July 23, 2025 • 27 mins
Key Takeaways:
- Start editing on set: Shoot with the edit in mind—get plenty of coverage for smooth pacing and transitions.
- Script advisor tip: Use one in post to fine-tune structure and catch issues early.
- Smart shooting saves time: Streamline post-production by planning camera setups that support the edit.
- Avoid common indie pitfalls: Learn from real mistakes and discover practical solutions.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back everybody. Today we are going to talk about
the art of editing. So the writer writes the story,
the director tells the story, but the editor gets the
last word and really finishes the story and tells it
in a way that creates it magically or not. Editing
really is an art. If you want to be a
(00:25):
successful indie filmmaker, you need to know a lot about
not just the production of movies, but the business. We
are going to tell you the truth and reality of
what really happens in the indie film business. So today
we have Scott Leslie. You may recall that he also
(00:46):
did an interview on cinematography because on my movies he
is both the cinematographer and the editor, and I think
that that is super helpful because when the cinematographer knows
what the editor needs, then they can all obviously capture
all the coverage required. And when the editor knows what
the cinematographer shot, it makes their life easier in terms
(01:06):
of knowing you know what shots are available. So Scott,
welcome back to the show. I enjoyed our interview about cinematography,
and now we're going to talk about editing, which is
the back end the last process in the whole filmmaking process.
And as I just described it, it's an art, and
I truly believe is an art because this is what
I say to my students all the time. I say,
take like a simple conversation between two people. So you've
(01:28):
got three basic shots. Okay, you've got a master shot,
a two shot of the two of them sitting there,
and they've got one shot looking that way and one
shot looking that way, say a medium close up of both.
What is the most interesting way to listen to a conversation?
Is it seeing both people looking at each other? Is
it seeing the person who's talking what they're saying. Is
it the person who's listening what they're hearing and their
(01:50):
reaction shot or a combination. So think of that three
simple shots. Not usually you have way more than three,
but three simple shots. So you know, the script says,
two people talk to each other and here's the dialogue.
The director says, Okay, let's cover it this way. But
the editor kind of gets final say on how that's
going to look. The most interesting? Am I capturing that? Scott?
(02:11):
Is that? And you know and if I am, how
do you make those decisions?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah? So that's uh, roughly what reduce in the edit.
It's all about trying to play to the emotion of
the of the film too. So depending on what's going
on will be depending on whether you want your medium
shot versus you know you're a tighter shot or or wide.
You know, but I usually most people and I often
do is you want to establish the scene, So you
(02:37):
establish the scene with with with the wide shot, usually
with some kind of movement going on, And it depends
on how you're doing so you can also, like Jeff to,
sometimes you can do it through blocking. So so if
a person's at the back and walk to the front,
you could change up what shot you're doing just by
the movement of your actors. But then what you once
you get into into editing the coverage it is, you know,
(03:00):
the reaction shots are just as important, if sometimes not
more important than than the person talking. A lot of
times like who's the point of view of the scene through,
So if the point of view is mainly through through
your main actor, you're gonna probably spend more time on
them and more time on the reaction, especially if you
know it's kind of the things are going down, you're
(03:21):
you're you're you're slow, and see if I can do this.
You're you're you're slowly coming in tighter, all.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Right, So, Scott, I mean in our relationship, of which
we've shot so many films together, as you know, I
do not like to babysit the editing process. I basically say,
you do the edit and then show it to me,
and then I'll make my comments afterwards. I mean, obviously
I know the footage well, not nearly as well as
you do, because you're looking at it day and day out.
(03:45):
But there are lots of directors who do sit with
the editor and do like basically sit and watch the
whole process. So what's your comment on that? Is that good, bad,
and different? How do you feel about that?
Speaker 2 (03:57):
So personally and my most editors, I know they prefer
to at least do the first assembly on their own,
you know, like having someone over your shoulder the whole
time can be a drag, but you know it can't
be fine too. I'm a super meticulous editor, so I'm
going to go through every take and a lot of
times line by line, see what the best line is
(04:19):
in this scene kind of thing. So so I feel
like most people don't have the patience to do that.
So so people are going to want to go through
it really fast, and you certainly can do that, but
you're not going to get the best performances. So, and
it's and in all films and a lot of and
especially in indie films, and the less experience or actors are,
(04:39):
the more you're dealing with continuity ors, you know. So
so you're trying that. It's another whole little little thing
you got to do. So you got to you're building it,
you're building the tension, but you're also got to make
sure that you know someone's not scratching their head in
one shot and not in the other saying you have something,
you know, more complicated than that.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
So so a lot of that what you spoke to is,
you know, continuity and and and the shots is done
by this script supervisor is kind of paying attention and marking,
giving notes on the shots. So do you find that
the script supervisor's notes you use them closely or you
still go through all the shots yourself.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
So not so closely. I like, I kind of only
when I'm getting in trouble, I'll go back and see
what the script supervisor says, and I'll look at them
at the very beginning. If they'll say, you know that
there'll be a warning that that that something's off, so
you know not to use those shots at all. So
some shots you can just cancel out because they decided
halfway through that they wanted the actor to be wearing
(05:31):
a different set of earrings or something like that, you know, right, right,
So like little things like that, you I mean, you
want to definitely look at look at their notes to
make sure you're not missing things, because that's something you
could miss if you were alerted to it. The script
supervisor is the saying what what what director likes it
doesn't like, But I also just like to get in
there and just see because you because the first part
(05:52):
of the scene might be awesome, but then the second
part of the part part of the scene, he might
flob a line or just it's not as confidence they
should be or something. So you just got to keep
on playing around and pasting around. Here.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
I agree because like I'm sitting there at the monitors
as the director with the script supervisor, and I'm saying,
I like that take. That was a good take, but
you're right, there might be just components of that take
that I like better. It might have been you know,
one look, you know the first part something like that,
and we're moving so quickly we can't do detailed notes
on that. So I actually appreciate that you do that,
you take the time because you're right, like one part
(06:25):
of one scene often is better than you know the
other part, and you can mix and match it together
as long as the continuity works. So I do appreciate
the scripture advisor in terms of watching continuity, because I
don't watch it close enough, and sometimes you don't see
it because you're busy, you know, with other things that
you're looking at. So that's helpful in terms of editing.
