Previously on...

...pick your show.

How 'bout Lost?

"Previously on Lost..."

Way cool introduction, yeah?

Yeah.

But I have to wonder: How does it feel to be the producer/editor/director who just watched your 45 minute show reduced to a very compelling and rather coherent 45 seconds? Granted, I realize that most of the power in these segments is the memory of everything that happened. But I've seen some pretty short recaps that gave me all the salient points and even conveyed some of the emotion.

That's good editing.

This is also true of great movie trailers.

And the ability to sum up, bring back to mind, and inspire a nostalgia for what has been and a desire for what is to come can even occur in something that isn't... well... so well informed as demonstrated humorously by:


Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it)


Shane Ross

Editing is a very powerful thing. It can make a very compelling hour long show, or take that same show and make a very compelling "catch you up" segment. And if you make something really good, perhaps someday a person will be able to give you some semblance of an outline without ever watching the whole thing.

~Luke Holzmann
Your Media Production Mentor