How I Cut Performance Like It’s Dialogue

GRM Daily – Together We Rise (2020)

Music Documentary Series | Series Editor | Warner / YouTube

Here’s something I’ve learned after years of cutting tour docs, concert films, and music features:

I treat performance like dialogue.

Because that’s what it is, really.

A conversation. Between artist and audience. Between verse and chorus. Between tension and release.

I look at each song the way you’d look at a scene.

What’s the tone? Where’s the shift? Does it need a moment to breathe, a reaction to land the emotion?

In a dialogue scene, we cut to a reaction because it tells us how to feel.

Why should performance be any different?

That’s why a fan’s face, a glance between bandmates, even a beat of silence can be the thing that makes it all connect.

It’s not about making a music video. It’s about finding emotional clarity.

When I cut that way, performance turns into story.