Film editing is a highly evolved and intrinsic element of postproduction. The film editor must creatively work with the story, narrative, dialogue, music, performances, and more to craft a cohesive whole. Often referred to as the "invisible art", the way in which a film is edited can completely change how a viewer perceives what they are seeing.  What the viewer feels affects how they interact with the overall narrative of the film.  Skillful editing can make bad production look good and bad editing can turn a good production into mediocre or even bad.

The average Hollywood feature film often contains between 1000 and 2000 shots.  Each of these shots must be edited together using devices including standard cuts, cross-cuts, jump-cuts, fades, wipes, dissolves and post-produced effects to simulate camera moves including pushes, pulls, zooms and pans.  Hundreds of creative decisions such as these can dramatically affect the look and the feel of a film, and contribute significantly to what we intuitively recognize as a film’s rhythm.