1. Choose the best camera angles for each moment: Think about where the audience would want to be looking at different shots.
2. Use more close ups or medium shots than wide shots: Close-ups and medium shots hold the most importance for an audience. From my experience, it’s engaging to watch facial expressions and body language of a character.
3. Cut on action: One way to have invisible cuts is to cut on action. The viewer watches the beginning of a motion that begins in one shot and follows it while it finishes in the next shot.
4. Cut on words. The sound of a word can make an edit feel less obvious. If the word is one that is relevant to a main point, the edit can also highlight that word.
5. Keep things moving ( unless you wish to have a one/long take): Being an audience myself, I feel like we as viewers can have a short attention span. Having dynamic shots is more interesting than one camera angle for a long period of time.
6. Step away from the computer! : One tip I learned from my teacher, Resh, is that after spending some time with the same edit, it’s easy to become desensitized to the material. So it’s important to step away and take a break!
Good luck to everyone who is editing! I am sure once you edit away,
you will have your own points to add to this list.
you will have your own points to add to this list.