When Your Camera Person Is Also Your Editor

I want to first let you know that The Ultimate Guide to Structuring Your Documentary program is nearly full! So I invite you to decide if this powerful new program is right for you at the https://newdocediting.com/land/ultimate_documentary_guide/

Earlier this week a filmmaker emailed me asking if she should continue with her strategy of having her camera person also edit the film. She was just days away from shooting abroad, and she needed to sort the issue out promptly.

Since this is a scenario that has affected many filmmakers with whom I have worked as a story consultant, I want to share my response.

In general, I told her, it’s preferable that these two roles are filled by different people because the camera person (and often director) can become emotionally attached to the footage, given that they were present when it was shot.  They will carry their memories and associations of the shoot into the edit, and view the footage through a skewed emotional lens.

An editor who has never seen the footage before can view it more objectively–as an audience member would see it.

If your circumstances dictate that the camera person and editor must be the same person (especially if that’s you, the director), then the way around this problem is to bring in a story consultant to act as an outside eye.  And really heed their outside perspective on the footage.

Lest she despair about her strategy, I told the filmmaker who e-mailed me that there are some advantages to having the editor also act as the camera person. The person is likely to know what coverage footage to get, since they will be editing it.  Their knowledge of the footage may speed up the logging and editing process as well.

Overall these advantages don’t outweigh the problem of becoming emotionally invested in the footage, but in my opinion. Again, bringing in an outside eye is critical in this situation.

Happily, the filmmaker e-mailed me back saying she had decided to use a separate person to edit her film!

If you’re wanting to learn more about how to structure your film at every stage of production, go to The Ultimate Guide to Structuring Your Documentary at https://newdocediting.com/land/ultimate_documentary_guide/