Editing

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part of Post-Production · tier 2 · 0 pieces of work carry it · 4 crafts it is confused with

The craft, and who hires it

Hired to turn shot material into a story: cutting commercials and campaign films from dailies, rhythm-driven montage work, re-versioning hero films into cutdowns. Post houses sell this as 'Editorial' (alias seed per the vendor benchmark).

The craft of selecting, ordering, and cutting footage into a finished sequence — pacing, rhythm, juxtaposition, montage structure, and storytelling built in the cut. The market's word for this craft is 'Editorial'.

Tag it when…

Tag when the cut itself is a visible craft achievement: deliberate pacing, rhythmic cutting to music, match-cuts and montage construction, multi-scene assembly, or storytelling carried by juxtaposition. Any content type qualifies — a testimonial video with a crafted cut is still Editing by craft.

Never tag it when…

Never tag single-take or single-shot pieces with no cut construction — the craft there is cinematography (Video Production). Never tag the timing of designed animated frames as Editing — sequencing authored graphics is Animation/Motion Graphics craft; Editing presumes captured footage assembled in the cut. Color decisions go to Color Grading; within-shot layer blending goes to Compositing.

Easily mistaken for 4 other crafts

Every other page suggests neighbours by similarity. This one navigates by difference: each line names the craft this is confused with, and the rule for telling them apart.

• video production live action cinematography — Cinematography is how shots were CAPTURED (lens, light, camera movement); Editing is how shots were ASSEMBLED. A beautiful single take has cinematography craft and zero editing craft.
• post production color grading — Grading treats the footage's color/tone; Editing structures its order and pacing. They co-occur on most finished films — tag each only on its own evidence.
• animation motion graphics — Kinetic sequencing of designed graphic elements is Motion Graphics (Animation); Editing is cutting captured footage in time. The canon's worked example (DN-192): a live-action film CONTAINING a Title-Card motion-graphics beat — the title/type beat is a Motion Graphics MOMENT, never Editing evidence, and never makes the film an animation asset.
• visual effects vfx 2d compositing — Compositing blends layers simultaneously WITHIN a shot; Editing joins shots sequentially ACROSS time.

At what size it applies

Almost always an asset tag — the whole piece IS the cut. A distinctly edit-crafted beat inside a longer piece (a montage sequence inside an otherwise static talk or demo) is a moment tag on that segment.

Where to look next

• The whole services tree — the services index.
• Every other vocabulary — the vocabulary index.
• How work gets credited to a craft — the entities chapter.