Like we talked about when we talked, you know, in
the cinematography discussion about coverage, So what do you think
(06:48):
basic coverage could be like? And I've seen directors on
low budget into shoots who either move too quickly and
don't get enough coverage and then kind of don't give
the editor enough to work with, or move too slow
and take way too much coverage and kind of waste
their time. I mean, what's your comment on that.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I mean, what I'm shooting, I like to give a
lot of coverage for the editor to work with, which
is usually uh, but one thing you have to worry about,
like like like people are in love with like the
these these one ers or stuff like that. But what
happens is like if there's a flub in it, our
our our if you if it's if it's just dragging
or something, you have nothing to cut to. So that's
(07:27):
why I always try to give some coverage because a
lot of times, like you'll be net and then like
like just you know, to a couple of days ago, Jeff's, Okay,
let's let's lose this section because it's kind of boring.
You know, it's just not it's just not not hitting.
So if you don't have the proper coverage to cut around,
you can't do that. You're you're you're kind of stuck
with with with with the scene being too slow and
(07:49):
just not engaging enough. The more options I have, the
more stuff I can do.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
So Scott's example, he just said, you know, the other day,
Jeff said to me this, we are in the midst
of actually as we're doing this podcast, where in the
midst of actually editing a film that we shot, you know,
a few months ago or several months ago, and we're
doing the final edit, and you know, the more I
look at it, the more I kind of like to
tighten it up really tight at the very end, as
everybody does. So now we're doing the final tweaks, and
(08:15):
you know the scene that just Scott just said is
we didn't really have the coverage, so we had to
find that one moment where we don't just talk about
jump cuts, you know, so we avoid that.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah, so there's we had the coverage, but on what's
going on is say, you have different emotional states, so
sometimes the actors are like very animated and happy and stuff,
and at the times they're more serious. So we were
trying to cut this up to where we're going from
a very happy moment to more of a serious moment
and trying to find little pieces in there to make
(08:45):
that transition work and not fill like a jump cut.
And also in that scene, the guy's drinking a coffee.
The whole time he was really good on continuity, but
when we were trying to cut these up, all of
a sudden, in one take he has this coffee cup up,
the other one he's having it down. So that one
it took a lot of me messing around with it
to finally make that work.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Yeah, and the reason you had to mess around is
because I wanted to take sort of the middle forty
five seconds out of the scene. I felt that that
was making a drag, So you had to jump from
the beginning of the scene to sort of the end
of the scene, and we lost the middle of the scene.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
So that's why it's so important to have all these elements.
So the more elements you have, the more you could
do stuff like that. And you know, I mean, obviously
even in bigger films you do see continuity errors, but
we try not to do that. But the more important
thing is the emotional thing. So you'll definitely catch it.
If they're all smiley in one shot, in the next shot,
they're serious.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Now I know you use Premiere Pro. Still, can you
just talk about some of the packages, you know, with
Da Vinci and the stuff that most sort of low
budget and people are using.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah, so I still edit in Premiere. I've dabb a
little bit in editing in Da Vinci, but Premiere is
I like it better. I've had issues with Da Vinci
and some of my multipam stuff. But so you do
the initial edit all in premiere, you get a lock
(10:09):
thing and then I'll export it to da Vinci, but
through XML so that I could still tweak it in
there if I need to. So when I expert, I
do my expert to DaVinci to do with all the
color grading. So I did the color grading too.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yeah, so we didn't we didn't say that I was
going to get to that. But Scott also is the colorist,
so he does. He's wears a lot of hats.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
To me that that's all super important too. I know
if I do the color it's going to be done right.
Especially on an independent film. Color grading is so important,
you know, it can really make or break it. So
the same with my editing. I'll spend a lot of
time in the color grade, doing power windows and different things,
just you know, to enhance it.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
So a lot of listeners are probably thinking, Okay, did
Scott do a really good job at convincing Jeff that
he's like an expert in all these things and that's
why Jeff goes with him? Or is he actually good?
I think he's good. I've used other colors, I've used
other editors, I've used other cinematographers, and right now I'm
really happy with this whole at one stop shop with everything.
It's also super convenient to be able to make one
(11:10):
phone call and deal with somebody who you know, and
as you know, who you feel you trust can get
the job done properly. All right, let's just talk. There's
something else you do. I mean, I'm gonna add something
else to the shopping basket here. You also cut the trailer,
and trailer cutting is a whole other art onto itself.
I mean a lot of editors who cut features don't
cut trailers. There's people who you know who are specialists
(11:32):
in trailer cutting. So talk about sort of the different
between cutting a trailer and a movie.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Trailer cutting to me is all about, well, first it's
figuring out the key emotion that you're trying to get apart,
and then it's really finding a great track or tracks
of music and building around that. You know. So it's
something that that I'm training Jeff on even recently, because
(11:58):
sometimes I'll say, Okay, cut this little peace out right here, Jeff.
If I do that, all the music's in getting get
out of sync. We have to keep it with with
with with the music in the film, like like you
said earlier, it's kind of an art. It's kind of
hard to explain it, but it's, you know, you just
you're trying to get the emotion of the film as
much as possible out.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
So what would be saying the difference between somebody who's
a specialist in trailer cutting in somebody who's movie, Like,
would they come from the same training background? Are they
focused differently? I mean, you know, because there are trailer
houses that all they do is cut trailers.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Right, So it's definitely a different skill set. I mean,
it's obviously you're using the same software and everything. It's
just being able to build like a little short story
in a trailer that that's heavily music and sound effects
driven is different than building a scene. So it's obviously
it's you know, twenty times as fast as a scene
(12:53):
will be, as far as the cuts go and all
that stuff. It's more and tuned to some of the
faster commercials that you do. So that's kind of the
stuff that I've done our our music video kind of.
