The Basics Of Film Editing

Why to cut

Cuts aren’t just there to shorten things. They shape meaning. They control what the audience notices, what they miss, what they expect, and how they feel. We’ll look at the most common reasons for cutting, to tighten rhythm, to hide problems, to heighten emotion, to build tension, to reveal information at exactly the right time.

What to cut to

This is where the basics of film editing starts to feel like storytelling rather than assembling shots. We’ll look at how choosing the next shot can change the mood of a scene, and how different choices can make the same material feel funny, unsettling, calm, or urgent.

We’ll also look at how the basics of film editing shift depending on genre, because genre is basically a set of audience expectations, and editing is one of the quickest ways to meet those expectations, or deliberately play against them. We’ll talk through a few common genres and the sort of cutting style they tend to lean on:

• Comedy, timing, reaction shots, and how a fraction of a second can make a joke work, or kill it
• Horror, controlling what the audience sees, when they see it, and how cutting can create dread before anything even happens
• Drama, staying with performance, letting moments breathe, and knowing when not to cut
• Suspense, tightening the rope slowly, using pace and withholding information to keep the audience leaning forward

Peter Leverick will also focus on one of the most useful skills an editor develops, knowing whether the cut feels right. Often the editor’s first clue is simply that something feels off. It might be a timing issue, too early, too late, not held long enough, or it might be something else entirely, a mismatch in energy, a performance beat that’s been cut away, or a moment that needs a different shot to make the scene make sense emotionally. Peter will share ways to spot what’s actually wrong, so you’re not just nudging clips around at random.

We’ll also cover a couple of common cut types that editors use all the time, including J cuts and L cuts, and why you might use them. They’re simple techniques, but they’re surprisingly powerful for smoothing transitions, pulling the audience into the next moment, and making scenes feel more natural without the edit drawing attention to itself.

This is a hands on learning night in the sense that it’s all about real decision making, the sort of stuff you can immediately apply to your own projects, whether you’re editing on a phone, a laptop, or a full editing suite. If you’re new to editing, it’ll give you a foundation. If you’ve edited a bit already, it’ll help you understand why some sequences work and others don’t, even when the footage is decent.

Come along and sharpen up your instincts, get clearer on the basics of film editing, and leave with a few practical ideas you can try the very next time you sit down to edit.