How to become Film and Video Editor in 2024

Film and Video Editor Edit moving images on film, video, or other media. May work with a producer or director to organize images for final production. May edit or synchronize soundtracks with images.

Film and Video Editor is Also Know as

In different settings, Film and Video Editor is titled as

  • Editor
  • Film Editor
  • News Editor
  • News Video Editor
  • News Videotape Editor
  • Non-Linear Editor
  • Online Editor
  • Tape Editor
  • Television News Video Editor
  • Video Editor

Education and Training of Film and Video Editor

Film and Video Editor is categorized in Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Film and Video Editor

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Education Required for Film and Video Editor

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

Degrees Related to Film and Video Editor

Training Required for Film and Video Editor

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Film and Video Editor in different industries are

What Do Film and Video Editor do?

  • Cut shot sequences to different angles at specific points in scenes, making each individual cut as fluid and seamless as possible.
  • Study scripts to become familiar with production concepts and requirements.
  • Edit films and videotapes to insert music, dialogue, and sound effects, to arrange films into sequences, and to correct errors, using editing equipment.
  • Select and combine the most effective shots of each scene to form a logical and smoothly running story.
  • Mark frames where a particular shot or piece of sound is to begin or end.
  • Determine the specific audio and visual effects and music necessary to complete films.
  • Verify key numbers and time codes on materials.
  • Organize and string together raw footage into a continuous whole according to scripts or the instructions of directors and producers.
  • Review assembled films or edited videotapes on screens or monitors to determine if corrections are necessary.
  • Program computerized graphic effects.
  • Review footage sequence by sequence to become familiar with it before assembling it into a final product.
  • Set up and operate computer editing systems, electronic titling systems, video switching equipment, and digital video effects units to produce a final product.
  • Record needed sounds or obtain them from sound effects libraries.
  • Confer with producers and directors concerning layout or editing approaches needed to increase dramatic or entertainment value of productions.
  • Manipulate plot, score, sound, and graphics to make the parts into a continuous whole, working closely with people in audio, visual, music, optical, or special effects departments.
  • Supervise and coordinate activities of workers engaged in film editing, assembling, and recording activities.
  • Trim film segments to specified lengths and reassemble segments in sequences that present stories with maximum effect.
  • Develop post-production models for films.
  • Piece sounds together to develop film soundtracks.
  • Conduct film screenings for directors and members of production staffs.
  • Collaborate with music editors to select appropriate passages of music and develop production scores.
  • Discuss the sound requirements of pictures with sound effects editors.
  • Estimate how long audiences watching comedies will laugh at each gag line or situation to space scenes appropriately.

Qualities of Good Film and Video Editor

  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.

Tools Used by Film and Video Editor

  • Audio patch bays
  • Desktop computers
  • Digital video disk DVD recorders
  • Digital video editing systems
  • Laptop computers
  • Network routers
  • Personal computers
  • Video patch bays
  • YouTube.com

Technology Skills required for Film and Video Editor

  • Adobe After Effects
  • Adobe Creative Cloud software
  • Adobe Creative Suite
  • Adobe Director
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Adobe Premiere Pro
  • AJAX
  • Apple DVD Studio Pro
  • Apple Final Cut Pro
  • Apple QuickTime
  • Apple Xsan
  • Autodesk Maya
  • Autodesk Smoke
  • Avid Digidesign Pro Tools
  • Avid Technology audio visual editing software
  • Boris FX Continuum Complete
  • Brightcove
  • Cascading style sheets CSS
  • DaVinci Resolve
  • Extensible markup language XML
  • Google Video
  • Hypertext markup language HTML
  • Instagram
  • JavaScript
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Word
  • RSS
  • Screencastify
  • Sorenson Media Sorenson Squeeze
  • TikTok
  • Video editing software
  • Web browser software
  • Windows Media Services
  • YouTube