The Morning Watch: 'Saturday Night Live' VFX Secrets, The Brilliant Editing Of 'Mindhunter' & More

The Morning Watch is a recurring feature that highlights a handful of noteworthy videos from around the web. They could be video essays, fanmade productions, featurettes, short films, hilarious sketches, or just anything that has to do with our favorite movies and TV shows.

In this edition, find out how the visual effects unit gives Saturday Night Live the tools they need to pull off some high-tech sketches in an insanely truncated timetable. Plus, take a closer look at the brilliant editing of David Fincher's serial killer series Mindhunter on Netflix, and watch as Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes create their own edition of Hot Ones.

First up, if you didn't know already, each new episode of Saturday Night Live is created in a single week. Sketches aren't even finalized until the middle of the week, and any pre-recorded sketches for the broadcast aren't shot until Friday. That leaves a very short window for these sketches to be edited, and some of them need full-on visual effects. Learn how they pull off little miracles every week in this spotlight on the VFX department.

Mindhunter is one of Netflix's most acclaimed original shows. In this age of Peak TV, it can be hard to take the time to truly appreciate all the great facets of a series when you're already onto the next one. But Thomas Flight takes the time to focus in on the brilliant editing of Mindhunter, using several scenes to show the various techniques used in cutting the shoe to create a certain feeling, tone, and intensity.

Finally, apparently Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes aren't a big enough deal to get on the show Hot Ones in order to promote Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. So the duo decides to do their own edition called Not Ones. It's not quite as long, and it's certainly not quire as sophisticated.