"Thank God for Editing"

When people film, it helps ease their mind that they're able to take out anything that might not be nice from the footage, manipulate it, or add other elements to it. That's why people say reality TV isn't realistic at all. They know most of the plots have been dramatized and scripted to entertain the audience. While that isn't really why I enjoy editing (well maybe), I have wondered many timnes before. What is it about it that attracts me so.

My mum was a video editor. Is that why I like it? Maybe. Or maybe it's in the 'genes' because there must've been a reason why she became an editor. "Can't be, I'm not into video editing," says my brother. Oh well, I'm not even sure how this works. I thought of how beautiful the outcome could be after editing. Perhaps there's a desire to contribute to something beautiful.

While practising on the vision mixer one day, Jose asked why I like (live) editing. I stared blankly in space. The he asked, "do you enjoy manipulating people's lives?" I was taken aback. Is that why? No it can't be.. maybe. I know I don't choose things for people, I leave them to do their own things and be merry. I might suggest things once in a while but never force it on them.

Then I thought, perhaps the magical part of editing is that its the closest we could get to perfection. Being able to change something from its original place, experiment with different elements, and wait to see the outcome. We know humans aren't perfect and never will be. And there's this thing where we're constantly growing, wanting to be bigger, wiser, better all the time.

Editing might be a reflection of our inner desire to change, throw away/add certain things, completely revamp. To be better. Even if we can't be perfect, we can help perfect something else. And sometimes that's enough to satisfy.