Raw footage goes in, the waffle doesn't come out.
Welcome to the Cutting Room. Here's what I edit, how I decide where a cut goes, and the five steps from your camera roll to posted.
What I edit. Pick your poison.
Interviews
Sit-down or street-style. I find the best answers, tighten the pauses and keep people sounding like themselves.
Talking heads
One person, one camera, one message. Jump cuts, punch-ins and captions so it never feels like a lecture.
Flashy short-form
Motion text, zooms, sound effects and cuts on the beat. Loud on purpose, but still easy to follow.
Skits
Comedy lives in the timing. A few frames early or late is the difference between a laugh and a scroll.
Long-form
Simple storytelling for YouTube and beyond. Structure first, then pace, then polish.
Not sure which?
Send it anyway. I'll tell you what it could be.
Feelings first, rules second.
Oscar-winning editor Walter Murch (The English Patient) ranks what makes a good cut. Emotion sits at the top by a mile.
I work the same way. If a cut feels right but breaks a rule, the feeling wins. If it looks clever but feels off, it goes.
Most people are watching on mute.
In one US study, 69% of people watched video with the sound off in public. So captions on my edits aren't decoration, they're half the script.
Source: Verizon Media and Publicis Media study, 2019, via Streaming Media.
From camera roll to posted.
Brief
You tell me who it's for, where it's going and when you need it. Five minutes here saves five rounds of changes later.
Rough cut
Story first, no polish. This is where we agree on what the video is actually about.
Your notes
Tell me what's working and what isn't. Be blunt, I can take it.
Polish
Captions, colour, sound, music and motion. The bit everyone thinks is the whole job.
Delivery
Exported in the right size for each platform, 9:16, 1:1 or 16:9, ready to post.