Editing Practice 1

Traditional craft

In Germany there was no regular education available for becoming an assistant editor or editor for many years. They were both trained on the job. The skills below were taught while working on a project. They are based on the idea that Film Editing is supposed to create continuity, a flowing continuum on a spatial and temporal level.

Of course, the decision to leave this continuum has to be made whenever it makes sense. But it should be done with regard to the content and not because of missing shots.

The following tips are craft rules. They are concerned with visual and acoustic aspects of a shot, not with the content. They lay the foundation for actual narrative editing.

They are useful for getting an idea of what can disrupt the feeling of continuity. They provide an insight into how invisible cuts can be achieved and contrarily what leads to its deliberate accentuation.
We have created sample imagery to clarify how the transfer from knowledge into practice can be achieved.