How to Trim a 15-minute Video for a 5-minute Film Festival

1. Mentally Prepare

If you’re even considering submitting your work to a film festival, of course, it’s a project you’re proud of. That’s good, be proud. But, in the editing room, it’s time to be humble. Every shot probably isn’t the cinematic masterpiece you think it is. Every scene probably isn’t the perfect mosaic of dialogue, action, and plot development as you perceive it to be. Prepare yourself to let go. Duplicate your timeline, so you never lose your original baby. Then, get to it. You know what’s needed; embrace it.

2. Clean Break

Watch your film and then watch it again. The second time, ask yourself, scene by scene, moment by moment:

– Does this scene develop the plot?
– Does this scene develop the character?
– Does this scene provide the viewer with new information?

If the scene does not meet any of the criteria, then scrap it. Remember, you’re not married to the edit. No vows were taken. It’s okay to let a scene or two (or three or four or five or six) go. I promise you’ll get over the initial separation anxiety.

Yes, Jane was barefoot and then walks out the door with her shoes on. We don’t need to see her put on her socks and shoes and tie the laces. The audience gets it.

The key is in the cleanliness. Once you scrap that scene, don’t continue to dwell on your loss. Clean breaks only. After all, it’s not a loss; it’s a gain. You’re one step closer to your film being accepted in that film festival.

Now that you’ve watched your film, it’s time to listen. Close your eyes or disable the video track, whichever works best for you.

Listening to your film with no visual, you’ll begin to recognize which dialogue propels the narrative and which is just fluff. Did your grade school teachers use that word to describe your middle school essays, too? If not:

Fluff – /fləf/ n. extraneous words in written or verbal communication; information that neither adds clarity nor peaks interest

Get rid of the fluff. You’re mentally prepared for this. Remember: clean break.

4. Ambiguity is NOT the DevilAt this point, you may begin to doubt your edit. This is natural. Don’t worry. When you watch your edit again, you’re probably telling yourself that now your story isn’t as clear. We filmmakers and video editors often don’t give our viewers enough credit. They’re smart people. Give them a chance to exercise their
intelligence.No matter how complex the narrative, it can still be told concisely.Nonetheless, maybe, in your drastic slicing and dicing, you did cut out a few significant details. Watch your new edit and then watch your original edit. Hopefully, this will be a beautiful moment where you can see how much your edit has improved, but also you can see if anything’s missing that needs to be reworked into timeline.

Ambiguity is not the devil, but adultery is. If you add those 15 seconds you decided are imperative; you must remove 15 seconds elsewhere. No double-dipping. You cannot have the two at the same time. Be faithful.
5. Heads and Tails

It’s tedious work, but you’ll be absolutely amazed at the time you can shave off your film with a bit of precision editing. Look at your timeline. Every clip has a few frames (maybe even a few

seconds) at its start and finish that can be removed. It won’t be missed; it won’t take any dialogue away from the scene.

Through doing this, though, you may find that a scene is more interesting if some of the initial, establishing dialogue is cut off. You may find that it’s a better transition to the next scene to end the previous one a little sooner. These are possible discoveries, but the purpose and focus of heads and tails is simply those few frames at the beginning and end of every clip on your time.

It may seem that a few frames here and there will make no difference, but, be diligent and take heart. Precision editing yields great results.Your film should be ready for submission after these five steps. If it’s not, repeat. Watch it again. Listen again. Check the heads and the tails. Sometimes it’s a cyclical process, but, you’ll accomplish your goal if you see it through.

If time permits, I encourage you to also find a happy middle. You have your long edit (which you may find to not be the perfection you thought it was) and you also have your short edit. Before you hang this project up, make a 7-8 minute edit, too. Not many viewers are likely to stick around for that 15-minute story, but, if you really want a few more details in your edit (and its not fluff), then the viewer will likely tolerate that extra minute or so.

So, there you have it. You’re film festival ready and you have the Goldiocks (perfect middle) edit as a little guilty pleasure to share with your friends. ☮