StretchLearn Course
From a chaotic hard drive of interviews to a story-driven non-fiction edit, using the paper-cut and pacing methods working editors rely on.
Course Overview
Documentary editing is screenwriting after the shoot: the story is discovered, not handed to you. This course teaches the professional workflow used on festival and streaming docs, from ingesting and logging footage through paper-cut, radio edit, assembly, and fine cut. You finish with a polished, sound-aware non-fiction edit and the judgment to know when a scene works.
Learning Outcomes
Organize and log raw documentary footage into a logged, searchable project that supports fast story decisions
Construct a narrative spine using interview transcripts and a paper-cut before touching the timeline
Build a radio edit and string-out assembly that lets you hear the story before you see it
Apply pacing, J-cuts, L-cuts, and breathing room to control emotional rhythm across a scene
Layer B-roll, archival, music, and sound design to support story rather than decorate it
Run a structured fine-cut and feedback pass to deliver a finished non-fiction edit
Curriculum Preview
Preview the course structure, see how the modules build on one another, and understand the path this program is designed to take you through.
Set up a documentary project that you can actually edit in, and find the story hidden in your footage before you cut a single frame.
Build the story on paper and in sound before you commit pictures, so structure problems surface early when they are cheap to fix.
Move from a working assembly to a film that breathes, using timing, sound-led transitions, and deliberate control of energy.
Layer the visuals and sound that bring the film to life, then run the feedback and finishing passes that get it across the line.
Built for Application
This program is designed around progression: focused lessons, structured modules, applied resources, assessments, and a course rhythm that turns information into usable capability.