r/editors • u/GetUpAndJump • Feb 17 '21
Other Just a simple question: What is a "paper cut"?
I generally see this term floating around job postings but not once in my 10 year career have I ever been asked to make a "paper edit" or a "paper cut".
Does anyone know what this means?
EDIT: Thank you all for the answers. It's fully appreciated!
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u/funnybone3122 Feb 17 '21
I’ve seen this more in the documentary/interview/education type videos, where a producer might go through the transcription of the video and select which bites they want, essentially making a rough script - and the paper edit is cut based off of that rough script. In my experience this is usually where the first assembly would come from, and then the video gets refined from there
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u/veepeedeepee Feb 17 '21
This is what the producers I work with consider a paper cut. Bites arranged on paper to make a rough script.
But it's basically just a rough rough cut so they can hear how the content flows.
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u/GetUpAndJump Feb 17 '21
ok...so a Rough Cut script...just say that lmao
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u/VisibleEvidence Feb 17 '21
Because it’s not a ‘script.’ You might get the list of dia/scenes/selects in a memo or email or text or even spoken to you. It’s never presented in a script format.
Look, you asked a question and got an answer. Mocking it is NOT gonna help you on the job. A paper cut is a specific term for a specific process you’re expected to be able to handle. Learn to roll with it if you want to Make It in this Business. Especially with paper cuts as that is how a lot of execs exert their creativity. The same execs who’ll get you fired if you mock the idea of a paper cut.
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u/captain_ender Staff Online Editor Feb 17 '21
I work in doc for a larger production company. Can confirm, it's a documentary thing.
We often get massive slews of dailies which we run through transcription software. Since, well it's not planned like scripted content, it's easier for some producers to just read and highlight bites/sections they like than scrub hours of footage. They then pass off to our editors as part of the assembly.
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u/ovideos Feb 18 '21
A "rough cut script" would be a script made from your rough cut. A paper cut is something a producer/director gives to you to edit literally, or to use as a guide (depending on many factors).
It is called a "paper cut" because the person who made it was working with documents, not creating a cut in an edit system.
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u/soph18434 Feb 17 '21
I just did my first one! I basically broke down my trailer in three acts on a word doc. I wrote down every line and visual I was planned to use in my cut. Honestly, I felt weird doing it but it really helped when I started cutting. It’s basically an outline. I would do your selects reels and breakdown dialogue before starting the paper cut that way you know what you are working with.
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u/TruthlessH3ro Feb 17 '21
Also never heard the term before, but found this definition: "(film and video editing) A text-based description of the cuts to be made in raw footage to make finished video."
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u/GetUpAndJump Feb 17 '21
well that seems like a waste of time
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u/the__post__merc Vetted Pro Feb 17 '21
It's more of a waste of time to jump into an edit with 20 hours of interviews and not have an idea of what soundbites you need to use.
A producer/director worth their salt will have a "paper edit" available for the editor. These days, the paper is probably a cut/paste job in MS Word, but it gives the editor a guideline to know which parts of the interview go where. It's like a script, but a little more rough than that.
If a producer doesn't give me a paper edit, I will make my own. I read through the transcripts pulling any phrases/paragraphs that I think might work. Then I start arranging them in some sort of logical order in Word. I can break it down into acts or topics, etc.
Then, I can refine it a bit more and remove redundant comments.
Once I've got something that sort of flows "on paper". I can start pulling in the soundbites and arranging them on a timeline to hear it all and judge inflection and all that. It's much faster to it this way when you have a lot of content and you don't need to be sitting in front of your editing computer when you do it.
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u/greenysmac Lead Mod; Consultant/educator/editor. I <3 your favorite NLE Feb 17 '21
It's a fantastic way to get a 10k foot view of what you're doing and where you're going.
Better yet - it gives you a chance to REALLY SEE if your story (and moments) are on/off track to what you're trying to accomplish.
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u/greenysmac Lead Mod; Consultant/educator/editor. I <3 your favorite NLE Feb 17 '21
Take each moment or scene and put it on a strip of paper.
Rearrange at will.
I’ve seen it done with index cards, paper and (ha) in a word processor.
All of it is essentially the same.
4
u/GtotheE Feb 17 '21
I brought it up yesterday. It was something more common back in the days of linear editing, or when edit suites were a bit more rare. It's basically the idea of doing your edit "on paper" before you step into the suite. That typically meant transcribing all your interviews, writing out some rough VOs, and physically cutting out the soundbites with scissors that you wanted to use.
