This artistic research project investigates the role of play in the film editing process. The idea for the research originates from an often-repeated invitation heard in the editing room – “Can’t you just play with the material a bit?” – and asks how such moments of playfulness may open the way for new creative choices and unforeseen narrative directions.
Through a combination of practice-based case studies, process mapping, and reflective dialogue, the research explores how play can inspire and influence the editor’s decision-making, and how it can shape the evolving relationship between director, editor, and filmed material.
Drawing on theoretical frameworks of play (Sutton-Smith, Brown) and creativity studies (Csikszentmihalyi’s flow), the project approaches play not as mere improvisation or experimentation, but as a productive mode of engagement that can reconfigure habits, disrupt fixed patterns, and enable surprising artistic discoveries.
By documenting and articulating these processes, the research seeks to enrich both the artistic understanding of film editing as a creative practice and the broader discourse on how play drives discovery and transformation in the arts.
Jon Endre Mørk is a film editor based in Oslo. Since the mid-1990s, he has worked on a wide range of feature films, documentaries, TV-series, short films, and commercials. He is currently a PhD research fellow at the University of Innlandet, where his artistic research project Play in the Editing Room investigates how playfulness can influence creative decision-making and open new narrative possibilities in film editing. The research will be performed both within ongoing and coming professional productions, and in playful “lab” experiments.
For my first ARF presentation, I will introduce my artistic research project Play in the Editing Room and outline its background and motivation. I will discuss how the recurring invitation to “just play with the material” in the editing room inspired the project, and how I am exploring play as a creative and transformative mode within film editing. Editing is not just technical assembly — it’s a non-material art of choices. I will share some of my experiments and reflections since the start of my PhD in March this year, including playful editing exercises, and insights from working with different directors and film materials.