After going through my SWOT analysis and looking at my previous projects I have decided to specialise in editing. I feel this will be a good opportunity for me to develop my skillset in this area.
An editor is basically the person responsible for assembling raw material into a finished production that is suitable for broadcast or release, usually working closely with the director. This could include footage, graphics, dialogue, special effects or sound effects.
A typical salary for an assistant editor at a post production or television studio is around £18,000 to £25,000. Once you’ve gained some experience as an editor you could be earning around £21,000 to £35,000. Of course there is the extreme high end of the spectrum where top professionals can earn potentially up to £70,000, this is only on big budget projects however.
The majority of editing work is on a freelance basis and will involve you working with post production studios and television companies. One of the main changes to the industry is down to the development of digital technology. Before digital cameras everything was shot on film and therefore edited that way, by physically cutting and sticking together the reels of film. In todays industry very few people still use film or would import it to use digitally, this means that the vast majority of editing jobs will be focused around digital techniques and software. This is a good yet extreme example of how the industry can change and require new skills in the same job type, a more modern example would be the constantly changing and updating editing software. An employer would expect you to be proficient and up to date with a range of software.
There are a number of characteristics that help to make a good editor such as organisation and patience, these are essential as an edit can potentially take a long time to fine tune and also without good organisation of your footage and time the final product can suffer. Being creative and having a good sense of vision are also both very important as you need to have a feeling of the overall look and style of a piece in order to put it together properly. Having at least a basic understanding of how different aspects of film work is also important as you need to be able to use assets from a wide range of sources to create your finished piece. For example you would need to have an understanding of how filming a green screen works, to make sure you have everything up to the right standard before beginning post production. Another example of this would be all the potential differnet formats footage can be in, taking footage from archive sources or a multi camera production where cameras may be using different formats can present problems, you must be able to work with and convert these formats. Having an eye for detail and a critical mind are both essential to editing as its the final process before release so you need to be able to iron out any problems or mistakes. Quite possibly the most important characteristic however is being passionate about film, if you’re made to spend potentially 50 hours a week on something you don’t like the final result will almost definitely suffer. However it is inevitable that you will work on projects you don’t like and so in that instance you must contiune to approach the project proffesionally with an open mind.
A video editor’s job will mainly come into play once all of the filming for a production has been done, there will then be a period of time before release in which to edit. Although editing can often begin before the shoot in the form of titles, graphic design and locating music. Even on the first day you could be getting rushes to edit concurrently with the rest of the project. One of their main resposiblities would also be the upload and orginisation of dailies, this is the daily raw footage know as rushes that need to be prepared. This would be where the main bulk of an editors work will be but they may also be required to help plan things like special effects where the ability to properly edit is dictated by how the filming is done, this means that good dilagoue with people in VFX, sound and music departments is essential in order to effectivly communicate ideas and proccesses. They may also be asked to make promotional videos during the production stage such as trailers.
https://www.videopixie.com/video-editors
When looking for film editors I found a site called ‘video pixie’ which provides a place for freelance people within the film industry to display and advertise their work.
This is a film I found on video pixie. It was put together by a video editor called Matthew Palmer. He is a Freelance editor from Los Angeles and studied at NYU.
I think this is a nice little video and very ascetically pleasing. The video is an accompaniment to a song by Brolly and features a combination of footage, a flower with ink and water, to create a visually pleasing film. I really like the way colour is used in this film and think it suits the track well. I am not overly fond of the way he cuts back to the flower in nature as I think it makes the film a little jarring but I understand that he’s done it to emphasize changes in the song.
This is another film from video pixie and was made my a small production company called Lowercase Productions based in LA.
The Lumiere brothers are two craftsmen who specialize in making light fittings from old meat grinders. The style in which the film was made has a very homely and warm feel to it, I think this is clearly an attempt to reflect the roots of the company and works exceedingly well. The combination of slo-mo clips, soft pans/tilts and a calm backing track are all part of what dictates the feel of this film. I really like the way the film was put together as its a less commercial way filming a documentary and is instead much more inviting.
This is another documentary from video pixie and was made by Zangs Films in Portland.
This film features the Owens river and a couple of fishermen. The techniques and style s of this film are very similar to the Lumiere Brothers film as they both utilize slo-mo clips, soft tilts/pans, a descriptive voice over and in the beginning a gentle track. This all comes together to make the film warm and inviting.
The way that this film was edited together is also quite interesting. The film starts with a gentle track and a number of wide shots which steadily become closer to the river but also darker, this could reflect their journey to the river but I think it was more likely edited that way to help make the film feel as though its progressing somewhere and to keep audience interest.
There is then a really nice transition to the second half of the film. A time lapse clip of star trails coupled with a dramatic sound effect, this gives the feeling of suspense in order to keep the viewer interested but also represents the passage of time showing that they spent a fair amount of time on the river. It is also very simply a way of showing the natural beauty of the area at night.
This section then goes on to a more up beat version of the first half. The shots tend to be much wider than before featuring a more energetic version of the music track. I think this is to help show the vastness of the area and also the music helps to switch the feel from inviting to inspirational, increasing the chances of people seeing the film and wanting to visit Owens river.
This is an awesome video made by Allan Michael from Spain. It uses a wide range of editing techniques in order to create some very cool effects. I believe this film was made to promote his work.
This film uses things such as cross fades, colour changes, reversed footage, motion graphics and playback speed changes in order to create a very cool little video. This is exactly the sort of thing I feel would be good to make for my project. One of the things I love about this video is how well timed the shots are to the music, I feel that is what makes the whole film run so fluently and part of what makes it great to watch. The actual choice of shots to reflect moments in the music are also fantastic an example of this is about 23 seconds in when the hammer on the piano strikes the strings, there is a drop in dynamics at this point and I feel that the shot of the piano hammer perfectly illustrates the music coming back in.
Matthew Tucker 