Reddit reviews When The Shooting Stops ... The Cutting Begins: A Film Editor's Story (Da Capo Paperback)

Never been a better time to learn! There are tons of great, free resources available to you.

You can find basic technical tutorials for most any NLE you want simply by typing "[name of software] tutorial" into Google. This is where I started with iMovie back in 2009, digging through the web, looking for patterns and ways to piece together information from content that was sometimes only tangentially related.

My biggest piece of advice would be to start today, right now, and dive right in with whatever you've got. For someone with limited experience, technological constraints are often beneficial: you can focus on basic edits and storytelling techniques while not worrying about all the bells and whistles available to you. Not knowing what you don't know can be of the utmost benefit, especially considering that when the need for some more advanced tools does roll around, it forces you to think creatively to find a fix - it gets you thinking like an editor, like a filmmaker!

My second piece of advice would be to get some literature and start working your way through it. My two favorite books on editing are When The Shooting Stops ... The Cutting Begins and The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film. Some of the language might seem tough initially but you'll pick it up quickly and be able to reverse engineer much of what is discussed so that it is applicable to you.

In terms of software, you can find free trials of almost everything on manufacturer's sites, but if you've already got Windows Movie Maker/iMovie, I would learn that first. They really are good for teaching the conceptual basics and editing terminology, and although the feature sets certainly aren't that of a high end NLE, they are absolutely capable of putting together a film. Use what you have!

Most important thing though is to do it often. If you're interested in shooting, shoot a lot, then bring it in to your NLE and make a bunch of different stuff out of the same footage. Try to assemble a narrative, even if it's just a portrait of the city you live in. Work on different types of cuts: L cuts, J cuts, match cuts that weren't shot with the edit in mind. Have fun with it!

Best of luck to you, mate!

Read "When The Shooting Stops: The Cutting Begins" by Ralph Rosenblum. He edited for Sidney Lumet, Mel Brooks and Woody Allen. This book is criminally underrated.

http://www.amazon.com/When-Shooting-Stops-Cutting-Begins/dp/0306802724/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348103657&sr=8-1&keywords=when+the+shooting+stops+the+cutting+begins

About 30% 'low budget indies' (5M range), 30% reality TV, 20% kids tv, 20% news.

And yes, it obviously does vary between market sectors -- but if you listen to podcasts from even hollywood editors -- they say the exact stuff that I mention here. In fact, the higher up the TV ladder you go, the more you are told to 'do what you're told.' Example: the famous 'fitness in post' series by an editor from 'glee' and 'empire.' Another older example that talks about this (among many other subjects) is "When the Shooting Stops, The Cutting Begins"

The point I am trying to make is that editors shouldn't be so sensitive or offended by the notion that 'art' may not be the centerpoint of their personas. It may be the reason they became editors -- but it's probably NOT the reason they get hired or become well liked in the industry. It's okay to realize this.

My two all time favorites:

When The Shooting Stops, The Cutting Begins
http://www.amazon.com/When-Shooting-Stops-Cutting-Begins/dp/0306802724

First Cut, Conversations with Film Editors
http://www.amazon.com/First-Cut-Conversations-Film-Editors/dp/0520075889

Also check out the documentary "The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U76MBDKQe8s

REad this book, When The Shooting Stops