What does a Film Editor do?

The best Editors in the world help the Director discover the film they didn't know they had. Not because we're saviors, but because we are trust engines - with "trust" referring to the trustworthiness of the film itself.

Editors as "Trust Engines"

The people who are the "trust engines" of a film are working behind the scenes, powering its trustworthiness as an artistic work. They are devoted to the ideas of honor, honesty, integrity, respect, restraint, and responsibility. They evaluate its content for reliability, for artistic integrity, and for sincerity of the truth.

Producers and Directors know this. Above all other criteria, they want to hire an editor that is trustworthy in both reliability for getting the film done ahead of schedule but also for helping to define the film's place in the universe.

In this, editors are silent partners. We are ghostwriters. We own the editorial process in how it contributes to the content. If we're good at what we do, we can have a profound influence in that area. This is what grows an editor's career-long partnership with a film director. Once we've boiled the story down to its essence, that's when we see its core and can construct an award-winning masterpiece.

The Tools of Editing

My career has been a successful one, spanning decades, because I've learned what it takes to turn good films into great ones. It's part formula and part feel. One can be taught, the other cannot. Let's examine that. We'll start with the tools.

I have a multi-decade history of using Media Composer, Premiere, and many other apps. Some filmmakers require one or another. Others don't specify. They only care about the content getting created.

Usually if one is specified, it's because there is a specific type of shared storage being used, or there are multiple projects being worked on ny a team of editors, and everyone needs uniformity in their access. Regardless, many editors have learned every possible tool, and I'm no exception.

The art and operations of the edit

When I'm at a podium or giving talks in classrooms, one of the the top question I get is "Can editing be taught?" Arguably, the answer is "no".

Apps can be taught. For example, learning After Effects is super easy. Learning how to construct compositions, layer graphics, export to specific specs... That's all a breeze.

But teaching when to use After Effects? Teaching what looks good? Teaching when an animation seems to be helping the content, but is actually hindering the storytelling and pacing? No, those are examples of something unteachable -- entirely left to one's emotion and feel.

In short:

The appreciation and intention of art cannot be taught... only the execution.

Editors... Are They Animators Too

One of the many additional crafts that has crept into editorial content creation over the years is animation. Job listings now demand audio mixing, animations, and many other crafts.

Like others, I can do all of these quite well. However, if the opportunity exists to pay the experts in these individual crafts, then let's please do so.

If we do not pay animators for their craft, then we are contributing to the industry's unemployment rates.

TV & Film

Chris Bové is an American filmmaker and television editor, story editor, writer, and producer.

He is best known as an editor of documentary films with unbiased narrative storytelling. His editorial techniques emphasize the human condition, pressured by tension.

"Documentary creates opportunities for audiences to examine the facts and discover their meaning. It's up to the editor to create that path without coloring it with an agenda. Every editor's pursuit should be steeped in journalistic integrity."

Early History

At the University at Buffalo, Chris initially trained in cinema under Tony Conrad, Keith Sanborn, and Alexander Kort. But he later discovered his love for documentary storytelling through professors Brian Henderson, and the wonderfully passionate Sarah Elder.

Professor Elder's films on indigenous topics like Drums of Winter made a lasting impression on him. (https://vimeo.com/ondemand/drumsofwinter)

He moved to East Hampton to work for the documentary producer Courtney Sale Ross (Listen Up! The Lives of Quincy Jones), and edited for a member of Steven Spielberg’s staff, who was working next door producing videos for Amblin Entertainment.

"While I was there, I also did some work for the Ross School and The Hamptons International Film Festival. That whole Hamptons experience was the environment where I learned the craft of making behind-the-scenes documentaries to support large-scale films and productions."

Avid Media Composer

After a long history with film, he saw his first Avid system at the New York Film Academy in Manhattan.

"To get to their Avid editing computer, you needed to walk past a long row of 16mm film editing machines. That act alone held meaning. The first time I did so, a brilliant filmmaker named Elizabeth Shub was sitting there. She showed me how quickly cuts could be made in an Avid. Working with 16mm and 35mm film at the time, an editor would average 3-5 cuts per minute. In Avid, it was more like dozens. Once I was able to get into that room on my own... well, I never left. I'm still there, in a way."

When he learned that his hometown's PBS station had bought an Avid, he moved back.

All documentary, all the time

PBS is the primary public broadcaster in the United States, and one of the most respected presenters of documentary works.

Most of Chris's editorial work for PBS focused on historical, environmental, and social subjects, as well as documentaries bringing Indigenous topics into the national spotlight. He also worked on various projects for Reading Rainbow and the Mark Russell Comedy Specials.

He trained under expert programmer and producer, John Grant, for whom he edited many television programs. Grant's wisdom in operations and in efficient storytelling taught him how to run productions like a well-oiled machine. (Examples)

His longest-running collaboration has been with documentary filmmaker Paul Lamont, focusing on the high-art of documentary cinema and pursuit of the human condition. Here is a behind-the-scenes example.

Chris has also edited content for American Public Television, Vision Maker Media, and the Center for Independent Documentary.

Due to budget constraints, there was little money for writers, associate producers, assistant editors, or VFX editors.

"I kept consuming more responsibilities because projects could rarely afford any of that. I was sometimes the sound mixer too. I suppose I could've been lazy but that's not me. I needed to deliver projects that looked, sounded, and felt like they had all of those people working on it. They just let me run with it. I even wrote and rewrote scripts. By standing up and taking ownership of the content, you truly do elevate a production to new heights."

Chris has edited a number of independent short fiction films, including collaborations with filmmaker turned author, Soman Chainani.

"Yes, outside of documentary, Soman was by far my favorite filmmaker to work with. His attention to every drop of storytelling was so much fun. He's always in hyper-focus, right down to the tiniest detail. He's a craftsman. I'm so thrilled for the successes he's found today, certainly well-earned."

At the time, there was a growing demand for industry learning, and a yearning for collaboration. He and a fellow editor at the station co-created the largest Avid User Group in the area, bringing in members from three upstate New York cities plus Toronto. They created curriculum, coordinated sessions with Avid engineering staff, and presented on Avid's workflows, features and updates.

"Everyone in these cities were editing on Avid, and everyone was doing relatively the same thing... but nobody knew each other because of the competitiveness of their c. The editors at the NBC station wouldn't be allowed into the CBS station, or vice versa. But, since we were at PBS, we were neutral territory. At PBS everyone was welcome. So, everyone came. It was a fantastic way to tear-down the unnecessary walls between people in the same industry."

Chris frequented the Avid Communities. Avid's own staff began reaching out to Chris to learn his workflows. He became an advisor for various members of the Media Composer design and engineering teams.

He became an Avid ACA Leader and a Master Class Instructor, representing Avid Media Composer and its workflows at various venues.