About BestEdit

Best Edit provides project files that you can use to alter a movie that you download or own, removing scenes or episodes to improve the overall quality of the movie or TV show. Please note - we do not provide fully edited video downloads, this would be a violation of copyright law, we only provide the project files that you can use to alter your own movies. See the Tutorial for instructions on how this works!

How do I watch your edits?

You need two things - the original video file(s) for the movie or show, and the XML file you download from BestEdit. The Tutorial explains how to combine them to get the edited film/show.

How do I get the exact source version of the film/show that you used for the edit?

You don't need the exact same source, you just need the same edition - for instance you can't use a theatrical cut for an edit created with the director's cut of a film. But any version of the Director's Cut will work to recreate the edit. BestEdit has a special script that allows you to change the XML to exactly match whatever video source you choose. Netflix, Amazon, or BluRay may be slightly different lengths for the same edition, but they should all work to recreate the edit if you Calibrate them properly using the shift script.

What does the SRC column mean?

This indicates the type of video file used for the edit (WEB - download from streaming services, BluRay - rip from disc, HDTV - capture from TV broadcast). They should generally be interchangable although if the commercial breaks on an HDTV edit are longer than in the BluRay for instance, that might break the edit.

Can I request an edit?

I usually don't plan edits, they just happen when inspiration strikes. Usually it's a film or show that I think has good potential, but could be more enjoyable if it was tweaked. A lot of films and shows are restricted to filling a certain amount of screen-time, and I try to detach them from this limitation - if a 90 minute film would be better as a 30 minute short film, that's what the edit will be (No Time To Die for example). Often with TV shows I combine multiple episodes to make them longer 60-90 minute runtimes since that feels more satisfying to me.

My philosophy is that I should be able to enjoy a film or show equally as much on re-watch as I did the first time - so even if a part didn't bother me I'll strip it out if it's a scene I would fast-forward on a second watch and isn't crucial to the plot. I also try to strip out anything that seems like the writers have an agenda or quota in mind when creating the script, since I feel like that sort of "activism" detracts from the escapism of film and movies.

I'd like to make my own edits, do you have any tips?

Don't force an edit, it should be something you're making as a fan or artist. It also shouldn't take a ton of time to create an edit unless the show or series has a ton of content (for example my Avengers series edit took a ton of time because even the edited version is 25 hours long - so rewatching and tweaking something that long can be a chore. But in general a 90 minute film can be edited in an afternoon, or maybe a couple days if you're doing a really intense rework.

If it's something I've watched before usually I know how I want to approach the edit, so I'll do a pre-edit using those ideas and then watch it to see if there are any plot holes or issues I missed, and then do a final clean-up edit and release it. If it's something I'm watching for the first time often I take notes with time-codes of things I'll need to edit, then I work backward (so the time codes don't get messed up in my project) through the notes fixing all the issues, then one more watch before release to make sure it's a good result. If you're unsure, let it sit for a month or two and rewatch it with fresh eyes.

What techniques are important for editing?

First, just make sure you have the right tools - personally I think Adobe Premiere Elements or Premiere Pro are much quicker and more precise tools than most free editors. Sometimes it's worth spending $100 to save a lot of pain and frustration trying to create art using a bad tool.

Second, learn what a J-Cut and L-Cut are, and really respect the audio of a film or show. Some people go to extreme lengths replacing music and I feel like that isn't really necessary in most cases as long as you carefully line up your cuts so the beats match in songs, etc. - but it's definitely true that bad sound editing gives away where the cuts are in your end product. So take care and pay attention to the sound above all else. And remember that you can detach sound from video and easily move the video around as long as there isn't dialogue or noticable sound effects that should go along with the video.

Can I use your edits as a base for my own edit?

Sure, but please give BestEdit credit when you release your edit since many of the level 3/4 edits have a lot of time and care put into them. You'll probably want to un-explode the tracks before loading the edit though if you're planning to make changes. To do this, search the XML for lines that look like this (typically there are 6 of these to change in the XML file):
<track hardpan="TRUE" TL.SQTrackAudioKeyframeStyle="0" TL.SQTrackShy="0" TL.SQTrackExpandedHeight="25" TL.SQTrackExpanded="0" MZ.TrackTargeted="1" currentExplodedTrackIndex="0" totalExplodedTrackCount="6">

and then add the 5.1 value back to the tags like this:
<track hardpan="TRUE" TL.SQTrackAudioKeyframeStyle="0" TL.SQTrackShy="0" TL.SQTrackExpandedHeight="25" TL.SQTrackExpanded="0" MZ.TrackTargeted="1" currentExplodedTrackIndex="0" totalExplodedTrackCount="6" premiereTrackType="5.1">

Making this change should force Premiere Pro to combine all 6 audio channels into a single track in the editing program. Please be aware that this sometimes causes crashes and bugs if you try to render it out in Adobe Media Encoder. A workaround is just to render it directly in Premiere Pro rather than sending it to AME.