But it's you've got to find the best beats of
the film that are going to work in a trailer
to tell the story.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Okay, Now, one thing that you and I spend a
lot of time on is the music. So you always
put temp music in to the cause it's especially when
you're cutting things like montages and stuff like that you
need to kind of have a feel and a pace
at which to do it. So you'll often put temp
music in. Now, we don't make the mistake of putting
in you know, expensive needle drop temp music. We did
(13:34):
that once and we never will never do that again
because then you fall in love with those expensive songs
and you can't afford them. So now we put in
you know, you go to license sites and we get
in relatively and expensive stuff, not that we intend to
necessarily use it in the final cut, but if we
have to, it's available. And then you know, we've used composers.
And by the way, you know, I did interview Jim
(13:54):
Coville on one of these podcasts and he talked about
music composition. So I'm always I'm always, I always struggle
with music. It's so important, as we both know. I
don't know, I almost feel like when you put in
the temp music, it just sets the pace, the tone,
and it feels right.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
That's mainly what I've go for TEP music is the feel,
so you can, you know, a scene can I'm sure
some of you guys have seen people have edited a
scene with different music and all of a sudden, the
scene seems totally different, you know. So what I try
to do with the tip music is to try to, Okay,
this is the feel we're going for. We want this
to be melancholic, we want this to be upbeat or something,
(14:33):
you know. I mean, I've been a drummer for a
long long time, but I'm not a composer at any means.
So that's why I try to have the template for
the composer. There has been been films where we do
the whole thing through through temp, which has worked pretty good.
But if you have a composer, he can you know,
write themes and variations of themes, which Jeff always loves
(14:54):
to do.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Yeah, I do when sometimes, but sometimes you know, the
certain themes that you license are also are really good too,
especially once you've seen them a hundred times, you know,
in the same scene, and then you kind of get
used to them. Excuse me, the composer brings a new stuff.
It's almost like it takes a while to get used
to that. Now, let's just talk about like on the
editing side. I mean, you see the footage. Sometimes I
say to you, how can you look at this agate?
(15:16):
I mean I look at it ten times as a director.
You look at it one hundred times as an editor.
Did you just start getting numb to it? Or or
I guess you're looking for little tiny things, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
So you're always kind of working in little segments as
you go along. But that being said, what was interesting
is so me and Jeff the last summer we shot
two films back to back. So for two months I
was the cinematographer just you know, crazy busy, in charge
of a lot of people. You get to move super fast,
(15:49):
and then all of a sudden I get thrown to
the edit and it's like, okay, you have three months
to do this, and like like also, my mind could
not handle it, Like I could not just sit down
for like the ten hours I use do you know.
I just so it took me like almost three weeks
to get back into my normal complete editing routine, just.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Because it's like your adrenaline that yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
It's a different mindset it versus you know, you know,
being faster, You're still being creative. But in the edit.
You just gotta you you got to sit down for
the long haul, and it's going to take.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
A minute, right, So, I mean, you know, not to
state the obvious, but like you know, I teach a
lot of students in film school and we talk about
editing a lot because I just feel like it's so important.
It's the final sort, like I said, the final umbrella
over the whole thing, and sometimes you know, the director
obviously has final say over it, but the editor can
make a lot of suggestions on doing the edit, their
(16:40):
way to tell the story a certain way. What makes
an editor a good editor? Like what should young aspiring
filmmakers who want to be editors? What should they be
focusing on?
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Some interesting tech techniques you can use. You can like
find some of your favorite films and and try to
to break them down and see how how they're edited
and stuff. There's definitely books out there. To me. A
lot of it is it is almost instinctial because I'm
sure you guys have watched a lot of TV and
you know it's kind of studied film, so you kind
(17:11):
of know instinctly what you want to do. Yeah, so
it like you said, it is, it's kind of this art.
For me, it's it's it's hard to put like a
stamp template on what I do. So it's just you
get the footage. You you you just start massage, you
get massage again, you know, making this play into a
(17:31):
pottery bowl or whatever.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
I mean the way I describe it to my students.
I don't teach editing, but you know, I teach how
important it is is that it is. You've got to
capture the essence of the scene. So if it's a
dialogue scene and there's some emotion going on, sometimes, as
you said before, maybe the person speaking captures it more,
but sometimes the person reacting captures the essence and that
sort of the feel and the passion or the emotion
(17:55):
of the scene better in the reaction shot than in
the talking shot. And you know, sometimes the two shough
it's the best or or the wide shot. So I
think that's that's what you're looking for. You certainly in
dialogue drama scenes. You know, in action it might be
a little different, but I still feel like it's really
what I would say, the essence of what's going on.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
It's you always can tell a new beginner editor if
it's like someone's talking thereon, then the persons talking cuts
to them like as always following whoever's talking. So it's
to me, it's never about that you want to you know,
overlap audio. You want you want to do all you
can to to bring out the emotion of it all.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Okay, let's go back to coloring, because you talk you
you do the color grading for all the films as well,
and you talked about the importance of that. So do
you think it's smart that an editor should be the
color greader too or should? I mean a lot of obviously,
a lot of times people just specialize in that.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
As you as a student or somebody young in the industry,
you it's all about kind of doing your own work
and presenting it and that's usually how you how you
get jobs. So if you are kind of working on
like like whatever in an independent film that that that are,
you know, short film or something, you're gonna probably end
(19:10):
up having to greate it because you wanted to look
awesome so you can get that next job kind of thing.
So to me, the more you can, you know, enable yourself,
the better because it can be a tough industry. So
you got to get out there, you got to put
your best foot forward, and the more you could do yourself,
the more you don't have to wait around people like that.
(19:31):
That's that's that's why I can't. I can't. I can
never understand being an actor because you're just waiting around
for auditions and stuff. I could never do that. But
and of course I can't act, So it's a good thing.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
I would say that would be the main reason.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
But okay, okay, yeah, but but yeah, so so, but yeah,
you have to empower yourself. You got to go out there.
You you have to do stuff. You like I said
with the cinematographer, you had need to shoot all the time. Editors,
you should be editing all the time. You should be
studying the films that you like and how they're put
together and what they're doing, and so that way. You know, first,
(20:06):
like a lot of times, first year, you kind of
copy and mimic what other people say, people people do,
and then and then you slowly develop your own you know,
your own style or your own way of doing things,
and it can be and it's different per film. So
obviously you're going to edit an action film much differently
than you know, a slow drama.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Yeah, you said something in our previous uh discussion. You know,
you learn this much in film school and then the
rest you learn in doing it in the field, which
I totally agree. You get to see all the footage
and you can dissect it at you know, at the
pace you can go slow, you can go fast. You
get to see it all. The good news for me is,
I know when you're shooting, because you're my cinematographer, that
(20:45):
you're looking out for what we need in the edit.
