Most everything I learned, I learned on the job. Taught by other editors, notes given by producers and networks. I don't think there is a book or tutorial that covers things like "how to cut a promo from scratch." Or one that includes "don't have lip flap, it's like they're starting to say something, but then you cut away from them...or if they are on screen as VO is happening, you make the audience really curious as to what they are saying, so they are distracted from the VO and miss what you are trying to say."
This is all stuff that you learn as you go. This is why Apprenticeships and assistant editing and junior editing is so important. You pick this stuff up as you go. Not everything is in a book. I don't think there is a book on blacksmithing that says "if you hit the metal when it is this color, at this angle, it will do this neat thing."
Murch is a great place to get narrative editing tips, but I can see how anything he writes pertains to promo work. I got thrown into that myself, and did my best, then got notes, or tips from other people, and went from there. In fact, when I cut my first movie trailer, I showed it to a friend who's cut movie trailers for his entire career, and he gave me great notes, pointed out things I didn't even think about. There's a whole new world and psychology involved when you go from documentary work, to narrative, to commercial, to promo, to corporate, to wedding video...and beyond. Each have their own set of rules and creative outlooks.
Shane
Little Frog Post
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