Editing can be hard work. You have to change something in a way it is good enough to be shown as an end product.
For example, if you‘re an author. First, you write your text, getting all on paper, often without looking at every word you use. Otherwise your ‚creative flow‘ could be interrupted in such a way that it becomes difficult to jot all your ideas down (of course, if you‘re writing a novel, that is a bit more complicated – let’s pretend here that you‘re writing a shortie).
After having put down your entire ‚story‘ and having combined your thoughts with your written word, the editing work begins. This is the part, where you look at every sentence, at every adjective and adverb. You leave nothing to chance, but everything to thought: The beginning and the ending of your shortie has to be looked at. Does it hook a possible reader immediately? Is it logical? Understandable? Readable? Interesting?
Usually, authors put their finished work away for at least six weeks, before they start editing it, so they are more detached from it.
The same happens when you see all you filmed. Of course you cannot cut and change in the way you find a better adjective, noun, verb and write entire new paragraphs. This would mean, you‘d have to film again. Not possible. Deciding which scenes from which camera are important is your work. Do you leave them all? Do you cut some? Which ones are the most important ones? What do you have to leave? What not? How long should it be to engage a watcher? How long is their concentration span? Who is your target? Does it interest him or her? Or does it only interest you?
Usually best is to have a professional do this. In my project „Dinner for a Diva“ I had help from a professional, but still had to do many decisions myself. Also, I didn‘t have the time to take a six-week-long-pause to be able to view it from the outside. However, watching yourself on film is already some kind of disentanglement. Luckily, I also got some help from my partner.
Even so, it was strenuous to choose and cut. Though I‘m quite satisfied with the result, I cut even more for an even shorter version later.
