Craig Wilson
Editing Tips

Craig Wilson is founder and principal editor of boutique post-production business ImagesPOST, based in North Sydney, NSW.

From humble beginnings editing his cousin's wedding on two Home VCRs, Craig's work now includes television commercials, documentaries and short films using the latest state of the art post production facilities, both in Australia and overseas.

A master of short film editing, Craig has tasted Sony Tropfest success personally, netting the Best Editor award in 2003 for the short film Buried, and three consecutive years as a finalist.

Prior to establishing ImagesPOST, Craig was senior editor at Frame, Set & Match.

Notes from speech

At Sony Roughcut, Craig gave the audience a taste of the role editing plays in short film making and a few tips on how to make the most of the editing process:

• With editing, practice makes perfect. A golden rule is to maintain continuous time in your film and to keep it moving forward.
• Remember, editing is more than just cutting and splicing. The editor has the ability to take the audience on an emotional journey.
• Production of a Sony Tropfest, or indeed any film is a team game, everyone in the team plays an important part.
• When making a movie for Sony Tropfest, find a good editor and let them assist you in telling the story with as much impact as possible.
• As an editor it is your job to be organized – label every shot and every reel – this will help you later on in the process.
• Look at every frame – only when you have seen everything can you pull the story together.
• If you have to go to a facility to edit your movie, make sure you go with someone who knows what they are doing.
• After the main edit has been made, you can opt to grade the film to help the feel of the movie – this can be costly but you can use desktop packages.
• Once you have your master, don't forget the sound. A good sound mix and sound design can enhance the film by 50%.
• Rather than paying for expensive sound edits in post production, try and make sure you get it right on the shoot itself.

Craig's top tips:

• Making a movie is a team game – know your crew members and start work with them all early.
• Be organized – label your reels and shots.
• Watch everything.
• Don't focus on the technicalities of editing, a bad script shot and edited well won't go far.
• Unless you know what you are doing, keep it simple.
• Be confident – don't be afraid to ask people their advice.
• If it feels good to you, do it!