Cooking and video editing

After viewing a video I made about a vacation trip, a good friend of mine said “Nice to be able to have a cameraman shooting film as you move around!” This comment brought home that generalized misconception that producing a video is all about shooting it, when there’s much more – in my opinion – about editing the final piece than just pointing and shooting one’s smartphone here and there!

Then, I realized that shooting a video and editing it is just like shopping for food and cooking a meal. Most people know how to more or less gather stuff at the store or in the veggie garden, but only a chosen few have the expertise and talent required to cook to perfection. If ingredients have been forgotten at shopping time, or are of less than great quality, or there is any kind of other problem the cook must creatively improvise and still deliver a delectable meal in spite of supply shortcomings. 

Only an expert chef will pull from their experience, knowledge and creativity to make a miracle happen. It’s exactly the same situation facing the video editor that must make do with less than stellar footage. Over the years, I have produced over 500 small videos and have learned through countless trials and errors, persistence, imitation and even books. 

Similar to certain fantastic cookbooks, “How to shoot video that doesn’t suck!” was a game-changing book for me that taught me the essential of editing and also influenced my picking the raw material I needed to tell the story I wanted to come through. 

Just as few dinner guests will understand the hours of preparation, seasoning, and presentation behind a gourmet dish, most viewers of a video have no idea how much time and thought went into crafting the final cut. 

The editor’s work is invisible—but it’s what makes the experience seamless, engaging, and emotionally rich. Sometimes, the footage I thought could be the main course turns out bland, while a throwaway clip becomes the secret sauce. 

Editing is where I taste, adjust, and re-imagine the recipe. It’s not just about assembling, it’s about transforming. I would also add that editing is also where emotion lives. A well-timed cut, a pause before a line of narration, a swell of music—are the spices that turn raw footage into a story that lingers. 

Just like a memorable dish, a good video leaves a feeling behind. The mission is to tell a great story with simple, well picked visuals, a good narration and music to match. So as you spread your director wings when you shoot a scene, be ready to spend 10 to 30 times more editing your final work than it took you to collect your initial footage!