Quick Tips: Edit a Car Chase

• October 27, 2015

• Film Editing Pro

Who doesn’t love a good car chase, right? They’re fun to watch and even more fun to edit, but they CAN be a bit challenging.

The Basics

The video we’re about to show you comes from the team over at the [former] BBC Top Gear headquarters. It’s a fascinating breakdown of some of the key components required to take a car chase from amateur and cheesy to exciting and professional.

How to Edit a Car Chase

Watch as the cut starts off a bit, shall we say, “lacking”…and then progresses along to ultimately end up as a polished, Hollywood-style car chase. Along the way you’ll see the impact of sound design, music, shot pacing, quality cinematography and visual storytelling.

The Steps

Here are the main steps you’ll see in the video:

STEP 1: 1st rough “Editor’s Cut” STEP 2: 2nd cut after “Director’s Notes” STEP 3: 3rd cut after reshoots STEP 4: 4th cut after re-editing, color-grading, music and sfx

Check it out!

Thanks to FILM…SOUND…COLOR for putting together such a great video!

If you’d like to dig deeper into the art and the craft of editing, download our FREE 50 Film Editing Tips eBook , written by our team of professional Hollywood editors.

Until next time…be well and edit like a pro!

Film Editing Pro

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