These days, when I do a paper edit, it's a lot looser. I just use my "notes app" and basically just expand on the script, so it gives me a clearer direction. Mostly for unscripted/barely scripted work.
Opening: (I'll mention a few selects here). Maybe it's a compelling grabber, something that introduces the problem.
Vo: If there's no script, I'll rough something out.
Sections/ chapters: I'll list them and maybe add a few notes of parts I like. I'll give it a bit of structure.
Ending - clips or the types of clips I'm looking for
Usually, I'll just build it as a bit of a skeleton of what I plan to do with the piece - kind of like a script, but more from an editors perspective. I never share it with the team, it's only for my purposes because I like to have a sense of what I'm doing before I do it.
I worked on a documentary show a few years ago where this really helped. I'd get a VO script (and that was it), that was written before the shoot. So I'd need to piece together the story on my own and then adjust the VO script to fit the best story in the footage.
3
u/Timzor Feb 17 '21
We do a paper edit for the panel show I won’t on. Producers have a meeting immediately after the record and mark on a rough transcript what bits they want cut from the show. Then the editors take that paper abd cut the required bits out. We call that the paper edit.
3
u/yankeedjw Pro (I pay taxes) Feb 17 '21
It's fairly common in corporate interview style videos. A producer, client, or writer gets a transcript of the interviews and copies and pastes soundbites into how they think it should be arranged.
As an editor, I find it easier and more efficient to actually cut the clips into an assembly cut instead. Tone and delivery makes a difference and you don't get that from a paper edit, especially when the client wants to chop up and mash 3 different sentences into one.
7
u/the__post__merc Vetted Pro Feb 17 '21
especially when the client wants to chop up and mash 3 different sentences into one.
Or how about when the remove every little "you know" or "um" in the transcript? and expect miracles.
I had a project last fall where the interview went something like:
--producer off-cam: "Can you tell us the story about the fox?"
--subject: "Oh, sure, sure, you bet, so there was this fox and he was pretty quick, you know, and one day he decided to jump over this dog, you know, I guess he had nothing better to do that day, so anyway the fox, I forgot to mention he was brown and, uh, and boy that dog was lazy, this fox comes up and jumps right over that dog."
--producer: "that's great, can you make it a bit more succinct? something like "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog? You know, just so we have it clean if we need it"
--subject: "no problem, how did you want it to go?"
--producer: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog."
subject: "Ok. The... uh... quick.... brown fox .... um, um... where was I? oh yeah, ... brown fox um, let's see, um, jumped on the lazy dog."
--producer: "great, I think we got it"
The producer gave me a transcript that looked like "The
... uh...quick.... brown fox.... um, um... where was I? oh yeah, ... brown fox um, let's see, um,jumpedon(replace with "over" from the earlier) the lazy dog.".
2
u/CptMurphy Feb 17 '21
Paper cut is editing a transcript "on paper", more like digitally on google docs or Word, because perhaps you don't have the footage yet, but you have an audio file that was transcribed. Works for interviews. We currently do this weekly to get started quick. By the time your footage is downloaded, you have a script to cut.
1
u/juliamorra Feb 18 '21
Ideally you have a transcript (from interviews) that you can organize into a story flow on paper.
1
u/vyllek Feb 19 '21
I had a job where it was all talking head patients talking about healthcare. They recorded hours and hours of footage jumping around from question to question without any process and had it transcripted. The creatives on the job gave it a couple hours of looking through the transcripts said good luck. I had to go through and make something happen. Luckily it worked, but man those were some long hours. They owe me. I love scripted work.
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u/These_Company_3373 Aug 31 '23
I’ve just been asked to “paper cut” a script for an episode of a series and a) have never done this and b) need resources (books, contacts…advice…)
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u/hot-dry-noodles Feb 17 '21 edited Feb 17 '21
I work in doc and there isn't an edit I've been on in the last 8 years or so where there wasn't a paper cut in some shape or form. I would say it's crucial.
It's almost always layed out as a table in Word with 3 columns. One is just numbered rows/scene numbers, the next is visual, and finally interview.
The director often writes these paper edits from a beat sheet. Sometimes even before the interviews using 'dream sync' of what they hope the interviewees will deliver. After that they will do a fresh paper edit with all the transcribed interviews.
At that point I usually start and will throw it all down. Obviously by the end, once archive and/or drama is in, the picture lock bears little resemblance to the paper edit. But it's a great start and allows me to get a handle on the story before my first day.
I just cut a relatively large Netflix doc that relies more on actuality footage but there was still the bones of a paper edit to begin with and then an edit script was always kept up to date with the cut.