What is a Video Editor?

Written by 90 Seconds
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Last updated: October 4, 2023
What is a Video Editor?

A video editor is the person who makes production and/or post-production changes to a film.

The video editor works closely with the director to achieve the best final film outcome, with the goal of telling the story in the most effective and compelling way. Work heavily involves cutting and rearranging scenes.

Primary roles

Maintaining integrity

The video editor must make changes to scenes that don’t take away from the director’s vision, but that also help keep the viewer’s attention.

Cuts made cannot detract from the story or confuse the audience by taking away scenes with critical information needed to understand the action.

Editing

The video editor must ensure that the final length of the film is reasonable, and in context with the genre and anticipated audience attention span.

Cuts may be made on an autonomous basis, depending on the director’s preferred level of involvement in the video editing process.

In some cases, where great disparity exists between the director’s vision and the video editor’s decisions, a separate “director’s cut” is made. The director’s cut is the version that represents how the director would have edited the film.

Secondary roles

Angles & POVs

The video editor may make decisions about which angles and points of view are used in scenes. The director will often shoot scenes from different angles so the video editor has a selection from which to choose.

Post production

In post-production, the video editor may incorporate CGI or other enhancement effects into the film in order to achieve a certain look or emphasis. Lighting, sound and other special effects may be utilized in collaboration with film engineers.