| The following article is written from an Out of Universe perspective. |
An editor is someone who marries the intent of the script with the available filmed material to tell the best possible story. An editor's general goal is to find the most economical way to generate the biggest emotional impact in the viewer.
In so doing, an editor must watch every scrap of recorded film — often totalling many times the proposed running length of an episode — and select the best takes of each scene, then produce a "rough cut", which generally runs overlong and serves only to give an idea of the potential of the material. From this point, the editor will add completed CGI scenes and pick-ups. They will also work closely with producers and directors to refine the product until it is "locked", or visually completed. Then, the editor will send his or her locked version to various post-production artists, such as graders, musicians and ADR recordists.
Though they generally adhere to the writer's suggested scene order, the director's notes, and the producer's wishes, they are not simply technicians carrying out instructions. They are a vital part of the creative team, and can often bring narrative dimension to a piece that other team members could not have foreseen. On some occasions, they may independently create versions which deviate from received instructions in order to demonstrate possibilities their colleagues had not considered.