Narrative & Documentary Editing

China's narrative and documentary editing community runs deep. It reaches from Beijing Film Academy editing alumni — the spine of modern Chinese filmmaking — through to Jia Zhangke's long-time collaborator Matthieu Laclau, Zhang Yimou-circle editors, Chen Kaige's regular cutters, and director-editors like Frant Gwo (Wandering Earth) and Wuershan (Creation of the Gods Trilogy). Our editorial planning pairs global shoots with narrative editors who have worked inside that tradition.

Our drama editors carry credits across heritage period series such as Empresses in the Palace 甄嬛传, Nirvana in Fire 琅琊榜, The Untamed 陈情令, Joy of Life, and the Tencent-Netflix Three-Body Problem co-production. Our documentary editors bring observational and historical work in the vein of Wang Bing's nine-hour West of the Tracks, Yung Chang's Up the Yangtze, and Lixin Fan's Last Train Home, along with the CNEX documentary fund and the CCTV A Bite of China series tradition.

The picture on the ground is more specific. We secure suite-time at Base FX Beijing, More VFX Beijing, Beijing Film Group Post (北影后期), Shanghai Film Studio Post, and Bona Film Group Post against the director's shooting schedule. Before any footage is touched, editors are briefed in detail on script structure, character arcs, and thematic intent.

Narrative editing on scripted features and iQIYI, Tencent Video, or Youku series follows defined milestones — assembly, director's cut, producer's cut, fine cut, and picture lock. Structured review sessions give directors and producers clear points to shape pacing, performance, and dramatic arc. Documentary work often aims at the Shanghai International Film Festival (FIAPF A-list), Beijing International Film Festival, Pingyao IFF founded by Jia Zhangke, or FIRST IFF Xining. We approach it with respect for the source material, careful selection of testimony, and smooth integration of period footage, photography, and stills drawn from CCTV and provincial TV network archives.

A few details matter here. Editors work across Avid Media Composer for long-form drama, Adobe Premiere Pro for documentary, and DaVinci Resolve where the finish is colour-led. NRTA pre-approval of script and dub runs in parallel with the cut. Where relevant, we track the Hundred Flowers, Golden Rooster, and Hong Kong Film Award submission calendars. Editors then deliver picture-locked timelines with clean AAF and EDL hand-offs to Base FX or the appointed sound house, and CFCC co-production sign-off forms are prepared for foreign-production deliveries.