The Evolution of Film Editing

In 1934 the Academy Awards introduced a new category: Film Editing, awarding an Oscar to Conrad A. Nervig for his work on the movie Eskimo. Often called “the invisible art,” editing has made movies possible since they first began, but the field still struggles to gain the appreciation from the general public that it deserves.

At Adobe, however, we have always been big fans. To honor the art of film editing on the eve of the 87th annual Academy Awards, we’ve put together a quick visual timeline spanning 1890 to 2015. Conveying a sense of just how far we’ve come in relatively little time, this overview features a selection of the major milestones that have taken editors from the earliest manual splicing methods to the advanced digital editing software of today.

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Bill Roberts is the senior director of Product Management for Creative Cloud, Video Segment, at Adobe. He has worked in professional video and audio for over 20 years, with the majority of his career focused on developing software tools for creative professionals. Bill’s career spans time spent editing for Canada’s largest private network, CTV, through to developing software for leading visual effects artists at Discreet Logic / Autodesk and helping broadcasters adapt to changing technologies and workflows at Avid. He is an expert on video, film and file based workflows and the impact that the Internet is having on both content creation and consumption. Bill is a graduate of Ryerson University in Toronto and resides in Montreal.