Editing a movie can be referred to as tailoring a movie. Just as people don’t want to wear ill-fitting clothes, similarly no viewer is ready to see an unedited movie. An unedited movie is not compact, brief or tight, so it does not lure the spectators. The art of editing a movie means arrangement of shots according to an understandable viewpoint so that the viewers can derive aesthetic pleasure.

In cinema, generally two techniques are followed, viz., mise-en-scene and montage. Mise-en-scene refers to the composition part of movie making or in other words, whatever is being shot with the single switch-on of the camera till the single switch-off of the camera. Whereas, the editing style and technique are known as montage.

Some years ago, editing a movie was a difficult as well as a lengthy task when the films were shot in celluloid. Edit actually means ‘cut’ and the editors sliced the unwanted strip from the master roll and used to paste all the perfect shots into one. However, a duplicate of the master, known as dupe print, is used for all the experimentation. The viewable celluloid is prepared through such a rigorous process.

This was the time of linear editing. However, computers have provided the scope of non-linear editing. It is generally known that when the movie is shot, it is  much more lengthily than what we actually see in the cinema hall. The unedited footage is known as ‘rush’.

All the unwanted and NG shots have to be edited from the film to give you the compact film. Therefore, it can be said that editing a movie is an art and the editors need to perfect the art with dedication and practice.

A good editor is able to play with the emotions of the viewers. While editing the shots, the sound which was ’synced’ or recorded with the shots like the ambiance noise, needs to be edited or else a re-recording of the sound is needed.

Here the editor gets the scope of creating artificial things. Some practice folly, where the object is actually thrown and then the sound is recorded. Editing is the post-production stage of movie making and since it is one of the vital stages, poor editing can mar a good movie.

Many people believe that a movie is made on the editing table, as everything from the effect of lightning and thunder to the squeaking of a mouse is available. Shots are built up, as not every shot is a key shot. While editing, the shots are arranged so that the weaker shots act as parasite to the stronger ones and sometimes editing hides the mistakes made in the production stage.

It can be said that the argument between the linear and non-linear editing is often subjective. Whatever  the type, editing a movie is not the selection of shots but the right collection of shots and presentable summary of the shots.

Victor Epand