Anyone with moviemaker or imovie can edit, but that doesn’t make him/her a professional editor. Editing is a science in and of itself.  It’s also an art.

If you want to master the art of editing, you have to know the basics of…

Montage theory.

Montage is when shots are juxtaposed creating a new state of feeling in the audience, According to Sergei Einsestein . He established five methods of Montage.

The Metric Montage happens when a set of shots are repeeatedly cut at equal time lenghts. The meaning of the imagery has no effect at all. It is the timing of the cuts that creates an emotional connection.

The Rythmic Montage is used when different shots have continuity within the sequence.

Tonal Montage  uses the emotion of shots to provoke a specific reaction in the viewers with colors, lighting,  and shadows.

Overtonal Montage is the combination of metric, rythmic and tonal montage to create a more abstract meaning.

Intellectual Montage attempts to provoke thinking by the use of rhetorical devices, such as, metaphor, simile, irony, etc.

Editors employ some or all of these methods. Some editors are naturally gifted and use these methods without even realizing it. Others need to learn and practice. If you want to improve your editing skills you should be able to identify and use the above methods; perhaps invent your own.

To know more…

Check these books about editing techniques: