‘Shooting to edit’ means that when you film a scene, you are doing so with the intention of editing different shots together to create a dynamic and smooth scene.

Filming in this way means that you have more control over the coverage of a shot or scene. It allows you to set up the camera and lighting to shoot a particular shot in the way you want, then set up the camera and lighting again to film from a different direction or angle. This means that filmmakers have a variety of shots to choose from during post-production and may pick and choose depending on the performance of the actors or preference of angles.

This method also gives the filmmaker the ability to shoot out of order, so that scenes occurring at the same location at different points in the script, can all be shot at once, rather than having to move back and forth from reoccurring locations.

Shooting to edit also allows filmmakers to have control over the timing of a scene. When editors put the shots together, they can choose to cut quickly between shots which shortens time, or to linger on a shot which elongates time. This is different to using a single long shot covering a scene as it happens in real time, whereas shots filmed from different angles may be edited together to either compress or elongate time.