Edit Better

Hollywood-Tested Strategies for Powerful Video Editing

By: Jeff Bartsch

Narrated by: Jeff Bartsch

Imagine pushing a magic button in your video editing software labeled "better". Any project you edit turns out exactly how you planned, every single time. Your audience is absolutely spellbound, wiping tears from their eyes, laughing out loud, or sitting in stunned silence as they see the world in a different way for the first time.

Bad news: That button doesn't exist. Good news: Edit Better shows you how to get there anyway.

Edit Better was made for video editors who consider themselves advanced hobbyists or growth-minded professionals, artists who know that the tools of editing matter far less than the knowledge of how to use those tools powerfully.

This audiobook does not illuminate the workings of Avid, Final Cut, or Premiere, and is not a meditation on film editing. What it is: a provocative, wide-ranging collection of strategies and tactics for the creative application of TV and video editing, no matter your editing tools.

Author Jeff Bartsch lays out both big-picture strategies and practical, boots-on-the-ground tactics for powerful communication. Going far beyond mere button-pushing, Jeff good-naturedly blends communication theory, marketing, behavioral psychology, neuroscience, and nuts-and-bolts details of editing application from years of experience in Hollywood, the storytelling capital of the world.

©2014 Jeff Bartsch (P)2014 Resolve Entertainment, Inc.

The best book on editing

This is a wonderful book! Really useful for editors, videographer or filmmakers. Great structure, good sense of humor, great tips!

Used what I learned, and I DID edit better

I'm a video editing hobbyist doing video projects mostly for fun and also for a few clients.

There were several things that I just learned from experience and just felt right when I do them while editing. Though I couldn't really put a finger on why I specifically do some things, e.g. cutting, choosing scenes, audio,etc. This book put those learnings out onto my awareness. Now I can consciously do better edits knowing the reasons behind my every action.

Narration was natural! and the bits of humor helped it not to be boring.

Great, holistic advice

Mostly needed help producing instructional videos for work. The advice in this book lands at the intersection between the technical and the artistic so, as some other reviews have said, novices like me can find the reasoning behind whether or not things we try work sometimes but not others. It gives a better approach and a better way to think through a project regardless of the tools in use. I won't be winning Oscars but my projects already flow better and just generally suck less.

An audiobook on editing can work and its brilliant

If you are just starting to learn the art of video editing this book is a must. The focus isn't on the technical details, but rather about processes, strategies, approaches, and what to look for in shots to make your cuts smooth and seamless. The author lays out 74 rules, broken down into sections, and you will want to take notes on each and every one.

The narration was great. It was engaging and a pleasure to listen to. Of all the books I have listened to, and read, on film making in the past few months, this is one of the best.

Finally an audiobook about editing video!

I have been looking for exactly a book of this kind for months now. All of a sudden; there it was in the New Releases section.

The narration by Jeff is great – he's fresh and frank – not too much, not too little.

What excites me the most, is this books focus on what makes an edit (i.e. the individual cut between two clips) work – or not work.

It's exactly the book I've been looking for.

I would give it 5 stars if it wasn't for the fact that I only give 5 stars for out of this world, life-changing books (like for example Nathaniel Branden's 6 "Pillars of Self-esteem" and such). On a regular scale, this book is definitely 5 stars!

All around must listen**

As an aspiring cinematographer I currently wear all the hats from the writing, cinematography, editing and sound design. I don't know why this book is only called "Edit Better" because the name does not do it justice on the amount of nuggets you can obtain from this. Jeff does a fantastic job conveying the valuable information he has to share, in an easy to understand manner, while keeping the story inticing and including some humor! This is EXACTLY what I needed to solidify the foundation of ideas I figured out on my own, in addition to TONS of helpful information that I was not aware of. Thank you for this, Jeff!

Awesome Book

This is just what I was looking for. It's about fundamentals of video editing, not about using any specific software tool. The narration by the author is excellent too.

Perfect book To binge and re-binge

For the new, intermediate, and expert editors or editors to be, this is a fantastic book to listen and then, listen again. Editing is a muscle. This book, is the nourishment you need for the muscle to grow and get stronger

Exactly what I was looking for.

I work on audiovisual projects as a hobby. The information offered in this book helped me get a better idea what I need to pay attention to when editing.

The book provides a set of ground rules for anyone who just started learning about editing, or anyone who feels like they are missing something fundamental when trying to edit a piece.

The rules and ideas are all explained well, it's not something that needs the followed blindly, the reasoning behind them also comes through and it's up to the readers judgment on how to apply them. All ideas are to the point, distilled from years of real life experience.

What I really like is that a broad range of subjects are covered, not just picture. None of them in depth, but the essential ideas that anyone can pick up and put to use are there.

Good job Jeff, and thank you for sharing your experiences.

Engaging, and fun but above all informative

This will definitely be a book I listen to multiple times. Having the author read this aids to the understanding of the content. Highly recommend.