James Rosen's career so far mirrors his view on the craft of editing, which is simply a matter of "paring it down and putting it together until you're left with the best combination of everything."

He took an art and design foundation course, which was "a primer in all things creative", before graduating in media production from the University of Humberside where he found himself staying late at night, cutting away on primitive equipment.

The editing bug bit and he got his first taste of a non-linear digital kit on a postgraduate course in video production at Bournemouth. "I knew that editing was my thing and I had to get into the industry," he says. Nine weeks at Partizan ("it was all I could take!"), delivering tapes to the Whitehouse and Final Cut in Soho only confirmed his sense of destiny. "That was where I wanted to be, part of that vibe, working on that kind of stuff."

One day, Rosen did a mass resume drop around the post houses and that same afternoon found himself fielding runner job offers. He chose Soho 601 (now One Post), stayed for seven months, and was on the point of promotion when the call came from Final Cut. He grabbed the chance even though it meant dropping back to the lowest rung of the ladder.

Now 30, he has been there seven years, assisting people like Gary Knight, Amanda James and Adam Jenkins. "You aren't assigned to one editor forever here, so I saw all the different ends of the spectrum," he says. Gradually, he started to do his own cutting - mainly changes for Rick Russell or Knight. For the last two years, he's been a full-fledged editor, moving into promos and commercials.

Spots like "Freestyling" and "Ever Ready" for Nike have triggered an appetite. "I like the to-ing and fro-ing dynamic of commercials," he says. "The political aspect: everybody's working together to get the project finished. It can get hairy but it's an exciting process."

Rosen flirted briefly with the idea of directing. He also writes music. "But editing's the creative job for me because it combines all the disciplines and it's collaborative. I love the magic that happens when you put one shot next to another."

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