What Exactly Does The Film Editor Do In Films?

The Film Editor

<img alt="Film Editor Bhushan Mahadani">

Pic Credit : www.hollywoodpostproduction.com

Ok so lets examine what exactly does the film editor do in film making process? I bet you know the answer. Film editor cuts the bad parts of the film, sits in a dark room with fancy computers and make sequences of the already shot footage and make a story. Its one of the easiest part of the filmmaking Isn’t that what you know about the film editor?

Well lets see. As you know filmmaking is divided into three phases. Pre-Production, production and Post production. Pre-production is the 60% work done, Production is 10% and Post Production is 30%. Film editor is the only person who handles the last 30%. So what does that 30% consists?

Ok Film editor’s job is not to cut but when to cut. Film editing is his decision of when to cut. His job is not only working on fancy computers and hi-tech softwares.Today film editor and his assistants have become responsible for many areas of filmmaking that used to be the responsibility of others. For an example, in past years, film editors dealt only with just that—film. Sound, music, and visual effects editors dealt with the practicalities of other aspects of the editing process, usually under the direction of the film editor and director. However, in today’s digital systems have increasingly put these responsibilities on the film editor.

But the most important job of a film editor is to protect the actors, protect the director and protect the story of the film. Every film some has mistakes in its preproduction and production phase which are made by the actors or the director or any other crew member. Film editor’s  biggest job is to cover up those mistakes and protect them and the story. The film editor who covers up or at least minimize these mistakes becomes a legend. Here is my top five favourite legendary film editors.

  • Michael Kahn – Saving Private Ryan (1998), Schindler’s List (1993) and Raiders of the Lost Ark
  • Thelma Schoonmaker – The Departed (2006), Goodfellas (1990) and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
  • Lee Smith – The Truman Show (1998), The Dark Knight (2008) and Inception (2010)
  • Kirk Baxter – The Social Network (2010), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Gone Girl (2014)
  • William Goldenberg – Argo (2012), Heat (1995) and Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

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