Editing often begins as soon as the lab processes the film from the first day's shooting. Until very recently, editing has remained the same for decades. Editors cut and spliced the print by hand. If a director wanted to try a different shot in a scene, the print had to be taken apart and the new shot inserted, spliced, and viewed. Many editors now use digital editing systems.
Editors make shot selections and instantly play back alternate versions of scenes using a computer.
After all editing decisions have been made, an edit decision list is created for the negative cutter to follow. A soundtrack for a film is typically composted of dialogue, ambient sound, sound effects, and music. The sound editor is responsible for editing all of these sounds together to create a sense of mood, location, and context. Some of the sounds that the editor works with are recorded during the actual production of the film, while others are recorded during the postproduction phase. Since the early days of filmmaking, editing, or cutting, has been one of the most significant creative areas in which women have had control.