» Take a break between shooting and editing. Getting distance from the shooting experience is important: you might have attached more meaning to an event in the heat of the moment than is captured in the footage.
» Take the time to watch all the footage with as much of an objective eye as you can muster. Let it wash over you; get a bird’s eye view of the raw material available before obsessing over specific moments.
» What do you remember most vividly from the raw footage? This is your hook: pitch the rhythm of your edit to match this. This is also an ideal time to think of any potential connections in your material. The juxtaposition of any two shots can have implications for the viewer that range from the sublime to the absurd, but these reactions will never be prompted if you haven’t taken the time to think through the possibilities.
» Be instinctive. See how it feels when you watch your edit back. Most of us have internalised the rhythms of video editing to an extent just by watching TV and movies. Trust your gut. If something feels off, it’s probably with good reason. Never shy away from cutting the same scene multiple times. Like most creative endeavours, video editing is an iterative process and a skill that develops with experience.
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