Misdirection

Misdirection is about putting yourself in the audience shoes. You have to look at the bigger picture and not just one cut. Asking many questions like what is the audience looking at or what are they feeling watching that particular scene? An editor should be able to manipulate the scene and make the audience focuses on a different spot then originally intended. This is what Houdini would do so brilliantly in his edits. He would misdirect you like a magician. This is very helpful when editing because the details are important but what is also important is the whole edit and how that affects the audience.