on taste and editing

i edit in my head while i'm directing. i know the cut before anyone else sees the footage. that's not arrogance, it's just how i think. i'm not a dump-truck director who shoots everything and figures it out later. i distill ideas down to their core before the camera rolls.

there's a rhythm i keep coming back to. i call it pulse and breathe. you hit hard with fast cuts, energy, movement. then you hold. you let a moment sit. you give the audience space to feel something before you pull them into the next wave. that push and pull is everything.

if the performance is strong you don't drown it. you don't cover it with flashy edits or transitions. you get out of the way. the best editing is the stuff nobody notices because it just feels right.

soundbite selection is something most people get wrong. they pick the bite that delivers the most information. i pick the one that delivers the most emotional truth. sometimes that's someone trailing off mid-sentence. sometimes it's a pause. the feeling is always more important than the fact.

taste isn't something you can teach. but you can sharpen it by watching everything, cutting everything, and being honest about what works and what doesn't.