Inside the edit suite: how a news package gets cut against the clock

When footage reaches the edit suite, the editor does not start cutting. The first job is to know what has arrived. Files are copied, checked for drop-outs and sorted into folders named by shot type and time, so that nobody has to hunt for the wide shot or the interview clip later. On a busy afternoon this looks like fussing, but it is the step that protects every minute after it.

While that happens, the field reporter or producer sends a short note by phone or message: the angle, the slot length, who has been interviewed and what must not be missed. Priya Nair, our lead editor, reads that note before she opens a single clip. An edit built on the wrong angle is fast to make and slow to repair.

We also agree the deadline in plain terms: when the package is needed, in what format and who signs it off. Vague timings are the commonest cause of rushed, sloppy cuts, so we pin them down before the timeline exists.

• Copy and verify every file before touching it
• Sort clips by shot type and time
• Read the field note before opening footage
• Confirm deadline, format and sign-off

Editors rarely cut from the full pile of footage. They mark selects: the strongest interview answers, the clean pictures that show what happened, the natural sound that places the viewer on the scene. On a short package, a few dozen marked moments are plenty, and everything else is left alone.

This is where careful camera work pays back. Footage with steady framing, clear audio and a few deliberate cutaways goes into the timeline almost on its own. Footage shot in a panic needs patching, and patching costs minutes nobody has. Daniel Pearce's habit of holding a shot a few seconds longer than feels necessary is a gift to whoever edits it.

We keep the selects in a separate sequence, so if a producer asks for a different angle an hour later, the work is already half done and we are not trawling through raw files again.

The cut is built in a set order. Voice and interview audio go down first, because they carry the meaning. Pictures follow, chosen to cover the words without repeating them. Natural sound and any music come last, kept low enough that a viewer on a phone speaker still hears every word.

Pace matters more than polish. A reporter's piece to camera, a quick cutaway, a clear answer from a witness: each should earn its place within a few seconds. If a shot does not add a fact or a feeling, it goes, however good it looks.

We cut to the slot length from the beginning rather than trimming at the end. A package built to ninety seconds feels complete at ninety seconds, while one chopped down from three minutes often loses its logic and ends up with gaps a viewer can sense.

• Dialogue first, then pictures, then sound
• Cut to the slot length from the start
• Remove any shot that adds no fact

Graphics are added once the story holds together. A name and role caption for each speaker, a location line and, where it helps, a simple map or figure. We use a small set of templates so that every package looks consistent and nothing has to be redesigned under pressure.

Captions get particular care. Many viewers watch with the sound off, so on-screen words must be accurate and readable against any background. We check spellings of names and places against the producer's notes, not against memory, and we keep lines short enough to read in the time they are on screen.

A graphic that crowds the picture is worse than none. If a caption covers a face or a number is hard to take in at a glance, we simplify it. The aim is for the viewer to understand the story, not to admire the title sequence.

Before delivery, someone other than the editor watches the package from start to finish. Fresh eyes catch the misspelt name, the clip that shows the wrong street, the audio dip halfway through. Rachel Hollis often takes this role herself, and it takes only a few minutes against a long cost if an error goes out.

We then export to the format the broadcaster or publisher asked for, and play the exported file rather than trusting the export. A file that looks fine in the editing software can still hide a glitch, so we watch the real thing.

Delivery is confirmed with a short message saying what was sent and where. If a late correction arrives, the project is still open and the changes can be made quickly, which is one reason we keep every timeline tidy until the story is closed.

• Second pair of eyes on every package
• Play the exported file, not the project
• Confirm delivery in writing

For a producer, the useful part of all this is predictability. A clear note at the start, an agreed deadline and a named person for sign-off let an edit suite work quickly without guessing. Most delays we see trace back to unclear briefs, not slow editing.

Speed in this work is mostly preparation: tidy files, marked selects, consistent templates and a checking habit. Cutting itself is the shorter part of the job, and it goes well because the dull steps before it were done properly.