Digital video editing is the future, and the future is now. Without a doubt, digital video editing is a technological advancement of huge proportions, but we must not lose sight that it is not an advancement in the art of editing, but rather a monumental advancement in the tools available to the editor. Film, tape and digital video editing are different formats in which the editor works, but the basic art of editing remains the same. Editing is taking visual and audio and arranging them in a concise orderly manner in order to tell an entertaining story. That process takes place in editing any of the formats mentioned above.When film first became available, picture was cut with a pair of scissors and then the spliced together with glue on a hot splicer. Later on the technology changed and clear tape was used to join the cuts. After the editing was done on the work print and everyone was satisfied with the editing, the negative was cut to match the work print and hot spliced together. From the cut negative, prints were made that were projected in the theatres. In those days, music was added by a piano player in the theatre as the movie was projected on the screen. When sound came to the movies, the audio tracks were cut just like the picture and printed on the edge of the film when the prints were composited.Video tape was the next major advancement in editing but in essence it was not very different from film. It was still a physical delivery system for the video image. The process remained the same: edit the project, lock it down and then lay down from the master tape.Digital video editing brought a totally unique ability to edit and finish your project at the same time. Unlike video which lost quality as copies were laid down, the digital process lost nothing. If you were editing in the best quality mode, your project was complete when you were done with your editing session. All you had to do was convert the file if you were putting it on the internet, or out put your project to DVD and you are finished with perfect (no quality loss) copy.Digital video editing provides the editor with the tools to title, create effects, color correct and more all in the same session. Digital editing is the biggest addition to the tool box since the creation of the moving picture started the whole process. Digital video editing has opened the door to affordable editing for anyone that can afford a computer. Home movies will never be the same again, thanks to digital video editing.