How to Start a Cut: The 5 “Edit Drivers”

Editing videos requires concentration on important aspects of the media.

There are five main drivers, the first being Dialogue.

Conversations and visualizations associated with them are critical.

Next is narration, which guides a story.

After that is music, which sets the tone or establishes the mood in a scene.

Next, visuals help add entertaining or meaningful aspects to any scene and can be very powerful.

Finally, sounds can be motifs or important symbols in a film. Using all of these properly has a big impact.

Key Takeaways:

For interviews and scenes involving conversation, dialogue is usually the main edit driver.
Music can be the edit driver for montages or movie trailers.
For action or fight sequences, it’s typical to edit primarily on the visuals.

“Building out a narration track is like a road map, providing you with signs posting where and what your visuals and sound effects will be.”

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