[Hanno Mertin]

Thank you Luca and Roger for your replies, I agree with all you said. My original post was done shortly after seeing another edit of one of my short films where the films structure had been changed heavily, so much so that none of the conversations and thoughts me and the director had before the shoot were still recognizable in the film – as it can happen in films, the errors were already in the script but all of us failed to see them. You are of course correct, the editor and the director are only trying to make the best film possible out of the material – there might be differences in overall taste though, I assume that is normal to learn project by project who your collaborators are that you want to keep working with forever as the tastes align. Also on the editing side.

I agree and disagree that it is “the directors movie”, but if I had to decide between my mixed feelings on this subject, I would lean towards yes, it is in the end the director who is creatively wrestling with the project the earliest and the longest. That`s their power and their pain I guess.

It all goes to show how very very important it is to get really well in sync in prep, something I see Roger emphasize all the time as well. I am just wrapping another short film and in the weeks before, the director, me and the editor had extensive discussions about the shotlist and breakdown of each scene. It was such a satisfying process and now that I know that the editor was involved, and as he is sending in first assembly cuts of scenes rather exactly based on the breakdown that we had planned and shot, I have waaay less frustrations. I can see for myself, hah that shot really is not necessary or stands out oddly in some way and even wish for it to be removed. I personally find it rather bewildering that editors are supposed to be “shielded” from the creative vision that was found in prep by the DP and Director, I agree though that it can be very counter productive if the editor is part of the sets struggles. So, in this project, I feel very very good with how I have been involved and my visions, the directors and the editors were aligned.

@hannomertin
Cinematography Student | Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg

[Hanno Mertin]

Yes Sir, will do. Luckily my film school has a fairly extensive library of films 🙂 thanks for taking the time.

@hannomertin
Cinematography Student | Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg

[Hanno Mertin]

Oh sorry, something got messed up with the formating there I guess

@hannomertin
Cinematography Student | Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg

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