphics and audio post.
So why not show the client?
In my experience, some clients just won’t understand what they are seeing. They’re used to seeing finished videos or films on television, or on the web. While you can ‘see’ the end product, some clients can’t. It may be counter-productive to show them the assembly edit.
However if you think your client would benefit from seeing the edit as this stage, then by all means go ahead. I suggest you ‘talk them through’ what they’re seeing, explaining that there will be “music, or graphics or new shots to go here”, etc. If you’re enthusiastic about the next step – you will help the client to be enthusiastic too.
The fine cut
Once you get the edit pretty close to finished, then its time to show your client. Usually I haven’t completed the audio mix at this stage – as that can take some time and you want to make sure everything else is in order before you start the ‘mix’.
Changes
There will always be changes requested by your client – hopefully there won’t be too many and they will be easy to take on board. If your client wants significant changes, then you may have to re-negotiate your budget, so that your time is covered.
I hope this series has been helpful. Let me know in the comments below.
Here are other posts in this series:
- Video on-line during CovID-19
- Multicam video – the technical stuff
- What are you doing in ‘lock-down’?
- Scary outcome when shooting with multiple cameras
- Five values that shape what I do
