Secrets of the Snip: What Makes an Edit Great?

How can an editor tell the difference between a cut that’s simply ‘good’ and one that’s inarguably ‘great’?  It can seem somewhat intangible, a true secret to those not in the know – those without thousands of hours spent diligently assembling stories in the edit suite.

Speaking to editors from across the industry, LBB’s Ben Conway has gone in search of this secret, hoping to elucidate the factors that elevate the craft to greatness.

“It’s about evoking genuine emotion, whether that’s joy, fear, sadness or curiosity,” says Abandon Editorial’s Val Thrasher. “Editing is a rhythm – when it flows naturally, it captures the audience’s attention, making the piece worth watching.” For her, a great edit goes beyond simple assembly and the process is largely instinctual, “working intuitively to create a seamless narrative that leaves viewers with space to form their own interpretations.”

These ideas of an innate feel for the rhythm, and a natural – almost melodic – flow to the finished product are concepts that come up repeatedly when discussing the craft with editors. 

Feeling the Flow

“Ultimately, a great edit feels like music,” says Jeff Watterson, editor at Leap Year Post. “Not everyone will connect with every cut, but if it feels fluid and holds attention, that’s a successful edit. There are endless ways to cut a piece, and what works for one editor may differ entirely from another’s approach. Great editing is all about whether it feels right.”

“Editing unlocks scripts,” adds Brei Monteiro, senior editor at FCB New York. “It brings the message and central idea to life more clearly and impactfully. An edit evokes new sensations and perspectives, combining audio and visuals to create a truly unforgettable, emotional experience.”

Above: Leap Year Post editor, Jeff Watterson

Christopher Walters, senior video editor at Mythic, qualifies that this experience should also be able to stand tall on the merit of its own beats, before music is even added, “ensuring that pacing, rhythm, and shot selection work on their own.” 

An edit that fails this, falling flat tonally or rhythmically, is often the result of myriad elements clashing in discord. However, just one slight adjustment can be the saving grace, shares Maury Loeb, editor at PS 260. “Sometimes tweaking one aspect of a film, like the music track or voiceover artist, changes the entire feel and success of an edit.” But whether it’s a 90-second anthem or a six-second social video, the ultimate goal, he adds, is to connect with the viewer.

Above: Mythic’s senior video editor, Christopher Walters

“Too often we’re bombarding them with too much information, too much story and too many stimuli that are simply not working in concert with each other. We set out to make a cohesive little film and end up with a NASCAR vehicle – a loud blur of logos zipping past our eyes.”

While this can result in an “adrenaline rush of emotions”, says Cut+Run editor Steve Gandolfi, he highlights that a ‘great’ edit helps the story evolve, and emotionally impacts people, when “every connection is seamless and unnoticed”.

The Mastery of Invisible Editing

“As you watch, you should feel a natural flow that doesn’t draw attention to itself, where each shot, transition and moment feels just right,” describes Steve. “The challenge lies in knowing when something feels off, often in unexpected places. The issue might not be a single frame or shot but the pacing, the emotional undercurrent, or even the way it’s captured.”

“Like a true craftsman, a great editor understands that sometimes the problem lies in the unseen details,” he continues. “A masterful edit immerses you in the story, leaving you oblivious to the techniques used to achieve it. In the early days, my first five showreel pieces had no more than five joins each.”

Above: Cut+Run editor, Steve Gandolfi

Modern Post editor Sofia Kerpan’s favourite edits are also the ones you don’t notice at all – despite also enjoying music-driven edits. “Great editing is seamless and ideally pretty invisible,” she says. “We should be so locked in to what we're watching that we're not constantly thinking about how it's cut.” However, she acknowledges that some projects require an edit that calls attention to itself – either to accent a song, or often to emphasise a chaotic, dreamy or distorted mood within the film. 

“As editors, we are condensing time and convincing you that something is really happening at the speed and pace we determine, when it's really all an illusion,” she adds. “When I start to think about that, and the endless ways you can cut something, it makes me spiral out at the infinite possibilities. That's both the beauty and the challenge of editing.”

Above: Modern Post editor, Sofia Kerpan

Cutters Studios editor Tim LoDolce agrees that he rarely notices the cuts in a great edit, having been totally immersed in the film. This reminds him to keep his own edits simple, he says, asking himself which shots are absolutely necessary to tell the story. “A lot of times edits get jam packed with so many shots or jokes that it’s too much. Finding the right pacing is critical, as well as creating some sort of emotional impact on the viewer. If the viewer cares about the people in the edit, it’s probably great. Simplicity is the secret.”

“It’s a great sign when you can’t put your finger exactly on what made an edit great,” adds Ethan Edmund, an editor, director and frequent collaborator at Caymanite. “When an editor finds just the right balance between sight, sound and story, skilfully weaving each component together, they complement each other in such a way that they would be incomplete without the other.”

Above: Cutters editor, Tim LoDolce

This ability to make the noticeable unnoticeable while creatively solving clients’ problems is a lot of ‘the art behind editing’, says After Avenue’s co-founder and editor, Amy Eakin. “It’s really easy to take things personally when you become attached to your creative work, but a great brand/commercial editor to me is someone who sees notes and criticism as opportunities to make something better.”