But for people who are using different cinematographers and editors
and you know, not the same person or whatever. From
the editor's point of view, what advice would you give
to the directors and or the cinemas, but maybe just
the directors in terms of getting it right on a
low budget any film so that when it gets to
(21:05):
the editing stage, you got what you need to get
the job done properly. I mean, it's a combination of
coverage and lighting and shooting. But what like, what things
do you see that really people make mistakes on that
you wish you could have been there and said no, no, no, no, no,
don't do it that way.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yeah. So one thing I mentioned earlier is just like
getting super minimal coverage or trying to do a wonder
and then having something in the middle that you're just
stuck with that that's not good unless the only way
to get out of that is to make it jump cutting,
and then you have to try to make it and
jump cutty on purpose and try to do something with
the music or something. I definitely have I've edited things
(21:39):
where you're you're you're stuck. There's only certain things I
can do because there's only certain coverage and a lot
of times, you know, we call that polishing the TRT.
So you know, no matter how much you polish it,
how much you shine it, you can put some sparkles
on it, it's still a TRT underneath, you know. So
it's it's just the more like, the more tools you
can give it the editor, the better you're editor. It's
(22:00):
gonna be.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Yeah, some more coverage, better looking shots obviously cleaner.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Yeah yeah, yeah. So you just gotta make sure you
think about it ahead of time. That's what what me
and Je have to do with our shots lists and
all that. You're you're thinking ahead of time. Okay, what's
this going to look like? What we want to do? So,
I mean, obviously you don't need a ton of coverage
for every scene. If you know that that that this
is it's going to be, you know, more of a
wide shot or something. So there's different things that you
want to do. We just got to you have to
(22:24):
think it through. I mean, filmmaking is ninety percent pre production,
getting you know, thinking, you get, getting all every everything
in a row before you do it.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Yeah, I agree. I mean I tell people, you know,
for I do three to one rule for every month
you're gonna shoot, or every week you're gonna shoot, take
three weeks or to plan it. And you just said
nine weeks. So depending on how much money and time
you have, I agree with you, the more the better.
Just sometimes you don't have the resources to do that.
Just talk about pre planning, because you do a ton
of pre planning. I mean, you do very extensive shot lists.
(22:58):
You know, with me obviously we talk about what we
wanted to look like and then but you do you'll
sometimes do these maps what do you call those when
you set it up? The lighting map and.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Yeah, so there's some overhead maps I'll do in shot
designers sometimes. So I think there's called overhead maps. I
don't know exactly yeah, yeah, but it shows where you're
gonna play your lighting, and those are more important when
you have a scene where there's a lot of blocking involved,
so you know this person's going over here, so you
(23:27):
can kind of figure out your coverage when it's more
of a complicated scene. So I do that.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
I mean, your your shot lists are extensive going into it.
And you know, the other thing that's really good and this,
this is really helpful for you know, me as a
director because I'm super cognizant of this because I wear
the hat of producer as well, is staying on time.
And so not only are you budgeting sort of how
much time it takes to shoot a scene, you're budgeting
how many times you're going to shoot it, how much
(23:54):
time in between to reset, how much time to light
to get into the shot, how much time to get
out of the shot. So you're budgeting everything. Like on
Scott's Shotless, He's got you know, only half of the
things are shots. The rest of it is lighting time, lunchtime,
tear down time. This time. That's because because that's the day.
People say to me, so why is Scott doing that?
(24:16):
And here's the answer. Okay, Scott and I are both
very hands on. We're both I'm maybe a little bit
more of a control freak than you are, but you're
you are in a different way. You like things done
your way, just just so so do I. And I
set the shooting schedule basically, and we both are very
anal about staying on time. So, you know, you and
(24:37):
I tend not to use a first D a D because
I like to control the shooting schedule because I like
to move at a certain pace and I like to
adjust it, and you like to manage the set, like
you'll often call the shot, and I like when you do,
like you'll set the camera and you'll call it out
and you'll, you know, do that, and that's not normal.
I mean, most people the first a D is going
(24:58):
to do that, and but you and I have come
to sort of this chemistry where we like to do
that together.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
There's definitely other things that first AD does which is important,
like you're getting the actors on set on time, making
sure all the pieces are there. So I definitely don't
want to be involved in that part. But when we're shooting,
we're going fast. Usually I'll just call it and it
can be faster, you know, it's just it's kind of
something I've got used to doing. But I mean, I'm
(25:25):
I'm fine with having a D there. I think eight's
are definitely can play an important role, especially on a
bigger shoot. We have a lot of moving elements then
as you need like a second or maybe third even.
But but yeah, so we have done just one film
without a D or one and a half.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Two Yeah, no, just but I think the chem I
think it's worked out. I think we were both in
sync and we fill in the holes and gaps with
other components. I'd take quasi quasi eight.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yes, But I also think that like some of your
other people are are performing other roles of the eighty
like like maybe lower the script supervisor.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Correct, and the production manager and the line producer they
are that's correct.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
So I'm definitely I'm not doing every all one hundred
percent of the eighties job correct.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Well, anyways, I mean that that's uh, you know, that's
back to kind of shooting. But okay, Well, I got
to say that I always enjoy working with you as
as an editor. You make my life simpler and you
are very very i'm going to say skillful and artistic
of what you do, and I appreciate everything you do
on my films, but I also appreciate you taking the
time to share that with the audience, So thank you
(26:36):
so much. Any final words.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
No, it's kind of what I said earlier. If you're
if you're a young person, you've got to get out
there and do it. The more you can get your
hands on things and build things, the better you'll be
and the more resume pieces you'll have.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Okay, all right, Scott, thank you very much for coming on.
