Setting up the room
In prep, the assistant editor builds the project before any footage exists. With the editor and post-production supervisor they settle the project frame rate and resolution, the editorial codec, the naming convention, and the bin structure. A common structure is one bin per scene (Scene 31, Scene 32, Scene 32A), a dailies bin per shoot day, and separate bins for sound effects, temp music, VFX, and cuts.
The AE also sets up the paperwork flow with the set. They need the camera reports, sound reports, and the script supervisor's notes every day, and they want to know how the DIT or lab is naming files.
The dailies routine
During production most of the AE's day is dailies. A typical sequence for footage shot on Day 7:
- The lab or DIT delivers transcoded proxy files with the show LUT applied, usually overnight
- The AE copies the media to the editorial storage and verifies the copy
- Audio from the production sound mixer is ingested and synced to picture, by timecode or by the slate clap when timecode drifts
- Clips are renamed to the scene and take convention: 32A-3 for Scene 32A, take 3, with camera letters where needed (32A-3A, 32A-3B for A and B cameras)
- Circled takes and script notes from the script supervisor's report go into clip metadata
- Clips go into scene bins, and the AE lays out a script-integrated or lined bin if the editor uses one
- The AE writes a dailies report: what arrived, what's missing, any sync or media problems
The dailies report is how problems get caught early. If the sound report says Day 7 had sound rolls 14 and 15 but only 14 arrived, the AE flags it by 9:00 a.m. so production can find roll 15 before the drive gets reformatted.
A day in the room
| Time | Work |
|---|---|
| 6:00a | Dailies ingest and sync for Day 7 (Scenes 31, 32, 32A) |
| 8:30a | Dailies report to editor, post supervisor, and the 1st AD's team |
| 9:00a | Missing sound roll chased with production sound |
| 11:00a | Build temp gunshot and car-bys for the editor's Scene 28 cut |
| 1:00p | Lunch |
| 2:00p | Update VFX shot list with three new shots in Scene 64 |
| 4:00p | Export a review cut with burned-in timecode for the director |
| 6:00p | Back up the project and media |
The math on media
The AE keeps an eye on storage. Say the show's editorial proxies run about 45 GB per hour of footage, and the production averages 2.5 hours of footage a day over 25 shoot days:
- Total footage: 2.5 x 25 = 62.5 hours
- Proxy storage: 62.5 x 45 GB = 2,812.5 GB, about 2.8 TB
- With a second copy for backup: about 5.6 TB
Check your actual codec's data rate before ordering drives. This is also where the shooting ratio matters for planning.
After picture lock: turnovers
When the editor locks picture, the AE produces what everyone downstream needs:
- An AAF or OMF of the audio for sound editorial, with handles, plus a reference video
- An EDL or XML for the online editor to conform the camera originals for color
- VFX pulls: a list of shot IDs, source clips, frame ranges, and handles for each vendor
- Music cue timings for the composer after the spotting session
- Change lists if anything moves after lock
A mistake in a turnover shows up days later in someone else's department, so AEs double-check frame counts and handles before sending.
Who the AE works with
The editor all day. The post supervisor for schedules and vendors. The DIT, lab, and production sound mixer for media problems. Sound, VFX, and finishing vendors for turnovers. On larger shows, an apprentice editor or post PA helps with ingest and deliveries.
Getting the job
Most assistant editors start as post PAs, apprentices, or assistants on documentaries, reality shows, or commercials, where the volume of footage teaches the technical side fast. Union shows in Los Angeles hire Motion Picture Editors Guild members, and Contract Services lists IATSE Local 700 among the unions covered by the Industry Experience Roster. The Guild's rate lookup on its wages and contracts page is mostly for logged-in members.
Paperwork and tools
Camera and sound reports, the lined script, dailies reports, VFX shot lists, turnover lists, EDLs, and change lists. Storiara lists every scene from the script with its number, INT/EXT, time of day, and length in eighths, which is the same scene list an AE uses to build the scene bins before the first day of dailies.