-
Moving on from news
Have any video editors on here made the move from news to the post-production world? I’ve worked in news for 6 years and I’ve been trying to get out for 2 years, and I’m finding it to be extraordinarily difficult.
Do production houses not want former news people? Do they view them as one-dimensional or “not high-end”? What is the trick? Any advice from those that have navigated the move would be helpful.
-
23 Replies
-
Many of us used news as a leg up to get into production. You stayed in it for a long time though. A year was all I needed to get an entry level job in production. You’ll be getting an entry level job. While news is not impressive to any post house, it will be less of a gamble for some places than going with a student with no experience at all. As long as your salary expectations are not high, you should be working shortly after looking.
Be tenacious. Be humble. Take what is offered. Work hard and move up. Don’t hesitate to relocate.
-
Good advice. I’ve met with pretty much every post house in town, and haven’t had any luck. I’m pretty confident in my abilities and skills, but I’m starting to feel like being in news has been a strike against me, although perhaps not intentionally on the part of would-be employers.
It’s kind of disheartening to think that I’d have to start all over being an assistant editor or something after 6 years of experience.
-
Here is my rude answer –
do you know AVID Media Composer inside and out ? How about FCP, Motion, Adobe After Effects, Apple Color ? Is your initial reaction to these questions “I am an editor, not a graphics guy or a colorist?”
That may be the reason no one wants to talk to you. You have spend years editing news stories. Can you do everything else ? Being only good as a “creative editor” only gets you somewhere if you already have clients. If you don’t, then you have to know “all the tricks” to get work.
Bob Zelin
-
I’ve actually invested quite a bit of time learning FCP and After Effects and Photoshop on my own. I already know MC because that’s what I use for my job every day.
Have I learned enough or do I need more skills?
-
I have the best advice for you because I just went through an experience where I REALLY needed a former news cutter:
HIT UP THE PR AGENCIES, especially the big ones with in-house edit facilities.
I recently had three occasions with two clients who wanted me to shoot an event news style, then IMMEDIATELY edit packages of b-roll and soundbites and FTP them up on PR Newswire so TV stations who were too busy, poor or lazy to send their own crews could download, edit and broadcast the stories within a few hours.
The problem I had was I used “regular” editors who cut the footage on a laptop in FCP at a cyber cafe to upload but because they did not have a news background they were flummoxed. There is a certain procedure that the news stations want, a different rythym to the story that if you haven’t spent time actually doing news, you can not imitate.
So, hopefully you are in a major market and you can use your news skills to sell yourself as the best choice for cutting VNRs and PSAs since you know the ropes. Use your weakness to to your advantage. Also, get active on https://www.b-roll.net thats where a lot of former newsies are.
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
http://www.bizvideo.com -
[Chris Raines] “I’ve met with pretty much every post house in town, and haven’t had any luck. “
If you’ve read many of the other threads on this forum you’ll notice that we’re not exactly in the midst of great times in the post-production business as it is, so trying to break-in to the business is going to be harder now than it’s ever been before, and competition is fierce all over.
You can’t learn or know too much if you want to get noticed. And, don’t think for a minute that an assistant job is beneath your dignity. In times like these you should consider that any job you can get is dignified.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
-
It also helpful to cut a separate “creative” reel to show that you can edit more than just news style pieces. The majority of news edited pieces I see are hamstrung by footage that is anywhere from fair to downright awful. News shooters in general are not good at shooting sequences of scenes that cut together…they seem to shoot individual shots of various things, none of which seem to have much relation to the other (other than they’re in the same location and are part of the same event).
From my experience, bad footage or poor coverage makes for bad editing, regardless of the skill level of the editor. So find some great footage, with good coverage and showcase your editing skills by cutting a creative piece on your own. Include some graphics and compositing using Photoshop and AE. Color correct the footage etc.
Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com
Read our blog http://www.videomi.com/blog -
My 2 cents..
Nothing peeves me more then “editors” who are motion graphic artists, colorists, graphic designers, web designers, and a whole lot more! (cheesy QVC voice).
Would Walter Murch run around claiming to do it all? No.. hes an Editor. He cuts stories together out of nothing, and has spent his entire life focusing on that specific craft. Good for him.
Often when I see the reels of editor/mograph/color/online/web/compressionist/dvd author/director/cinematographer/sound mixer.. it’s awful and it shows that they have focused on learning the tools and not the craft. But.. they will find a place in the broom closet of some low end post group.
So, choose your craft and find a foot in.
-
Just wanted to reply because DRW hasn’t seen me posting in awhile.
Oh, and yeah, now is a very tough time to try to jump in without a huge skill set. Here in Phoenix, we are cranking hundreds of kids through 5 local film schools and it can make things tough when people hire based on price rather than experience.
We fix lots of screwed up projects.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD .Ask me how to Market Yourself using Send Out Cards
-
It’s not a strike. It’s just not a selling point. Editing or shooting news is a step below wedding videographers. It’s not that it says you don’t know what you are doing, it’s just that unless you create stuff on the side, you have nothing on your reel to show your capabilities. Create that reel. Mok up projects and do some pro bobo stuff to get the stuff you need on your reel. Leave the news stories off of your reel but do list your employment history on your resume.
And again, look far beyond your home town.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up