All right, thanks Jeff, all right, take care. So, as
I said in the interview with Scott, I mean, the
editor kind of gets the final even though the director
has the authority to make the final call. But a
good editor really does magic for a movie. And hopefully
when you're making your indie feature you will get lucky
(27:12):
and find a great editor. So as always, if you
have any questions or you want more details on anything,
please feel free to email me at Jdeverrett at deverretmedia
dot com. And wherever you're listening, please subscribe
Welcome back everybody. Today we are going to talk about
the art of editing. So the writer writes the story,
the director tells the story, but the editor gets the
last word and really finishes the story and tells it
in a way that creates it magically or not. Editing
really is an art. If you want to be a
(00:25):
successful indie filmmaker, you need to know a lot about
not just the production of movies, but the business. We
are going to tell you the truth and reality of
what really happens in the indie film business. So today
we have Scott Leslie. You may recall that he also
(00:46):
did an interview on cinematography because on my movies he
is both the cinematographer and the editor, and I think
that that is super helpful because when the cinematographer knows
what the editor needs, then they can all obviously capture
all the coverage required. And when the editor knows what
the cinematographer shot, it makes their life easier in terms
(01:06):
of knowing you know what shots are available. So Scott,
welcome back to the show. I enjoyed our interview about cinematography,
and now we're going to talk about editing, which is
the back end the last process in the whole filmmaking process.
And as I just described it, it's an art, and
I truly believe is an art because this is what
I say to my students all the time. I say,
take like a simple conversation between two people. So you've
(01:28):
got three basic shots. Okay, you've got a master shot,
a two shot of the two of them sitting there,
and they've got one shot looking that way and one
shot looking that way, say a medium close up of both.
What is the most interesting way to listen to a conversation?
Is it seeing both people looking at each other? Is
it seeing the person who's talking what they're saying. Is
it the person who's listening what they're hearing and their
(01:50):
reaction shot or a combination. So think of that three
simple shots. Not usually you have way more than three,
but three simple shots. So you know, the script says,
two people talk to each other and here's the dialogue.
The director says, Okay, let's cover it this way. But
the editor kind of gets final say on how that's
going to look. The most interesting? Am I capturing that? Scott?
(02:11):
Is that? And you know and if I am, how
do you make those decisions?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah? So that's uh, roughly what reduce in the edit.
It's all about trying to play to the emotion of
the of the film too. So depending on what's going
on will be depending on whether you want your medium
shot versus you know you're a tighter shot or or wide.
You know, but I usually most people and I often
do is you want to establish the scene, So you
(02:37):
establish the scene with with with the wide shot, usually
with some kind of movement going on, And it depends
on how you're doing so you can also, like Jeff to,
sometimes you can do it through blocking. So so if
a person's at the back and walk to the front,
you could change up what shot you're doing just by
the movement of your actors. But then what you once
you get into into editing the coverage it is, you know,
(03:00):
the reaction shots are just as important, if sometimes not
more important than than the person talking. A lot of
times like who's the point of view of the scene through,
So if the point of view is mainly through through
your main actor, you're gonna probably spend more time on
them and more time on the reaction, especially if you
know it's kind of the things are going down, you're
(03:21):
you're you're you're slow, and see if I can do this.
You're you're you're slowly coming in tighter, all.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Right, So, Scott, I mean in our relationship, of which
we've shot so many films together, as you know, I
do not like to babysit the editing process. I basically say,
you do the edit and then show it to me,
and then I'll make my comments afterwards. I mean, obviously
I know the footage well, not nearly as well as
you do, because you're looking at it day and day out.
(03:45):
But there are lots of directors who do sit with
the editor and do like basically sit and watch the
whole process. So what's your comment on that? Is that good, bad,
and different? How do you feel about that?
Speaker 2 (03:57):
So personally and my most editors, I know they prefer
to at least do the first assembly on their own,
you know, like having someone over your shoulder the whole
time can be a drag, but you know it can't
be fine too. I'm a super meticulous editor, so I'm
going to go through every take and a lot of
times line by line, see what the best line is
(04:19):
in this scene kind of thing. So so I feel
like most people don't have the patience to do that.
So so people are going to want to go through
it really fast, and you certainly can do that, but
you're not going to get the best performances. So, and
it's and in all films and a lot of and
especially in indie films, and the less experience or actors are,
(04:39):
the more you're dealing with continuity ors, you know. So
so you're trying that. It's another whole little little thing
you got to do. So you got to you're building it,
you're building the tension, but you're also got to make
sure that you know someone's not scratching their head in
one shot and not in the other saying you have something,
you know, more complicated than that.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
So so a lot of that what you spoke to is,
you know, continuity and and and the shots is done
by this script supervisor is kind of paying attention and marking,
giving notes on the shots. So do you find that
the script supervisor's notes you use them closely or you
still go through all the shots yourself.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
So not so closely. I like, I kind of only
when I'm getting in trouble, I'll go back and see
what the script supervisor says, and I'll look at them
at the very beginning. If they'll say, you know that
there'll be a warning that that that something's off, so
you know not to use those shots at all. So
some shots you can just cancel out because they decided
halfway through that they wanted the actor to be wearing
(05:31):
a different set of earrings or something like that, you know, right, right,
So like little things like that, you I mean, you
want to definitely look at look at their notes to
make sure you're not missing things, because that's something you
could miss if you were alerted to it. The script
supervisor is the saying what what what director likes it
doesn't like, But I also just like to get in
there and just see because you because the first part
(05:52):
of the scene might be awesome, but then the second
part of the part part of the scene, he might
flob a line or just it's not as confidence they
should be or something. So you just got to keep
on playing around and pasting around. Here.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
I agree because like I'm sitting there at the monitors
as the director with the script supervisor, and I'm saying,
I like that take. That was a good take, but
you're right, there might be just components of that take
that I like better. It might have been you know,
one look, you know the first part something like that,
and we're moving so quickly we can't do detailed notes
on that. So I actually appreciate that you do that,
you take the time because you're right, like one part
(06:25):
of one scene often is better than you know the
other part, and you can mix and match it together
as long as the continuity works. So I do appreciate
the scripture advisor in terms of watching continuity, because I
don't watch it close enough, and sometimes you don't see
it because you're busy, you know, with other things that
you're looking at. So that's helpful in terms of editing.
