Exactly who does what in a cutting room depends on a lot of things, the workload at any particular stage, how many people are on the team, the experience of its members, the country in which you’re working, and perhaps most significantly, the scale and budget of the project. But here are the main job roles and titles you’ll find in a film or TV cutting room:
Editor
The Editor is the head of the department. They’re often (but not always), the most experienced person in the edit team, they likely spent time working as an Assistant before moving into the editor’s chair, and probably a number of further years working on larger and larger projects as they built up their profile and reputation.
The line between film and TV is becoming increasingly blurred, with Editors more able to move from one to the other, so they may cut both TV and Film, or may have moved from one to the other at some stage. Although some editors cut both documentary and drama, most will end up specialising in one. The editor works closely with the Director to craft and hone the film, it is this relationship that is key not just for an editor’s day-to-day work, but for their career as a whole, as Directors often work again and again with the same Editor.
This website as a whole looks at what Editors do and how they do it, but What does a Film Editor Actually Do? is a good place to start.
1st Assistant Editor
The 1st AE is in charge of the day-to-day running of the cutting room. Their primary responsibility is to enable the Editor to do their job to the fullest of their ability, and that involves freeing the Editor up from tasks that are more menial, organisational, or “un-creative”. If there is a cutting room team, then the 1st will also manage and instruct the other members of the team. They are also the primary contact for other departments communicating with the cutting room. 1st AE’s on larger projects have generally worked their up the ranks of the cutting room hierarchy, accruing experience as 1st AE’s on smaller projects and 2nd AE’s on larger projects, and bring several years of knowledge and experience to the role.
What does an Assistant Editor do? goes into more depth on the 1st AE’s varied responsibilities
2nd Assistant Editor
Essentially the Assistant to the Assistant Editor, the 1st will delegate tasks to the 2nd which require less experience. 2nd AE’s have often worked as Trainee’s on larger projects or perhaps as the sole Assistant on small scale projects, and will almost certainly be looking to become 1st AE’s as their next step.
Edit Trainee/Post-Production Assistant (Post PA)
Generally relatively inexperienced or entirely new to Post-Production, attitude is more important than knowledge in this role. Largely entrusted with the most menial tasks, the Post PA is basically an edit department runner. Sometimes employed by the production, sometimes employed by a post house, they may be working on just one project, or they may be across multiple projects. Some of the work will involve Post-specific tasks (ingesting rushes, labelling material), while others will be more general “office admin” tasks like fetching coffees and couriering hard drives. This is the role most people start their cutting room career in.
VFX Editor
On smaller projects, the management and tracking of VFX shots in and out of the cutting rooms will be done by the AE’s, but on a VFX-heavy project, a dedicated VFX Editor will be brought in. They will generally be someone with experience in the cutting rooms, either as a 1st or 2nd AE, and will often have worked for a VFX company giving them an understanding of how the “other side” of VFX works. They are responsible for everything VFX-related which enters or leaves the cutting room.
Post-Production Supervisor
The Post Super will generally not be in the cutting rooms full-time, and again, can be employed by both the production and a post house, and may well be working across multiple projects at once. They will be across the whole of Post (offline edit, grade, sound design, sound mix, VFX, deliverables), looking after budgets and schedules in order to ensure that the final film is delivered on-time, on-budget, and in the form required.
Post-Production Coordinator
As the job title suggests, the Post-Production Coordinator is junior to the Post Super. They also work across the whole of Post, responsible primarily for admin, keeping communication between departments open, distributing footage to relevant parties, accounting, and booking and arranging facilities such as ADR recordings and preview screenings.
Music Editor
An extension of the Composer’s team, a Music Editor will often (budget allowing) be brought on-board early in the edit. It is their job to work with the Director and Editor (and with the Composer before the Composer officially starts work on a project), to build a temp score during the edit. They will take a Director’s brief and research and collate existing film scores to build up a library for the Editor to use while cutting the film. They will also receive scenes from the edit and add temp score themselves. As the ‘Editor” title suggests, they will chop up and reshape pieces of music in order to shape the temp music to fit the scene. Once the composer begins work, they may also reshape the composers work to fit scenes that can be frequently changing as the edit evolves.
If you’re keen to find out more about the process of editing a film, and how these roles work together, How Many Stages Does A Film Edit Have? is a good place to start.