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# #005 - Editor Joe Walker's Hat Trick
- URL: https://www.cut-daily.com/003-editor-joe-walkers-hat-trick/
- Published: 2021-04-09T08:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2021-08-20T13:14:24.000Z
- Author: Jonny Elwyn
- Tags: Archive, Free, editing-craft, film-analysis

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ad/f4/adf48ad0-72f6-4d80-aaad-af9dbb2c1c94/content/images/2021/02/Joe_Walker.jpg)

Around the release of *Arrival,* back in 2016, [editor Joe Walker](https://twitter.com/huckabaloo?ref=cut-daily.com) wrote [a fantastic article for MovieMaker Magazine](https://www.moviemaker.com/getting-unstuck-arrival-editor-joe-walker-objectivity/?ref=cut-daily.com), which at my own count has 23 specific tips for improving your editing.

Joe has been [nominated for two Oscars so far](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0907863/awards?ref%5F=nm%5Fawd&ref=cut-daily.com) and his other credits include *Dune, Widows, Blade Runner 2049, Sicario, Blackhat, 12 Years a Slave, Shame* and the YouTube documentary, *Life in a Day*.

To me, the most memorable tip from the article was his 'hat trick':

> *When the film’s in good shape and you’re nearly finished, write scene numbers on a slip of paper and pull each randomly from a hat.*  
>  
> *Then, look at that scene—only that scene.*  
>  
> *Maybe investigate the dailies one more time. Is it the best it can be? Toward the end of movies there tend to be scenes that don’t get as much of a workout as those up top. This prevents that carelessness.*  
>  
> *Economise. Use cuts as sparely as you can. Don’t tire everyone out telling them what to think all the time. Allow the audience to invest their attention in a character or a shot.*

Even if you're not editing a long feature film with numbered scenes, chunk out your project into discrete sections and apply the same re-examining technique.

[![Buster's Hat](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ad/f4/adf48ad0-72f6-4d80-aaad-af9dbb2c1c94/content/images/2021/03/Screenshot-2021-03-09-at-14.45.10.png)](https://twitter.com/silentmoviegifs/status/1094306918611460096?ref=cut-daily.com)

What other treasures does the article contain?

> *16\. I like to get involved in editing the teasers—I’ve done this on both Sicario and Blade Runner 2049\.*   
>  
> *Seeing your material serve a different purpose, in more compact forms, inspires you to be bolder in the actual film.*

> *17\. Separate yourself from your editing software. Put cards on the wall, so when you shift things around, you don’t drain energy by fixating on junctions.*  
>  
> *For the documentary Life in a Day, as a way of shaping the 4,500 hours of footage (all filmed one day in July 2010) into a coherent structure, we shuffled clips around on the wall before beginning on the Avid.* 

> *Think horizontally, not vertically. How many times do we sink hours into finessing a cut in a scene that’s in the wrong place, anyway?*

> *23\. My final tip: Buy yourself a set of Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt’s [Oblique Strategies](https://www.amazon.com/Oblique-strategies-hundred-worthwhile-dilemmas/dp/B0000EEZG9/?ref=cut-daily.com), a set of playing cards printed with thought-provoking aphorisms.*   
>  
> *Two I like in particular: “Emphasise differences” and “What wouldn’t you do?”*  
>  
> *I learned when I was a composer that sitting in front of speakers listening to the same 16 bars go round and round is useless.*  
>  
> *You get a better idea of what to change when you hear the music from the corridor outside.*

I hope Joe writes a book about editing one day, but until then [read the full article in MovieMaker here.](https://www.moviemaker.com/getting-unstuck-arrival-editor-joe-walker-objectivity/?ref=cut-daily.com)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ad/f4/adf48ad0-72f6-4d80-aaad-af9dbb2c1c94/content/images/2021/03/hat.gif)

**Take This Further:**

Follow [Joe Walker on Twitter](https://twitter.com/huckabaloo?ref=cut-daily.com)

My massive article on [the making of *Blade Runner:2049*](https://jonnyelwyn.co.uk/film-and-video-editing/the-making-of-blade-runner-2049/?ref=cut-daily.com)

[Lots of interviews with Joe](https://jonnyelwyn.co.uk/film-and-video-editing/the-making-of-arrival/?ref=cut-daily.com) on the editing of *Arrival*

More interviews with Joe from [the making of *Sicario*](https://jonnyelwyn.co.uk/film-and-video-editing/craft-insights-editors-in-conversation/?ref=cut-daily.com)

[Several insights on sound design from Joe](https://jonnyelwyn.co.uk/film-and-video-editing/better-editing-through-sound-design/?ref=cut-daily.com)

Joe was also [interviewed by DP Roger Deakins on his excellent podcast, Team Deakins.](https://teamdeakins.libsyn.com/joe-walker-editor?ref=cut-daily.com)

So remember, Cut/daily.