Like we talked about when we talked, you know, in
the cinematography discussion about coverage, So what do you think
(06:48):
basic coverage could be like? And I've seen directors on
low budget into shoots who either move too quickly and
don't get enough coverage and then kind of don't give
the editor enough to work with, or move too slow
and take way too much coverage and kind of waste
their time. I mean, what's your comment on that.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I mean, what I'm shooting, I like to give a
lot of coverage for the editor to work with, which
is usually uh, but one thing you have to worry about,
like like like people are in love with like the
these these one ers or stuff like that. But what
happens is like if there's a flub in it, our
our our if you if it's if it's just dragging
or something, you have nothing to cut to. So that's
(07:27):
why I always try to give some coverage because a
lot of times, like you'll be net and then like
like just you know, to a couple of days ago, Jeff's, Okay,
let's let's lose this section because it's kind of boring.
You know, it's just not it's just not not hitting.
So if you don't have the proper coverage to cut around,
you can't do that. You're you're you're kind of stuck
with with with with the scene being too slow and
(07:49):
just not engaging enough. The more options I have, the
more stuff I can do.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
So Scott's example, he just said, you know, the other day,
Jeff said to me this, we are in the midst
of actually as we're doing this podcast, where in the
midst of actually editing a film that we shot, you know,
a few months ago or several months ago, and we're
doing the final edit, and you know, the more I
look at it, the more I kind of like to
tighten it up really tight at the very end, as
everybody does. So now we're doing the final tweaks, and
(08:15):
you know the scene that just Scott just said is
we didn't really have the coverage, so we had to
find that one moment where we don't just talk about
jump cuts, you know, so we avoid that.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah, so there's we had the coverage, but on what's
going on is say, you have different emotional states, so
sometimes the actors are like very animated and happy and stuff,
and at the times they're more serious. So we were
trying to cut this up to where we're going from
a very happy moment to more of a serious moment
and trying to find little pieces in there to make
(08:45):
that transition work and not fill like a jump cut.
And also in that scene, the guy's drinking a coffee.
The whole time he was really good on continuity, but
when we were trying to cut these up, all of
a sudden, in one take he has this coffee cup up,
the other one he's having it down. So that one
it took a lot of me messing around with it
to finally make that work.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Yeah, and the reason you had to mess around is
because I wanted to take sort of the middle forty
five seconds out of the scene. I felt that that
was making a drag, So you had to jump from
the beginning of the scene to sort of the end
of the scene, and we lost the middle of the scene.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
So that's why it's so important to have all these elements.
So the more elements you have, the more you could
do stuff like that. And you know, I mean, obviously
even in bigger films you do see continuity errors, but
we try not to do that. But the more important
thing is the emotional thing. So you'll definitely catch it.
If they're all smiley in one shot, in the next shot,
they're serious.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Now I know you use Premiere Pro. Still, can you
just talk about some of the packages, you know, with
Da Vinci and the stuff that most sort of low
budget and people are using.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah, so I still edit in Premiere. I've dabb a
little bit in editing in Da Vinci, but Premiere is
I like it better. I've had issues with Da Vinci
and some of my multipam stuff. But so you do
the initial edit all in premiere, you get a lock
(10:09):
thing and then I'll export it to da Vinci, but
through XML so that I could still tweak it in
there if I need to. So when I expert, I
do my expert to DaVinci to do with all the
color grading. So I did the color grading too.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yeah, so we didn't we didn't say that I was
going to get to that. But Scott also is the colorist,
so he does. He's wears a lot of hats.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
To me that that's all super important too. I know
if I do the color it's going to be done right.
Especially on an independent film. Color grading is so important,
you know, it can really make or break it. So
the same with my editing. I'll spend a lot of
time in the color grade, doing power windows and different things,
just you know, to enhance it.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
So a lot of listeners are probably thinking, Okay, did
Scott do a really good job at convincing Jeff that
he's like an expert in all these things and that's
why Jeff goes with him? Or is he actually good?
I think he's good. I've used other colors, I've used
other editors, I've used other cinematographers, and right now I'm
really happy with this whole at one stop shop with everything.
It's also super convenient to be able to make one
(11:10):
phone call and deal with somebody who you know, and
as you know, who you feel you trust can get
the job done properly. All right, let's just talk. There's
something else you do. I mean, I'm gonna add something
else to the shopping basket here. You also cut the trailer,
and trailer cutting is a whole other art onto itself.
I mean a lot of editors who cut features don't
cut trailers. There's people who you know who are specialists
(11:32):
in trailer cutting. So talk about sort of the different
between cutting a trailer and a movie.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Trailer cutting to me is all about, well, first it's
figuring out the key emotion that you're trying to get apart,
and then it's really finding a great track or tracks
of music and building around that. You know. So it's
something that that I'm training Jeff on even recently, because
(11:58):
sometimes I'll say, Okay, cut this little peace out right here, Jeff.
If I do that, all the music's in getting get
out of sync. We have to keep it with with
with with the music in the film, like like you
said earlier, it's kind of an art. It's kind of
hard to explain it, but it's, you know, you just
you're trying to get the emotion of the film as
much as possible out.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
So what would be saying the difference between somebody who's
a specialist in trailer cutting in somebody who's movie, Like,
would they come from the same training background? Are they
focused differently? I mean, you know, because there are trailer
houses that all they do is cut trailers.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Right, So it's definitely a different skill set. I mean,
it's obviously you're using the same software and everything. It's
just being able to build like a little short story
in a trailer that that's heavily music and sound effects
driven is different than building a scene. So it's obviously
it's you know, twenty times as fast as a scene
(12:53):
will be, as far as the cuts go and all
that stuff. It's more and tuned to some of the
faster commercials that you do. So that's kind of the
stuff that I've done our our music video kind of.
But it's you've got to find the best beats of
the film that are going to work in a trailer
to tell the story.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Okay, Now, one thing that you and I spend a
lot of time on is the music. So you always
put temp music in to the cause it's especially when
you're cutting things like montages and stuff like that you
need to kind of have a feel and a pace
at which to do it. So you'll often put temp
music in. Now, we don't make the mistake of putting
in you know, expensive needle drop temp music. We did
(13:34):
that once and we never will never do that again
because then you fall in love with those expensive songs
and you can't afford them. So now we put in
you know, you go to license sites and we get
in relatively and expensive stuff, not that we intend to
necessarily use it in the final cut, but if we
have to, it's available. And then you know, we've used composers.
