Pro Video Editor Teaches Story Editing (In-Depth)

Story editing is not just for screenwriters; it’s one of the most important tools in a pro editor's tool belt.

I’ve been a pro editor for over 20 years, and in this week's YouTube video I show you how I used story editing on the recently completed short film, Treasure Imagination.  Below I outline my thought process, including screenwriting terminology (e.g., plot points, climax, and resolution), and at the end of the article I’m going to set the record straight on a common misconception about story editing.

In his book, In the Blink of an Eye (affiliate link), legendary editor Walter Murch outlines six criteria for successful editing. After emotion, which takes the top spot, the second most important editing criteria is story.

When I’m working on a project, I like to look at story from two different perspectives. At the most detailed level, I believe two shots placed next to each other can tell a story. And at the most macro level, we must pay attention to the underlying structure of the story as a whole. Today we’ll be focusing on the latter.

When I started out as an editor, I thought story structure was all theoretical and wasn’t something tangible I could apply to my editing projects. If that’s where you’re at, today I’m going to try and convince you otherwise.

 I like to think of story editing like a recipe. Imagine you’re baking bread.  If you have the right ingredients and you follow the right timing, the dough will rise and you’ll end up with a delicious loaf of bread (or in our case, a compelling story). Skip an ingredient or mistime a step, and the end result will be inedible (or a story that falls flat).

I’ll be analyzing the three act structure of the story using Syd Field’s classic book, Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting (affiliate link). In the book, Field states that Act I should take up roughly 25% of the story, Act II should take up about 50%, and Act III, the final 25%.

***The film is 186 seconds***

ACT I (First 25%)

Ingredient 1: Normal life (aka, the "ordinary world") 

—Boy plays on his tablet

Ingredient 2: Inciting incident

—Mom takes away the tablet

Ingredient 3: Plot point 1 (protagonist commits to the central conflict, a point of no return...)

—Boy puts on a hat and is transported into a new world…

***This is the frame where ACT II begins, which is 26% into the film (right on time)***

ACT II (Middle 50%)

Ingredient 4: Act II Rising action

—Boy has the idol, but other guys want it (enter spike traps…)

Ingredient 5: Mid-point

***The mid-point should occur in the middle of the film. In this case the mid-point occurs 48% of the way through (which is pretty close)***

—Clear antagonist shows up, raising the stakes

— Big gloom (character’s lowest point)

— Antagonist defeats the raiders and escapes the cave with the idol; the boy doesn’t have the courage to intervene

Ingredient 7: Plot point 2 (story pushed in a new direction)

— The boy decides to chase after him

***This is where ACT III begins, which is 68% into the film. Not quite at 75%, but close (I’ll explain why we made that decision below)***

ACT III (Final 25%)

Ingredient 8: Act III Rising action

—Boy defeats the antagonist

Ingredient 9: Climax (surprising, but inevitable, ending; a new normal)

—Boy declines the tablet, which plays off the inciting incident (having the tablet taken away)

Ingredient 10: Resolution

—Back to reality, but forever changed, the boy has the idol

We decided ACT III could take up 32% of the film because it was bridging two worlds—the jungle and then back to the city—and so we needed a bit more time to make that transition.

Remember, these are helpful guidelines, but at the end of the day filmmaking is still art, not math.  Check out the image below for a visual on how three act story structure played out in the short film.

At the beginning of this article, I mentioned I was going to clear up a common misconception about story editing, and that is, people often believe that story editing is only useful for narrative feature films, like the ones you see in theaters. This is simply not the case. I just illustrated that it can be applied to a short narrative, and I could make a case that some level of story editing or deliberate story structure will help bring ANY type of editing project to life.

The plain truth is that audiences expect conflict, tension building, character arcs, and resolution. I personally have used these principles on talking head interviews, trailers, montages, and even thirty-second commercials. It’s true that sometimes you might not have all the ingredients, but you probably have some of them, and considering the above concepts can help ensure the story beats fall at the right places.

Lastly, I want to give a huge shout-out to producer Nate Strayer and writer/director Scott Rice for the fun collaboration on the short film.

Austen is an ADDY award-winning film & commercial editor with over 20 years of experience. He has worked with global brands like Meta, KPMG, SAP, and Christianity Today. His PSA work has championed causes like school safety (with Matthew McConaughey), driving safety, and anti-tobacco. A thought leader in the editing field, his online lessons quickly amassed over 100K views after launch.