The Practical Guide to Documentary Editing

Introduction

I was thirteen when I discovered skateboarding.

I spent every moment I could cruising the streets of Cambridge, in thrall to a counterculture that I had discovered by watching Californian VHS cassette tapes. The energy of these films, their beautiful pictures and soundtrack inspired me. I decided there and then that I wanted to make my own skate-board videos: a decision that soon led me to discover editing. I spent some years shooting and editing my own skateboard films and then selling the cassette tapes in local shops. I enjoyed all of the stages of production, but I knew immediately that I liked editing the most. For me, editing was the most critical aspect of the production process: the defining practice which gave films ...