How Pro Video Editors Craft Smooth Edits

In this week's video, I share a technique I used when editing Matthew McConaughey that you can apply to your own edits. But unlike other videos on this topic, I will share my thought process on why I used this technique, and you can decide if I made the right choice.

What if I told you that the technique is meaningless if it's not made in the context of asking the right questions? I have five questions that I ask for every edit and they are in order of importance. They are:

• What is the emotion of the scene?

• What is the story of the scene?

• What is the rhythm of the scene?

• What is the sound of the shot?

• What is the action of the shot?

The first three (emotion, story, and rhythm) are taken from the great film editor Walter Murch's six editing criteria, which you can read about in his book In the Blink of an Eye (affiliate). The last two are my own.

For the full lesson, please watch the video above.

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.