Creating a film that makes an impact on viewers is a true art. There are many factors that go into the details behind such a project, and mastering the meticulous editing process is one of the most essential keys to producing a piece of work that stands out.

In Full Sail University’s Digital Cinematography area of study, students learn a wide range of editing techniques that they can apply to their work. One course in this curriculum is Project and Portfolio IV: Digital Cinematography. Angelo Perino, who has worked in the film industry for over two decades, serves as the Course Director for this class.

“The students come into my class bringing in work they’ve done in previous classes,” Angelo explains.

That work revolves around developing a short documentary film between four and six minutes in length. Most topics within Full Sail’s content guidelines are fair game, and students have done everything from profile stories on family members to finding compelling stories to tell in their communities. The work on this mini-documentary starts earlier in the coursework where we lay a foundation in storytelling, production, and cinematography. Once they get into Angelo’s course, students start to put the finishing touches on the film. They also write a discussion post, explaining in detail the editing techniques they have used to make their film.

“I’m pretty strict,” he says. “I act as the client as if they are going to sell this [film] to me.”

During some of the live sessions for the class on Zoom, Angelo shares his screen and goes through each student’s film with the group, commenting on it in great detail. He provides lots of practical feedback and focuses on the little things students can do to present their work in the most professional manner. A big reason for sharing each film with the group is because his feedback on editing for one student can apply to other students and their films.

More specifically, he gives students a list of tasks – known in the industry as deliverables – a client would say need to be done in order to complete a particular project. Examples include adjusting lower-third graphics where a speaker’s name and title appear on the screen, enhancing the contrast of certain scenes, making text and graphics large enough for readability, ensuring music and dialogue are balanced and placed properly, and blurring logos or faces when necessary. From a broader standpoint, he talks about “relevance” by making sure the visuals are relevant to the content of the film.

Along with verbal feedback, he provides the students with at least two pages of written comments with specific timestamps on where he recommends edits or changes that could help improve the overall quality of the product. In addition, the students provide written feedback to their peers.

“The main focus of this class is to make sure students have something really nice for their portfolios,” he says. “We hope they can take this film to help them get their foot in the door with companies. You don’t have to make an Academy Award-winning film right away. The real goal is to do your absolute best because filmmakers want to understand the quality you can produce. We are not expecting perfection, but we’re expecting to see that you tried your best.”

The primary software digital cinematography students work with for editing is Adobe Premiere Pro from the Adobe Creative Cloud. However, Angelo notes that software is not a big focus of his class since students should come in with ample technical skills.

“What you learn in Premiere can be applied to other software programs. It gives you more than one way to solve things,” he says.

While hands-on work is the primary focus of this course, the students are also required to watch Nanook of the North, a 1922 silent film widely regarded as the first feature-length documentary to achieve commercial success. They are asked to read an analysis of the film by acclaimed film critic Roger Ebert as well.

“I want them to see a great film and understand what can be done with minimal technology,” Angelo says. “A lot of students watch this and go, ‘Oh, I didn't realize how important music was,’ or, ‘Oh, I didn't realize that you could really tell a story without dialogue.

”In Angelo’s opinion, the art of video editing in the digital cinematography world is a very unique practice among many professions out there.

“This is not theoretical work,” he asserts. “With editing, exactly what you put in is exactly what you get out, and the results are immediate. It’s very satisfying and rewarding.”