How I edit a Short Film

Finding the drama in Alien Echo and cutting the waffle.

I am deep in the editing process on my short film Alien Echo.

You start with a cut. Then you script, scrape, and slash at it. You go at the scenes hard. The goal is to make them as tight and as dramatic as possible. For me, editing is about the drama. You have to get right to it.

That is where I am at with Alien Echo. I am scraping back and pulling the curtain away from the rough cut, which is the first draft. I am shaping it into the second draft. That means cutting it back to the bone.

Editing feels like solving a puzzle. You are constantly working out how to tell the story in the clearest and strongest way. Because it is a short film, you have to be tight. Audiences do not have time for waffling. They want to get to the good stuff.

That does not mean you cannot hold a shot. It does not mean you cannot use a slow dolly. Those choices still matter. But they have to earn their place. Everything has to serve the beats of the story.

Right now, that is the work.

Cutting hard.

Sharpening the drama.

I am getting to the exciting moments that drive the film forward.