Editor and Director Working side by side

Editors would sort through all the footage and work side-by-side with the directors to bring all the pieces together and create a movie.For anyone that has ever edited a video, big or small, it can be a daunting task. Whether it is film or digital, people that work in post production have their work cut out for them.

There can be no more interwoven relationship in filmmaking than that between a director and editor. In most cases, after the editor is clear on the director's overall vision, how the story actually takes shape begins while the director is still shooting on set. Because of the trust and reliance directors must place in their editors, many have maintained career-long collaborations with those they feel to be their creative soul mates. Editing is known the second phase of directing and so it makes sense that directors tend to develop a close creative relationship with their editors that sometimes lasts throughout their careers. Both the editor and director need to be compatible and compliment each others styles. Oftentimes directors say that their editors know what they are thinking before they even know themselves.

This is an artistic collaboration so sometimes directors and editors don’t always agree on what should be cut or not. Editors often don’t go on set so that they aren’t influenced by how much time, effort and money was put into a particular shot or scene. For an editor, it’s simple: if it doesn’t fit, it will be cut. Directors can spend weeks on a scene so they can feel conflicted when an editor thinks it should be removed all together. In the end, both the director and editor want what’s best for the film so they need to know when to listen to the other’s opinion to find out how to get the film in its best state.