Pre-Edit

FILM... If you are prepping to edit a shoot where you shot FILM, you have a few extra steps:

a) Film Processing - No way around it, you have to get the film developed. And there's no way around it, you are going to have to pay to get it developed. Since you have to get it developed, and you have to pay for it, there is no use belly-aching about and you'd better just bite the bullet and pull out the checkbook. If the processing is messed up, all of your hard work up to this point will be ruined, so it is best practice to use a reputable processing facility.
You are charged by the foot, so the more film, the more expensive. Though it is not vital that you process the film immediately, I would defer on the side of caution and get it to the lab ASAP. If you don't have the money to pay for it, they just won't give it to you until you do (Note: Many-a-famous film director had to hock something of value in order to get their film out of the lab on their early projects!).

b) Transfer - Once the film is processed, it has to be transferred over to some type of digital format like mini-DV in order for you to work with it. This happens at a place called 'telecine'. This is also the place where you can color-correct the footage and make it look spectacular. However, that is another hard cost and you little flexibility here as well. But Pickle Head has been able to get a favor or two in his day. Try to fit the color correction in if you can. The difference between okay and poppin' is a good color correction.

VIDEO...
c) Digital Input - Once your film has been transferred to videotape, or if you shot directly onto videotape, you need to now input the footage into your computer editing based system. Depending upon what you transferred your footage to, you'll need a deck or camera in order to import the footage into your computer for editing. This is time consuming but unavoidable.

Take the time to make sure that you properly label your shots as you input the footage into your editor or you may find yourself wasting time later trying to track down a particular shot. This called 'labeling your bins'. While it is horribly time-consuming on the front-end, you will save even more time on the backend. It is best that you invest this time so that during the editing process you are 100% focused on creating a good final product and less focused on finding shots. You don't want to be tempted to accept an 'okay' shot just because you are running out of time and don't want to waste it searching and searching.

Edit

D) Edit
Editing is the process of taking your raw footage and compiling it into your finished product. Back in the old days, this was done with film and razor blades and tape and a a special table with a viewer and strips of film and... yuck.

Several decades ago, the process was quantum simplified with the advent of tape-to-tape editing. The process was more efficient, easier, and more flexible. The process was closer to the regular joe. However, it could be expensive to get all that gear and you most likely had to borrow somebody else's or rent somebody else's... yuck.

Several years ag, the process was quantum simplified with the advent of computer based editing. Now with the process so affordable and simpler (and more flexible), there is absolutely, positively no technical excuse in the editing department for your video or small film. Most every slob in town has Final Cut or Avid on his/her computer.

You have several options: Get a copy of the software from the store/internet. Borrow a copy from somebody who has it. Or better yet, find an apprentice editor who is looking to edit something.

Proper editing takes fa good bit of time, so favors are hard to come by unless they are really desperate and you are very persuasive.

You can learn to do cuts on your own very, very fast. Learn how to do cuts and do as much as you can on your own. You'd be surprised how fast you can get the editing part down. If you can possibly get an experienced editor to help you, the expense is certainly worth it.

E) Edit some more.
Edit. Let it sit. Show it to people. Revise. Edit again. There are a million ways to edit anything. Pick a direction and go. If it doesn't work, start over.

One of the secrets of editing is to try a couple of different approaches, get some feedback, then revise. When editing, watch for the entire thing a couple of times, each for a different reason:

Pass #1 - Continuity & story. Does it make sense? Are there holes? Is it believable or funny or scary or whatever it is supposed to be.

Pass #2 - Technical. Any glitches, holes or mistakes that need to be corrected.

Pass #3 - Goodness. Is it any good? Do we need to start over or can we just tweak it?

Note: It will never, ever, ever, ever be completely done in your eyes. There will always be things you would like different or corrected. The decision is to decide when to just move on...

Polish

F) Add music and EFX.
After you are satisfied with your cut, find a cat to score it! Music is the spice of life. Keep efx to a minimum unless you are shooting a space epic. And why are you shooting a space epic?

Post-Edit

G) Export out of the computer.
Once it is done, it needs to leave your computer. Get it out and save at least two copies. Disk drives go bad so have at least one copy on something more permanent.

H) Online
If you've shot film, you export your EDL and send it (along with the film) so that you can get your final piece.