Movie Maker just ran an article 'Things I've Learned as an Editor ' featuring some of the best advice from their archive of past interviews. Some good little snippets...

If you don't want to be an assistant, you don't want to be an editor.
If you don't like assistant editing, you're not going to like editing. Because every bit of assistant editing--which I happened to like a lot when I did it--is still there when you're a film editor.
--Steve Rosenblum

Listen to that little voice.
Sometimes you get this tiny feeling, like the hint of a twinge of a feeling that something is off with a scene or a storyline. Listen to it. Mull it over. There may be some issue that wouldn't surface for months, if ever. Other people aren't going to tell you everything. The film is counting on you to search for the right answer.
--Tom McArdle

Find those relationships.
Find those relationships where you have a kinship to someone else. My becoming friends with Miguel Arteta, and coming to the point where we work together a lot, has become invaluable. Just find that relationship and look for those people that you have a connection with in terms of the material you like.
--Jeff Betancourt

Respect the director-cinematographer collaboration
I am very respectful of the relationship between the director and the DP. I have never inserted myself into the discussion of the look of the film, but I have, of course, requested specific shots.
--Kristina Boden

Put your money where your mouth is.
I wanted to produce because as an editor for the 10 previous years I used to hear a lot of editors who do documentaries, say 'Oh, I could do better than this guy.' So I finally said "Put your money where your mouth is."
--Sam Pollard

Resist the urge to over-edit.
Resist the urge to chop up someone's good work--whether it be an actor or the DP.
--Stephen Mack

Challenge every convention.
An editor I once stood behind told me that you should never cut into a panning shot and that you couldn't cut together two panning shots traveling in opposite directions. I believed him for a while, which made my first couple of days in news editing quite difficult. So don't accept that there are rules. In editing the whole point is to challenge every convention.
--Martin Walsh

First impressions are important.
Your first impression of something is very important, and you have to hold on to that when you are editing. You have to remember "I know that the first time I saw that I felt this." Because over the editing period, you can sometimes lose that.
--Thelma Schoonmaker

Use technology to your advantage.
[AVID] really does allow you to try a lot of different things and to experiment. However, I'm glad I have the discipline of film, where you work on a scene until it works. It's like practicing an instrument: you do it again and again until it works. It's not about slapping it together. Unfortunately, too many films are cut that way today.
--Carol Littleton

The ability to watch and listen is now compromised.
Learning the craft of editing has changed in the last five to six years. Your ability to watch and learn is now compromised because people can go into a room, close the door and work by themselves. They don't need an assistant for the manual labor part of it like they used to. So the most important thing is that you really insinuate yourself into the process. Work with an editor who will let you be in the room while they're cutting.
--Jeffrey Ford

Leave your ego at the door.
It is my job to have ideas, but I can't afford to get attached to them. If I get upset because one of my ideas isn't being used, it may curb the flow of new ideas. Ultimately, I am a collaborator who is meant to be manifesting the vision of the director, so respecting that person's vision over mine is essential.
--Dody Dorn

Filmmaking is not a science.
Filmmaking is not a science, and there's no formula to follow to get you through the thousands of little decisions involved in editing a scene. Trust your instincts.
--Tim Squyres

There are five films that every editor should watch.
1. Battleship Potemkin
2. Nosferatu (1922)
3. Just about any Hitchcock film, but especially North by Northwest
4. Bonnie and Clyde
5. The Usual Suspects
--Mary Sweeney

There is such a thing as too many close-ups.
It's like banging your head on a wall.
--Anne Coates

Watch the actors' eyes.
Everything about film editing takes place in the actors' eyes.As long as an actor gives you eyes that you can work with, you never have to cut until he tells you to--until he blinks or turns away.
--Steve Rosenblum

Have a lot of screenings.
Show the rough cut every week or two to a bunch of people who haven't read the script. Then listen to their feedback about what isn't working and what isn't clear. It may be painful to hear the critiques, but get over it. Then take all the info back to the edit room and figure out what to do.
--Tom McArdle

An audience will forgive you.
If an actor gives you a moment that's really striking or wonderful, you have to try to use it. It doesn't matter if the resulting cut will be terrible; people go to the movies for those great moments, and nobody will care if the head turn doesn't match.
--Tim Squyres

You have to have the courage of your convictions.
When you're editing you have to make thousands of decisions every day and if you dither over them all the time, you'll never get anything done.
--Anne Coates

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ May 27, 2004 09:33 AM: Message edited by: Justin M. ]</font>