editing Improving performances

[Gigot]

Hello Fellow Editors and Filmmakers!

I'd love to hear any tips or tricks you may have learned or discovered, to improve an actor's performance in the editing room. Thank you very much for whatever you can offer to build this knowledge base for such an important topic!

 

[sfoster]

I don't think there is a trick to it. You have to cut out the bad parts by showing something else, like a reaction shot.
Sometimes you can't even show the actor speaking the dialogue because its so bad, and you have to show the back of their head with the dialogue and really cut down on the amount of face time the actor has - if they aren't at the same caliber as the rest of your cast.

 

[mlesemann]

What @sfoster said 100%.

I'd add that you should trim out as much dead air as you can - it makes the whole thing drag, which makes the actors look/sound worse.

 

[Gigot]

I don't think there is a trick to it. You have to cut out the bad parts by showing something else, like a reaction shot.
Sometimes you can't even show the actor speaking the dialogue because its so bad, and you have to show the back of their head with the dialogue and really cut down on the amount of face time the actor has - if they aren't at the same caliber as the rest of your cast.

Thank you very much!

 

[Gigot]

What @sfoster said 100%.

I'd add that you should trim out as much dead air as you can - it makes the whole thing drag, which makes the actors look/sound worse.

Yes. In this regard I found Weston's distinction between dramatically motivated pauses and "actor pauses" very enlightening. Thank you very much.