Shaping the Film Edit
by Karen Pearlman
appears in Filmmaking and Art.
There are many books on the technical aspects of film and video editing: e.g., how to use software packages like Final Cut Pro and Avid. Much rarer are books on how an editor thinks and makes decisions. Faced with hundreds of hours of raw footage, a film editor must craft the pieces into a coherent whole. Rhythm is a fundamental tool of the film ed...
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Why recommended
appears in Filmmaking and Art.
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Consider Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman. Recommended by 4 sources.
“Goldman writes like a raconteur: candid, impatient, and often amused by his own stories. The book delivers first-hand, frequently funny backstage anecdotes about scripts, studio bargaining, and how films shift from page to set. Its main value is practical, streetwise warnings about the gulf between writing and production, but it offers little step-by-step instruction; chapters can drift into gossip, repetition, and period-specific references that feel dated. Best read for voice and trade-eye perspective rather than systematic guidance.”
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.
