An editor of an animated film works throughout production to help shape the story being told. At the start of the process, the editor will work with writers, directors, and producers to piece together the storyboard in a way that best fits the script and final vision. This first cut is called an animatic—shot lengths and timing are finalized at this stage. For Shakti, we had multiple iterations of this animatic across the span of a few months as we updated storyboards and began the process of layout and animation. 

 

[screenshot of storyboard animatic in premiere]

 

As the animation, lighting, and compositing work starts to wrap up, the editor puts together the footage to create a rough cut of the final animation, working closely with the sound department to incorporate audio into video. By carefully watching and rewatching the rough cuts to fix any errors in continuity or timing, we were able to work across departments to ensure that the final cut is exactly what we wanted out of Shakti.

 

[screenshot of current animatic in premiere]