How does an editor know when to cut?

Tony Zhou of Every Frame A Painting does a wonderful job explaining something that can't quite be explained except with proper examples. That is, how does an editor know when to cut in a film? How does he know when to cut? Well, it helps first to have a ton of great directors to follow after, but in the end, it really just comes down to practice. You cut here, you cut there, and you gauge how an audience responds to a cut. Did it propel the film forward and support the characters' emotions in the scene? Does it help to tell the story? Does the cut make the emotion feel real?

The perfect timing of conversation in Coen Brothers films

Another wonderful video from Tony Zhou about very specific filming techniques used by directors. This one centers around filming dialogue in films in various Coen brothers movies. If you look closely, the Coen brothers always place a wide angle lens between characters rather than behind them, giving a wider, sometimes distorted view of not only the character's features but also the environment they're in. I'll let you watch the video above -- Tony explains much better than I can.