Editor
 

Right now I'm a college student, and I want to be a film editor. What programs would you consider essential for an editor? I would start with Final Cut and After Effects. What else? Illustrator? Thanks

well if you want to be a film editior, you'lle need a razor and lots of tape.
But I digress.
If you're in college check the computers in your media programs computer lab.
If you just want to be a good editor pick up a copy of Final cut express or adobe standard. if you want the whole ball of wax then pick up final cut studio that allows you to do motion graphics dvd authoring and so on (or Adobe premiere bundle).

a little tip though. This is something my professors stress to me. You can learn how to push all the buttons in the world, and you can watch all the free tutorials in the world, but if you cant tell a story than you're nothing more than someone who knows how to push buttons.

hope that helped, good luck.

If you use the word "Essential" for a qualifier in looking for programs to learn, than I'd say lean AVID. Over 90 percent of all Films and Television programs are editied and/or finished on AVID systems.

Having said that, the majority of small independent videos and add agencies are working with Final Cut.

Learn both, and you'll be twice as valuable as an editor who only knows one. (Take a look at job postings on Mandy.Com or Craigslist or any of the production boards, and tally those PAYING jobs, and what skills they are looking for.)

just to reinforce what Nate said- its really good advice. Film editing is an art and while most people sit down and watch great films they have no idea how crucial this role is in the art of story telling. In fact, to me, its kind of a make or break it role. Everything can come together but if its lacking the RIGHT editor for the film then it can all go to crap. The same can be said of mediocre material- give it to a great editor and inside that tiny editing bay will emerge something decent (sometimes).

from my limited experience it seems that TV, commercial, and corporate circles seem to focus on your knowledge of graphics, effects, and layered editing. Watch some professional ads on TV and notice how simple and effortless they look. Edit for a year then come back and you wont be able to stop yourself from noticing the crazy amount of layered editing and effects that went into that same 30 sec spot.

all that said, be the best at whatever it is you want to do and dont let ANYONE STOP YOU FROM DOING IT!

Write a short story and edit it. It does not even have to be good; all that matters is that you get as much practice as possible.

Also to add on to what others have said,
one of the best editing techniques (that have helped me at least)
has been to re-edit the same project a couple different ways (time permitting of course).
Try different styles, different coloring, etc etc.
the more you edit, the better you'll be.

What most pros use: Avid for film, Edius for television. The Adobe Suite and Final Cut are sort of "do anything" semi-pro type software except After Effects used by lots of pros.

My opinion...