How Professional Video Editors Decide What to Cut From Projects

How do professional video editors decide what to cut from projects?

Professional video editors cut both bad footage and good footage that doesn't serve the story. The hardest part isn't removing obviously flawed shots — it's having the discipline to remove expensive, well-executed shots that simply don't add value to the final edit.

Editing is mostly cutting out the bad bits

Walter Murch tells this story in "In the Blink of an Eye." He met some of his wife's childhood friends, and one asked what he did for work. When Walter said he was studying film editing, the friend replied, "Oh, editing. That's where you cut out the bad bits."

Walter was offended at first. Editing wasn't that simple. But 25 years later, he'd come to respect his friend's wisdom.

After 20 years of editing myself, editing really is mostly about cutting out the bad bits.

The hard part is deciding what's a bad bit. New editors struggle because they haven't developed an instinct for what's good and what's bad. But even experienced editors can struggle to let go of certain shots.

Great editors cut good bits that don't add to the story

I think great editors take it a step further. Not only do they cut out the bad bits, but they also cut out good bits that don't add to the story.

The term "Kill Your Darlings" — often attributed to William Faulkner — refers to getting rid of unnecessary storylines, characters, or words in writing, even if they're intrinsically good.

Why the sunk cost fallacy makes cutting footage so hard

Why is it so hard to kill your darlings? The main reason is it's extremely difficult to get rid of something you've already invested time and money in.

There's a name for it: the sunk cost fallacy. It's defined as the general tendency for people to continue pursuing an option if they've invested time, money, or resources in it.

When I edited out a $10,000 shot

I'm primarily a commercial editor, and commercials aren't cheap to make. Let's say it costs $100,000 for a one-day, ten-hour commercial shoot. A $100,000 ten-hour day means producers are spending $10,000 an hour.

If the director spends an hour to set up, shoot, and break down a shot, that's a $10,000 shot — just for labor and rentals, not including writing and pre-production costs.

I get the footage and work through my first rough cut, which I always present as scripted. It includes all the shots. But on my second pass, I have an idea. The story might flow better without that $10,000 shot.

I show a version without it to the director. He agrees. So does the agency. So does the client. The spot goes to air without that $10,000 shot, which never sees the light of day.

To be honest, this happens on almost a monthly basis. One of the reasons directors and creative directors hire me is because they trust me to tell them what's working and what isn't. I'm less vulnerable to the sunk cost fallacy because I didn't write the commercial, I didn't shoot it, and I certainly didn't pay for it.

Being able to determine when a good bit should go away is one of the single most valuable gifts an editor can give a collaborator. But remember — be gentle in this process because the sunk cost fallacy is at work.

How to decide what stays and what goes

First and foremost, it takes time and experience to discern what's a good bit, what's a bad bit, what should stay, and what should go. Be patient.

Here are two shortcuts I use every day:

Always assume your edit is too long until it's obvious you've made it too short.

If you're having trouble deciding what's working, show two versions to an unbiased audience and get their opinion. Shorter and tighter will win 90% of the time.

Why cutting footage is hard even on smaller projects

You might be thinking, "The projects I make don't have $10,000 shots. Why is it still so hard?"

It's hard because all types of filmmaking are hard. You went to the trouble of picking up a camera, writing a script, capturing shots, and working hours on an edit. The videos on this channel aren't very complex and certainly aren't expensive, but I still find it hard to cut things out.

Get my free editing business guide to learn what to do with the footage you keep.