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The craft of editing consists of selecting, combining, and trimming sounds and visual images after they have been recorded. In the digital age, editing can take place during both production and postproduction. while additional images and sounds are being recorded on location, even at great distances from the postproduction site, editing decisions can be shared between editing and production personnel via the Internet or satellite links. Editing can take place sequentially according to the production schedule or the script, or the editing of different sections or different components of a film or television program, such as sound effects, music, dialogue, and title sequences, can be done simultaneously and in parallel. Just as digital editing technologies are replacing analog technologies, parallel filmmaking and editing is replacing serial postproduction. Utilizing parallel editing techniques, directors and editors can continue to refine their editing decisions up until the last minute.
Whether they use parallel or serial techniques, editors need to understand basic terms and concepts that are important aspects of editing as a craft.
For example, a film or video editor can trim a continuous recording of visual images, usually called a shot, by removing unwanted portions at the beginning or end of the shot.
Trimmed shots can then be combined with other shots using various transition devices, such as cuts, fade-outs/fade-ins, or dissolves.
A cut is a direct, instantaneous transition from one shot to the next
During a fade-out/fade-in, the first shot gradually disappears and is replaced by blackness. This is called a fade-out. It is followed by the gradual appearance of the second shot from blackness, which is called a fade-in.
A dissolve consists of a simultaneous or overlapping fade-out of the first shot and a fade-in of the second shot. Unlike a fade-out/fade-in, the image never becomes entirely black during a dissolve.
Transitions generally imply a change of time or place form one shot to the next. For example, a cut usually implies a very short, if any, temporal change from one shot to the next, whereas a dissolve suggests that some time has elapsed. However, a dissolve generally suggests a shorter passage of time than does a fade-out/fade-in.
Each different type of sound, such as speech, sound effects, and music, can be edited in conjunction with visual images. Audio/Sound, sounds can be synchronous or asynchronous, on-screen or off-screen, and parallel or contrapuntal in meaning with respect to accompanying visual images. Separately edited speech, sound effects, and music tracks can be blended or mixed together to form one monaural soundtrack or several stereophonic tracks.
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