It might seem odd to begin a production class with a unit on editing. But I believe it is the most logical way to learn the television production process. In the old Hollywood studio system, beginners almost always started out as assistant editors. Film executives understood that once you grasped the concepts of editing, it was much easier to learn camera work or directing or sound, etc.

That’s because editing is the very core of the production process. The editing room is where television programs and films are built. This is counterintuitive for a lot of beginners. They often assume that camera work is the centerpiece of the production process. But that error in thinking is the reason that many beginners create boring, unwatchable programs.

The first thing you must understand is that editing is NOT "cutting out the bad parts" as many people assume. Rather editing is the process of assembling a program from the ground up—by artfully blending images and sound to create a coherent whole.