Analysing documentary editing stages

Analysing documentary editing stages

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Editing allows all of the different areas of a documentary to form a united whole.


Editing is a vital stage of all motion pictures, since it is the stage when raw footage turns to the final item. This phase is especially essential for documentary films, however. The reason being many narrative movies are edited to fit round the pre-defined script and storyboard. Meanwhile, documentary filmmakers commonly get into their shoots with just a rough pre-planned idea of what they will make, with the remainder of the tale being unfamiliar until they actually film it. James Rogan will be well aware that this may imply that documentary directors and producers could possibly be sitting on thousands of hours' worth of footage without any established narrative. The first step is to back-up all of it because any moment could become utilised in the ultimate documentary. Following this, all footage needs to be watched with accompanying notes being made to pinpoint the most effective moments. This should take place at precisely the same time as going through archive material, pictures, and music to choose what's the most useful fit for the documentary.


Editing has grown considerably through the course of film history. In fact, the whole reason the medium is called film is because of the material that films were filmed on. This material would be edited by hand, with editors cutting and pasting camera shots together. These days most films are in fact digital, meaning that a lot of the editing is performed on the computer. Morgan Matthews will know that most documentary filmmakers are well-acquainted with editing software. When all possible elements of the film have been added to their chosen software, it's time to begin trying out laying the greatest shots in to a timeline. Moments that show key information and will be the emotional core of the documentary would be the best to use. Seeing what works and does not work at this stage will help establish the building blocks of the documentary.


Individuals are interested in viewing documentaries simply because they wish to learn something. However, this does not mean that documentaries should be dry lectures. People are additionally trying to have fun while learning the details by way of a narrative structure. Tim Parker should be able to tell you that selecting the narrative and finding elements that fit the narrative is one of the most important phases within the film editing process. Even the most stunning shots combined with the most remarkable archive footage will be meaningless if linked together without a clear narrative. Many filmmakers will generate a long first cut version of their documentary once they established the narrative. They are going to then go through the process of refining and re-editing it till it becomes a viewable size while accomplishing the objectives that the filmmaker set out to achieve.