First Time Documentary Film Editing Tips
Emma Shoesmith shares with us her top tips for editing your first documentary:
THE STORY
Get your interviews transcribed.
Choose 3 to 4 overarching themes or arguments and assign them colours.
Colour highlight your transcribed interviews according to the themes.
Make your point and say it again. Back up your interviewees comments with more of the same.
Interweave for and against arguments to build tension.
Introduce all or most of your characters at the beginning.
Set the scene, location and demographic. Who are you following?
Who, what, where and why? What’s the objective of the documentary?
Who’s watching it? What do you want them to do or feel? What’s the call to action?
Pull out quotes that reinforce your theme or argument. Edit them together to intro or close your sections.
ADDITIONAL MEDIA
You can always record audio VO (voiceover) if you’re missing a link or need to reinforce a point.
Film or screen record video calls with interviewees.
Get your interviewees to send personal self-recorded videos to specific briefs
POST PRODUCTION
You can often use in camera sound to create really nice sound effects with just a bit of simple sound mixing.
Use the colour coding and labelling system in editing software such as Premiere or Final Cut Pro to group themes together.
Use separate timelines for specific themes and B-roll that matches it.
Have your story arch on a big piece of paper so you can see it while editing.
Take daily even weekly breaks from editing. It’s important to give it space to gain perspective.