And by the way, you know, I did interview Jim
(13:54):
Coville on one of these podcasts and he talked about
music composition. So I'm always I'm always, I always struggle
with music. It's so important, as we both know. I
don't know, I almost feel like when you put in
the temp music, it just sets the pace, the tone,
and it feels right.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
That's mainly what I've go for TEP music is the feel,
so you can, you know, a scene can I'm sure
some of you guys have seen people have edited a
scene with different music and all of a sudden, the
scene seems totally different, you know. So what I try
to do with the tip music is to try to, Okay,
this is the feel we're going for. We want this
to be melancholic, we want this to be upbeat or something,
(14:33):
you know. I mean, I've been a drummer for a
long long time, but I'm not a composer at any means.
So that's why I try to have the template for
the composer. There has been been films where we do
the whole thing through through temp, which has worked pretty good.
But if you have a composer, he can you know,
write themes and variations of themes, which Jeff always loves
(14:54):
to do.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Yeah, I do when sometimes, but sometimes you know, the
certain themes that you license are also are really good too,
especially once you've seen them a hundred times, you know,
in the same scene, and then you kind of get
used to them. Excuse me, the composer brings a new stuff.
It's almost like it takes a while to get used
to that. Now, let's just talk about like on the
editing side. I mean, you see the footage. Sometimes I
say to you, how can you look at this agate?
(15:16):
I mean I look at it ten times as a director.
You look at it one hundred times as an editor.
Did you just start getting numb to it? Or or
I guess you're looking for little tiny things, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
So you're always kind of working in little segments as
you go along. But that being said, what was interesting
is so me and Jeff the last summer we shot
two films back to back. So for two months I
was the cinematographer just you know, crazy busy, in charge
of a lot of people. You get to move super fast,
(15:49):
and then all of a sudden I get thrown to
the edit and it's like, okay, you have three months
to do this, and like like also, my mind could
not handle it, Like I could not just sit down
for like the ten hours I use do you know.
I just so it took me like almost three weeks
to get back into my normal complete editing routine, just.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Because it's like your adrenaline that yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
It's a different mindset it versus you know, you know,
being faster, You're still being creative. But in the edit.
You just gotta you you got to sit down for
the long haul, and it's going to take.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
A minute, right, So, I mean, you know, not to
state the obvious, but like you know, I teach a
lot of students in film school and we talk about
editing a lot because I just feel like it's so important.
It's the final sort, like I said, the final umbrella
over the whole thing, and sometimes you know, the director
obviously has final say over it, but the editor can
make a lot of suggestions on doing the edit, their
(16:40):
way to tell the story a certain way. What makes
an editor a good editor? Like what should young aspiring
filmmakers who want to be editors? What should they be
focusing on?
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Some interesting tech techniques you can use. You can like
find some of your favorite films and and try to
to break them down and see how how they're edited
and stuff. There's definitely books out there. To me. A
lot of it is it is almost instinctial because I'm
sure you guys have watched a lot of TV and
you know it's kind of studied film, so you kind
(17:11):
of know instinctly what you want to do. Yeah, so
it like you said, it is, it's kind of this art.
For me, it's it's it's hard to put like a
stamp template on what I do. So it's just you
get the footage. You you you just start massage, you
get massage again, you know, making this play into a
(17:31):
pottery bowl or whatever.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
I mean the way I describe it to my students.
I don't teach editing, but you know, I teach how
important it is is that it is. You've got to
capture the essence of the scene. So if it's a
dialogue scene and there's some emotion going on, sometimes, as
you said before, maybe the person speaking captures it more,
but sometimes the person reacting captures the essence and that
sort of the feel and the passion or the emotion
(17:55):
of the scene better in the reaction shot than in
the talking shot. And you know, sometimes the two shough
it's the best or or the wide shot. So I
think that's that's what you're looking for. You certainly in
dialogue drama scenes. You know, in action it might be
a little different, but I still feel like it's really
what I would say, the essence of what's going on.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
It's you always can tell a new beginner editor if
it's like someone's talking thereon, then the persons talking cuts
to them like as always following whoever's talking. So it's
to me, it's never about that you want to you know,
overlap audio. You want you want to do all you
can to to bring out the emotion of it all.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Okay, let's go back to coloring, because you talk you
you do the color grading for all the films as well,
and you talked about the importance of that. So do
you think it's smart that an editor should be the
color greader too or should? I mean a lot of obviously,
a lot of times people just specialize in that.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
As you as a student or somebody young in the industry,
you it's all about kind of doing your own work
and presenting it and that's usually how you how you
get jobs. So if you are kind of working on
like like whatever in an independent film that that that are,
you know, short film or something, you're gonna probably end
(19:10):
up having to greate it because you wanted to look
awesome so you can get that next job kind of thing.
So to me, the more you can, you know, enable yourself,
the better because it can be a tough industry. So
you got to get out there, you got to put
your best foot forward, and the more you could do yourself,
the more you don't have to wait around people like that.
(19:31):
That's that's that's why I can't. I can't. I can
never understand being an actor because you're just waiting around
for auditions and stuff. I could never do that. But
and of course I can't act, So it's a good thing.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
I would say that would be the main reason.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
But okay, okay, yeah, but but yeah, so so, but yeah,
you have to empower yourself. You got to go out there.
You you have to do stuff. You like I said
with the cinematographer, you had need to shoot all the time. Editors,
you should be editing all the time. You should be
studying the films that you like and how they're put
together and what they're doing, and so that way. You know, first,
(20:06):
like a lot of times, first year, you kind of
copy and mimic what other people say, people people do,
and then and then you slowly develop your own you know,
your own style or your own way of doing things,
and it can be and it's different per film. So
obviously you're going to edit an action film much differently
than you know, a slow drama.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Yeah, you said something in our previous uh discussion. You know,
you learn this much in film school and then the
rest you learn in doing it in the field, which
I totally agree. You get to see all the footage
and you can dissect it at you know, at the
pace you can go slow, you can go fast. You
get to see it all. The good news for me is,
I know when you're shooting, because you're my cinematographer, that
(20:45):
you're looking out for what we need in the edit.
