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Becoming a Jedi Master
Hey everyone,
I’ve been doing post-production for a number of years now, but nothing that would really stretch the limits of anyone’s abilities I’d say. If I were to use Star Wars terminology, I’m very much a Padawan (sorry SW fans if I’m misspelling that).
Well I’d like to become a Jedi Knight in the art form (and when I’m older and more experienced, Jedi Master ha ha). So I’m really looking for some guidance here.
What do the Creative Cow posters feel would be the metric? What must one do/experience/try/learn/etc, in your opinion, to become a Jedi Knight/Master in the art-form of post-production?
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4 Replies
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The artists of the Renaissance learned at the feet of Masters, by first imitatng everything the Master did. Once they had a firm grasp of technique and philosophy, they branched out and explored their own personal vision.
Today, I interpret that to mean, practice by imitating the very best you see in films and on TV, and while imitating it, try to break it down and understand the fundamentals underlying the edit decisions. Read books on theory, then work the exercises on practical footage. Gather some practice footage and work and re-work it in every editing style you can think of. Grab copies of the work of others, and re-work them.
Realize that this kind of mastery is a journey, not a destination, and you never stop learning, there’s always going to be more to learn, new things to try. Do them. Try them. Fail often. This is how we learn.
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What Mark said.
“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor
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There certainly used to be a master/apprentice relationship in editing but those opportunities have been dwindling for years. My rule of thumb is I want to work places where I feel like I’m the dumbest guy in the room. Self-educating is easier now than ever but nothing beats working with people that are smarter and more experienced than you are. I don’t know how many times I’ve worked at places and learned how to attack problems that I didn’t even know existed the day before.
Some of my most unfulfilling gigs have come when I’ve worked at places where I felt I had mastered what the job had to offer and my work turned into a routine instead of an rewarding experience.
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I think if you want to master technique then high end commercials are the benchmark. It’s hard sometimes to separate the edits from the Flame tweaks, but there’s a lot that can be learnt from analysing the way these spots a put together.
Off the top of my head, I’d say check out the Jaguar XF spot for an example of a commercial that uses a whole host of high end edit/compositing techniques.
Going frame by frame can be really helpful at first in recognising patterns, and you can then try them out on your footage and build up a skillset that way.
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