Post Production Film
Most movie buffs know that a movie is made up of a series of “takes,” or scenes filmed repeatedly, almost identically, in order to capture the perfect moment. One scene may require dozens of takes and one movie may contain thousands of takes. It is the job of the film editor and his or her staff to weed through all those takes to locate exactly the ones that will best tell the story.
Film editing falls under the post production film responsibilities. Until the script is perfected, the actors trained, the set designed, and the cameras are rolling, there is no film on which the film editor can work. Editing begins once shooting begins, however, and is not left undone until all shooting has been completed.
Post production film editing begins once the first scenes are filmed. The film editor reviews the many takes and shares them with the director to make sure the editor has the same concept of the final product that the director, and the producers or studio bosses, have in mind. This post production film review is called “dailies” because the freshly edited film is reviewed daily during shooting.
Errors are frequently identified in this post production film editing stage. Scenes that require a re-take are isolated, perfected, and filmed again.
Shooting a movie is not done in sequential order and it is the job of the post production film editor to rearrange scenes into the appropriate order. Filming in different locations also calls for the film editor to re-sequence the film so the story comes together in sensible order.
The sequential order of the scenes on film isn't the only concern of the post production film editor. It is the film editor's job to layer the entire movie together, bringing the images, story, music, performances, and pace into one cohesive story. Many people in the film industry consider the post production film editing as an art form which has the power to either make or break the entire production.
The late, legendary, director Stanley Kubrick considered the post production film editing process to be the one phase of making motion pictures that is truly unique to the industry. Other aspects of motion pictures originated in other mediums – photography, art, writing, sound – according to Kubrick. He is even quoted as saying he loves editing, enjoying it more than any other aspect of the production. He said, “I might say that everything that precedes editing is merely a way of producing film to edit.”