Good vs. Great: How to Make the Cut

“It’s never this straightforward but for the sake of illustration, building a ‘good’ edit can be like assembling a puzzle,” presents Final Cut editor Matt Carter; whereby the picture comes together in a satisfying, but limited, way. “On the other hand,” he continues, “the process behind a ‘great’ edit is more like writing within the constraints of language – using a finite set of letters and words to unlock limitless possibilities and potential.” This ‘great’ edit, he suggests, transcends the sum of its parts, and is original and engaging for all viewers.

“A good edit will simply work, like the puzzle coming together; it was already known, it was expected… Imagine reading a text message. It lacks depth.”

Above: Final Cut editor, Matt Carter

After Avenue’s co-founder and editor, Jonathan Eakin agrees, saying, “Assembling the puzzle isn’t what makes a good edit great. If you succeed as an editor, your audience should feel something. There is a huge sense of satiation when pacing, tonality, everything falls into a rhythm - almost unnoticeably. In our world, a truly ‘great’ edit is one that seemingly effortlessly builds the narrative, leaving the audience captivated by the story or messaging, and not on any editing tricks.”

This ‘great’ edit will usually feel ‘guided purposefully and meaningfully by an invisible hand’, adds Matt, not just communicating the narrative, but expressing it with intent and personality, akin to body language. “Resulting in emotional depth, layers and nuance from this human touch.” 

Above: After Avenue's Amy and Jonathan Eakin

“Imagine reading a handwritten letter from a dear friend,” he says. “More than that of a text message, it creates a sense of intimacy, unexpectedness, surprise and delight. Very much worth your time. You will engage with it and remember it!”

Rick Nelson, founder of Cadence Post, describes this process as “editing for the undercurrent – the throughlines and subtext of the piece”, saying that a simply ‘good’ editor is able to sequence images for a desired purpose. “[But] great editors can see past what is supposed to happen and communicate another meaning.”

Above: Rick Nelson, founder of Cadence Post

“A great edit amplifies the narrative, extracts the maximum emotion from images, sounds, and silences, and transforms a sequence of scenes into a complete experience,” elaborates FCB New York’s Brei Monteiro. Yet for him, the real difference lies in an edit’s ability to make its message stick in a lasting way – no longer just informing but engaging, entertaining and moving people. “It captures what's beyond the script, using silences, tension and pauses to create an experience that emotionally resonates, making the message not just clear but unforgettable.”

Above: Brei Monteiro, senior editor at FCB New York

Stewart Reeves, editor at Work Editorial, highlights the Neil Smith edited ‘Field Generals’ Nike ad, and the “effortlessly cool” Channel 4 Paralympics spot, ‘Considering What?’, from editor Rich Orrick as examples of ‘great’ work. ‘Humming with hidden precision’, he postulates that removing just one shot from either would cause them to collapse, “like a delicate house of cards.”

“A great edit is something you feel in your gut,” he says. “It makes your chest tighten, forcing you to hold your breath for too long – it moves from logic to emotion. We are no longer just watching, we are feeling.”

Above: Work Editorial editor, Stewart Reeves

PS260’s Maury Loeb reinforces the importance of emotional weight in a ‘great’ cut, especially in a commercial context where multiple stakeholders from the creative, production and client side often want their opinions heard in the edit suite, and where data and research has significant influence. “As an editor, it’s more important to me to approach each spot from a filmmaker’s perspective, as opposed to a tech company's best practices bullet point or feedback from market testing,” he says. 

“Adding a random close-up or a puppy might score well on a neuromarketer’s eye-tracking test, but that will never make the difference between a good edit and a great edit.” Instead, adds Abandon Editorial’s Val Thrasher, it’s vital for editors to stay true to the creative core of the film’s narrative.

Above: PS260 editor, Maury Loeb

“It’s about telling the best possible story, respecting the brand’s original vision and welcoming feedback without losing the story’s integrity. Editing is problem-solving, and a great edit is finding that harmony where everything just clicks.”

Carousel Collective editor Jesse Allen, however, has an alternative view of the discussion.

“Not to be the rebellious kid at the back of the classroom, but my answer is: You can’t tell a ‘good’ from ‘great’ cut. The reason? In my 20 years of editing, I break down projects into two categories: ‘Enhancing/protecting’ and ‘saving/resurrecting’.”

Above: Val Thrasher, editor at Abandon Editorial

The former involves projects where all parties throughout creative and production are on the same page, where the Hippocratic Oath comes into play: ‘Do no harm’. “Respect and protect the vision, find any way you can enhance the concept, and help guide which gems you have to kill,” explains Jesse. “Will you notice the good edit on this? In many cases, no.”

Contrastingly, saving/resurrecting is required when a project has ‘a problem’ caused by mishaps further upstream. In this scenario, the editor must don multiple hats: “Storyteller, adept librarian of every frame, wayward adventurer and therapist,” he says. “Toss the Hippocratic Oath. This is when you move to the first rule of Improv: Yes, and…”

Above: Carousel Collective editor, Jesse Allen

For Jesse, this is when a ‘great’ editor truly shows their skill and artistry, even beyond the more flashy and tech savvy work. “It requires creative improvising and interpersonal skills. Will you notice the good edit on this? In many cases, also no.”

He explains that most editors’ reels are impressive showcases, chock-full of both ‘good’ and ‘great’ campaigns which have gone through the improving ‘enhance/protect’ process. “But the ones we’re the most proud of are those that we saved or resurrected,” he shares. 

“And you’ll never detect it, if we’re great.”