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.”

Read more: https://www.filmeditingpro.com/how-to-start-a-cut-the-5-edit-drivers/

Lance Carr

Lance is a fully qualified video editing tragic and renowned techno-struggler. He has put in the hard yards working out all manner of things technical... so you don't have to!

The Friday Roundup – A.I. to Analyze Your Videos and Stabilization.

OK so I guess this week I am a day late and have pretty much…

1 week

A Complete Guide to Codecs

If you’re making YouTube videos, home movies or are basically operating at a "below Hollywood"…

2 weeks

The Friday Roundup – YouTube Intros and How to Cut

The ‘5 Second Intro’ Is Dead, Here’s Why… It is interesting to see how over…

2 weeks

The Friday Roundup – Nested Projects and Vlogging Cameras

Nested Projects - PowerDirector Video Editing Basics There is a particularly handy feature within PowerDirector…

3 weeks

The Friday Roundup – 2026 Camera Apps plus Zoom Tips

Best Camera App for Android 2026 Top 2 Free Picks Well it's been a minute…

1 month

The Friday Roundup – USB Mics and 2026 Free Assets Website

How To Record Multiple Microphones on One Computer If you have ever tried connecting a…

1 month