“Piecing an Edit”

Piecing together a documentary requires a lot of understanding of behavior of subjects and the insanely huge amount of footage that are usually captured over the course of the shoot, sometimes the footage can be extensive depending on the amount of matter the story wishes to convey and having it edited and toned down to a suitable edit requires a lot of skill, instinct and technicality. Having a clear understanding of what the film wishes to give away at the end tends to be the essence and contrast on how it could begin. You could open the film with a traditional introduction summarizing the plot and the conflict and happening to start the film on that very note or one could approach a more cinematic opening by stretching a particular sequence of shots to its fullest without ranging a variety of footage and without compromising its establishment over the story. With the addition of soundtracks and or silence, immersion is key. Stretching a moment for long gives the audience time to accept the reality of the world that is presented and they make a choice to go along with it or not. That choice is made instantly and it’s the duty of the editor to have the audience feel that particular feeling towards the material.

Once they have accepted their reality they understand that there might be portions where they are required to withstand certain things about the film that may be one man’s interest and another’s folly. Beating around that would compromise the story and it is the duty appointed to find a suitable balance of keeping things interesting, immersive but without ever compromising the purity of the story at hand. This can be done by immersing the audience as established and have them pose more questions and we present these questions visually and through conflict passed on over archival footage followed by interviews.

As one meets the conflict, it is time to pass on the resolution. A resolution is almost always presented in a particular format with footage that is slow and establishing over is almost always presented in a particular format with footage that is slow and establishing over urgency and quick cuts, no matter what the content may it be still an unsolved murder, an unsolved mystery, or posing more questions than answered. This gives the audience a sense of the film coming to an end. This editing form of the resolution is found in the majority of documentaries usually because of most of the restrictions between archival footage, interviews and side take