Editing Process: The Price of Admission

Here's another installment of "Ways Documentary Editing has Hidden Life Lessons!"

When I'm in the editing process of cutting a documentary, I'm always keeping in mind what I call "the Flaw Equation." It's never far from my decision-making. Also known as "the price of admission" with a hat tip to Dan Savage.

Every shot, every edit, has at least one flaw. As the editor, it's my job to see all of those flaws. It may be something like a moment of soft focus. Maybe the action match is ever so slightly off. Maybe everything about the delivery, the lighting, and the way the cameraperson moves is fantastic, but something in the continuity is wrong. There's always a tradeoff.

As artists, we like to think we can make every moment perfect, but can we?

I have to determine whether, if I fix that flaw, the scene will be worse for it or better. Usually, it's a matter of trading one flaw for another. Which one has more positives, on balance? Is the flaw better than the fix? Sure, I could take out that shot, but then the rhythm would be off. Or, yeah, the continuity is a little wrong, but the whole point of the scene hinges on that shot happening at that moment.

There's hierarchies of flaws, so we chose flaws carefully. Good delivery beats matched action every time. 

The editor has a special kind of relationship to the footage because we are so intimate with all the many flaw equations. Often, we will get notes from the director or producer, and they will point out flaws. From their perspective, it can feel like their responsibility to find the flaws that the editor might have missed. But 9 times out of 10, the editor didn't miss it at all. The editor was hoping it wouldn't be noticed. They are just relieved the other several dozen flaws they've chosen weren't noted.

It's easy to see the metaphor for life in this editor's dilemma.

I think it's helpful in life to always look at your flaw equations, and see if the reason that thing is in your life, even though it has a flaw, is worth the flaw.

Dan Savage coined the phrase "the price of admission" to refer to the same thing. Is being with that person or having that relationship worth accepting their flaws as a part of the package? You can't fix people. Most people can't change their deeply ingrained, annoying habit of losing focus pull occasionally. Accepting, even loving if you can, their shortcomings is the price of admission to being with them.

I think it's important in life to always look at your flaw equations and see if the reason that thing is in your life, even though it has a flaw, is worth the flaw. There's something empowering in this lesson when you realize you've actively chosen the flaws, love them even, and not just grudgingly accepted them.

And here's one thing I know for sure -- having editing in my life is worth all the stress and heartache and uncertainty that comes with it, even riding the inevitable downturns in the industry.

Speaking of which, I'm available in January as editor, post-producer, writer, or consultant! Thanks for reading.