Video Editing: A Documentary

Video editing

(formerly known as film editing) is a fascinating and highly creative pursuit. I came to it, some might say, late in life. The first time I experienced hands-on video editing was in 1991 when I was in my fifty-seventh year. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I was into a whole new method of artistic expression. Jump ahead a dozen years I’d finished shooting (with the brilliant assistance of DP Peter Longauer) and directing my first full length documentary Nyack to 9th Avenue which chronicles the production of an off-off-Broadway play.

Nyack to 9th Avenue Main TitleFreeze Frames from the Main Title

The difference between cutting a scripted movie and a documentary is analogous to doing a jigsaw puzzle guided by the picture on the box or doing that same puzzle without access to that picture. You may need to restart several times before the story you want to tell begins to become clear in your mind.

Here’s a video editing excerpt from Waiting for Elizabeth.

“On September 30th of ’03 I finished the first cut of Nyack to 9th Avenue. It was seriously flawed, really more of a large scale assemblage than a real cut but it was a major milestone. It had taken me sixty-five edit days (thirteen edit weeks).

“I must explain those terms. In a normal situation where an editor is working on a single project, they go to work every day and spend eight (or ten) hours editing the movie. I couldn’t do that for a number of reasons … So I created a spreadsheet log of my work time divided into fractions of a day and I kept rigorous records … because I wanted to know how long it had taken to edit the piece when it was finally done.

“I began the second cut right away and by the 7th of November had an edit to show to a few carefully selected friends for feedback. By that time I was so deep into it that I really didn’t know for sure what I had or what direction to take in shaping it.

“I got good notes from several people but the most thorough and valuable critique was from Rick Skye. It ran to several highly detailed pages.

“Here’s a short part of his opening remarks: I stayed up all fuckin’ night watching this thing. And watching it again. I have some very specific ideas that you may find invaluable (fill in reaction here) – HOWEVER. I DO think you need to approach this thing as more than just ‘here is a play by play of what went down putting on a play.’ as of now it is lacking in big themes and ideas.

“The biggest thing you have going for you as far as a ‘Point of View’ is Flo. …[she] … is endlessly interesting. I think the theme of the film should be her line ‘A Director is a teacher. When you direct you teach, inadvertently.’ I think the age/experience level is so vast between her and her ‘pupils’ that HER thoughts and insights should be the ‘narration’ or connective tissue. The section between her and the set designer is a perfect example of this. Her experience wins out over his insecurities and she gets what she wants while he learns a lesson.

“Rick continued in that vein for three pages and his critique was a gold mine for me. His insights put me on the right path to making an interesting movie but there was still a LOT of work to do.”

Nyack to 9th Avenue Closing CreditFreeze Frames from the Closing Credits Roll

It turned out that the producer failed to get the video rights to the play so the doc has only been seen by friends and family. If you’d like to see it send me an email authorauthor@earthlink.net.

Lots more video editing tales will be found when you click here and get Waiting for Elizabeth.

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