Awesome Editing

Even the most anticipated movies can sometimes miss the mark. Can fans fix what the filmmakers got wrong? Pyramid Peak delved into the world of fan editing and talked with HAL 9000, one of the most dedicated and prolific fan editors ever. Fan edits can improve bad movies, and sometimes remix them into a whole new artistic vision. (Thanks, Rob!)

Filmmaker and avid cyclist Quek Shio wowed us in 2023 when he shared his bike-building process in a smoothly edited video. Now he’s back with a new bicycle and a new video. Watch him conjure, duplicate, and put together parts out of thin air. If there’s stop motion, then this would be fluid stasis. Check out his Instagram post for the parts list.

Some screenwriters can spend years writing a movie script. On the other hand, filmmaker John Hughes would bang out a script in days. CinemaStix dives deep into the process behind creating the Hughes classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which was shot mainly from a first draft and required revisions on set and clever re-cutting by Hughes and editor Paul Hirsch.

Finnish skiing channel Real Skifi created this clever short film as a tribute to the filmmaking tool known as the transition. Using a mix of edits, fades, and split screens, skiers are transported seamlessly between locations and times of day and swap places in the middle of rail grinds and other tricks.

Filmmaker Quek Shio Chuan is a master at video editing and compositing. In this clip, he shows off his dream bike build, which comes together piece by piece without tools – just his hands and some very precise editing using DaVinci Resolve Studio. He also shared the editing timeline.

Filmmaker Quek Shio recently put together a slick new office space for working on his videos. Instead of simply sharing a few still images of the setup, he used his editing skills to create a short film filled with invisible cuts and visual trickery that make it look like magic.

Jonathan Brooks’ science fiction short takes place aboard the International Space Station. When its lone astronaut loses contact with Earth and the station losing altitude, he starts wondering how he will survive and questioning what is real and imagined. Its creators began by searching the NASA Public Archives and wrote a story to match the source footage.

Insta360 shows off some slick stop-motion shots captured with the help of its Insta360 Flow smartphone gimbal and selfie stick combo. Be sure to watch the whole video for a shot-by-shot explanation by photography and post-production expert Winga.

The sounds you hear in movies can dramatically enhance what you see on screen. But other than dialogue, most movie audio isn’t created on the soundstage, it’s added in post-production by foley artists and sound editors. Paul E.T. explores the importance of sound effects, music, and speech in filmmaking.

The Great British Bake Off is called The Great British Baking Show here in the U.S. because Pillsbury owns a trademark on the words “Bake-Off.” Captain Disillusion digs into the consequences of this legal battle in the way the show has to be shot, edited, and have VFX applied to modify its contents for Netflix.

Dave Ardito makes short videos inspired by anime. There are lots of fun and energetic clips on his TikTok feed, but this is one of the best examples, a real-life version of Speed-o’Sound Sonic from One Punch Man zooming and ricocheting around a room thanks to some slick editing and VFX.

A crackling fire, advancing a mechanical camera, and a well-struck golf ball are among the most satisfying sounds in the world. Musician Dan Mace recorded and edited together some of these great noises into a soundtrack that’s engineered to be even more satisfying than its individual components.

(Flashing images) Filmmaker Páraic McGloughlin created this mindblowing music video for Monolink’s track The Prey, incorporating the incredible sculpture of artist Tomàs Barceló. Páraic created the dizzying visuals by cutting between similar objects, locations, and perspectives in rapid succession.

madmatthies is a master of the TikTok transition. In this clip she sends her head spinning with a variety of camera tricks, edits, and props. Break the illusion and see how she works some of her magic in this behind the scenes clip.

Athlete and physical comedian Daniel LaBelle imagines a world where gravity is strictly optional. He edited his slow-motion footage to never show his feet touching the ground, then got his buddies to participate in an even better part two of the series. That bit with the treadmill is our favorite.

(PG-13: Gore) From greenscreen to miniatures to CGI, there are lots of different ways to produce visual effects. Filmmaker and essayist David F. Sandberg reminds us how simple edits can be one of the most effective ways to create illusions on screen and to integrate disparate elements to create a cohesive effect.