But for people who are using different cinematographers and editors
and you know, not the same person or whatever. From
the editor's point of view, what advice would you give
to the directors and or the cinemas, but maybe just
the directors in terms of getting it right on a
low budget any film so that when it gets to
(21:05):
the editing stage, you got what you need to get
the job done properly. I mean, it's a combination of
coverage and lighting and shooting. But what like, what things
do you see that really people make mistakes on that
you wish you could have been there and said no, no, no, no, no,
don't do it that way.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yeah. So one thing I mentioned earlier is just like
getting super minimal coverage or trying to do a wonder
and then having something in the middle that you're just
stuck with that that's not good unless the only way
to get out of that is to make it jump cutting,
and then you have to try to make it and
jump cutty on purpose and try to do something with
the music or something. I definitely have I've edited things
(21:39):
where you're you're you're stuck. There's only certain things I
can do because there's only certain coverage and a lot
of times, you know, we call that polishing the TRT.
So you know, no matter how much you polish it,
how much you shine it, you can put some sparkles
on it, it's still a TRT underneath, you know. So
it's it's just the more like, the more tools you
can give it the editor, the better you're editor. It's
(22:00):
gonna be.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Yeah, some more coverage, better looking shots obviously cleaner.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Yeah yeah, yeah. So you just gotta make sure you
think about it ahead of time. That's what what me
and Je have to do with our shots lists and
all that. You're you're thinking ahead of time. Okay, what's
this going to look like? What we want to do? So,
I mean, obviously you don't need a ton of coverage
for every scene. If you know that that that this
is it's going to be, you know, more of a
wide shot or something. So there's different things that you
want to do. We just got to you have to
(22:24):
think it through. I mean, filmmaking is ninety percent pre production,
getting you know, thinking, you get, getting all every everything
in a row before you do it.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Yeah, I agree. I mean I tell people, you know,
for I do three to one rule for every month
you're gonna shoot, or every week you're gonna shoot, take
three weeks or to plan it. And you just said
nine weeks. So depending on how much money and time
you have, I agree with you, the more the better.
Just sometimes you don't have the resources to do that.
Just talk about pre planning, because you do a ton
of pre planning. I mean, you do very extensive shot lists.
(22:58):
You know, with me obviously we talk about what we
wanted to look like and then but you do you'll
sometimes do these maps what do you call those when
you set it up? The lighting map and.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Yeah, so there's some overhead maps I'll do in shot
designers sometimes. So I think there's called overhead maps. I
don't know exactly yeah, yeah, but it shows where you're
gonna play your lighting, and those are more important when
you have a scene where there's a lot of blocking involved,
so you know this person's going over here, so you
(23:27):
can kind of figure out your coverage when it's more
of a complicated scene. So I do that.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
I mean, your your shot lists are extensive going into it.
And you know, the other thing that's really good and this,
this is really helpful for you know, me as a
director because I'm super cognizant of this because I wear
the hat of producer as well, is staying on time.
And so not only are you budgeting sort of how
much time it takes to shoot a scene, you're budgeting
how many times you're going to shoot it, how much
(23:54):
time in between to reset, how much time to light
to get into the shot, how much time to get
out of the shot. So you're budgeting everything. Like on
Scott's Shotless, He's got you know, only half of the
things are shots. The rest of it is lighting time, lunchtime,
tear down time. This time. That's because because that's the day.
People say to me, so why is Scott doing that?
(24:16):
And here's the answer. Okay, Scott and I are both
very hands on. We're both I'm maybe a little bit
more of a control freak than you are, but you're
you are in a different way. You like things done
your way, just just so so do I. And I
set the shooting schedule basically, and we both are very
anal about staying on time. So, you know, you and
(24:37):
I tend not to use a first D a D because
I like to control the shooting schedule because I like
to move at a certain pace and I like to
adjust it, and you like to manage the set, like
you'll often call the shot, and I like when you do,
like you'll set the camera and you'll call it out
and you'll, you know, do that, and that's not normal.
I mean, most people the first a D is going
(24:58):
to do that, and but you and I have come
to sort of this chemistry where we like to do
that together.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
There's definitely other things that first AD does which is important,
like you're getting the actors on set on time, making
sure all the pieces are there. So I definitely don't
want to be involved in that part. But when we're shooting,
we're going fast. Usually I'll just call it and it
can be faster, you know, it's just it's kind of
something I've got used to doing. But I mean, I'm
(25:25):
I'm fine with having a D there. I think eight's
are definitely can play an important role, especially on a
bigger shoot. We have a lot of moving elements then
as you need like a second or maybe third even.
But but yeah, so we have done just one film
without a D or one and a half.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Two Yeah, no, just but I think the chem I
think it's worked out. I think we were both in
sync and we fill in the holes and gaps with
other components. I'd take quasi quasi eight.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yes, But I also think that like some of your
other people are are performing other roles of the eighty
like like maybe lower the script supervisor.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Correct, and the production manager and the line producer they
are that's correct.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
So I'm definitely I'm not doing every all one hundred
percent of the eighties job correct.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Well, anyways, I mean that that's uh, you know, that's
back to kind of shooting. But okay, Well, I got
to say that I always enjoy working with you as
as an editor. You make my life simpler and you
are very very i'm going to say skillful and artistic
of what you do, and I appreciate everything you do
on my films, but I also appreciate you taking the
time to share that with the audience, So thank you
(26:36):
so much. Any final words.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
No, it's kind of what I said earlier. If you're
if you're a young person, you've got to get out
there and do it. The more you can get your
hands on things and build things, the better you'll be
and the more resume pieces you'll have.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Okay, all right, Scott, thank you very much for coming on.
All right, thanks Jeff, all right, take care. So, as
I said in the interview with Scott, I mean, the
editor kind of gets the final even though the director
has the authority to make the final call. But a
good editor really does magic for a movie. And hopefully
when you're making your indie feature you will get lucky
(27:12):
and find a great editor. So as always, if you
have any questions or you want more details on anything,
please feel free to email me at Jdeverrett at deverretmedia
dot com. And wherever you're listening, please subscribe
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