Visual Effects Society Handbook

Editing within a Shot: The Art of Pre-Compositing

Before dividing the visual effects editing process into various procedures, it is important to first explain what visual effects editing is exactly and how it began.

VFX Editors actually do edit, just not in the traditional sense. They edit shots, not sequences. A traditional editor, called a picture editor, cuts together scenes by editing together different camera angles, called shots, to tell a story. For example, a scene may begin with a close-up of a general’s face looking through a telescope followed by a wide shot of a group of soldiers marching toward him on a battlefield and finally ending with a medium shot of the general riding away on his horse. By contrast, a VFX Editor edits within ...