Separating Good Dialogue From Bad Dialogue

I remember the first day I walked into a video editing class, and one of the first things the instructor said to us was, “The editor is a storyteller.” This is absolutely true. When editing, you’re not only looking for errors and inconsistencies, but you also want to look closely at the dialogue in each…

Recognizing Action For The Sake Of Action In A Story

So, back in December, I made a video in which I did a re-edit of the Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace opening scene. This time, I did a re-edit of the Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith opening scene, because there are a few instances in that opening scene in which George…

Now You Can See What I’m Saying!

So, four years ago, I wrote a blog post about the movie Batman v Superman or, more specifically, a single line of dialogue from the film. I removed that line of dialogue, along with a few other lines I didn't care for, and it really changed that scene for the much better. Today, I finally…

Phantom Editing

You know how much I love talking about Star Wars, so I’m actually excited to begin a series of videos covering the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, the first of which will show how moving one scene within the opening of the film can help to make the opening a bit stronger. I hope you enjoy.…

How to Edit for Better Pacing and Storytelling Part 3

Here it is, the final part of my video series on The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. You can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here. I hope you enjoy! 🙂 And yes, I’m already working on a video on Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. My next three videos (maybe four)…

How to Edit for Better Pacing and Storytelling Part 2

Part 2 of my video series on merging The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions into a single film is now live (you can find Part 1 here). In it, I show how cutting unneeded information from the film, such as The Merovingian's causality talk, strengthens that specific scene and the character at the heart…

How to Edit for Better Pacing and Storytelling

So, I just posted a new video to my YouTube channel, Reel Busy Editing, and what I show in it is how I re-edited The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions into a single film by cutting all the bloat present in both films. There was so much getting in the way of the story…

I Think I Just Wanted to Do a Film That Wasn’t an Action Movie

So, in my latest video, I wanted to show how subtracting one bit of dialogue from one scene in the 2000 film Cast Away could add a bit more emotional weight to that scene, and I also wanted to show how subtracting an entire reunion can add to the emotion of the ending of the…

Your Soul… er, Edit… is Mine!

Catchy title, eh? Anyway, I have a new Quick Change video up on my YouTube channel, Reel Busy Editing. If you want to see how a few small edits can make a big difference in a scene from the 1995 film Mortal Kombat, then click the play button on the video below. Enjoy! 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFqUZsIhEQA

Removing an Unnecessary Character Element

In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, one element of Kylo Ren's character is his penchant for throwing tantrums. He actually does it twice in the movie, which actually affects the movie negatively. The first time, his tantrum just gets in the way of an emergency that occurs on the Millennium Falcon. The second time, Kylo's…