editing work environments

[Mark Suszko]

Well, since I often can be working 12-plus hours at a stretch in the suite, heck yes I’m going to eat candy or cookies and drink stuff in the room. You wanna make an issue, I could take the mandatory (and longer) union breaks….?

Actual meals, I will usually move to another space like my office desk or if I have to stay near the room to monitor a render or batch job or something, I’ll eat in the back of the room using the couch and client table. I just don’t have practical alternatives. I do make sure breath mints are always plentiful, though I find it’s usually the clients that need them more.

I don’t let clients put their foodstuffs on my console or near the switcher or anything. Me, my drinks are kept in sealed bottles, so there is little danger of spills, and I keep them handy but not next to/over anything critical.

One time we’d worked a 20-hour day, had Chinese food brought in for a working dinner break, finished the job in the dawn hours of a Saturday, and I forgot the cleaning crews only worked week days. Monday, the suite had a not-so-fresh feeling, but Febreeze works wonders. That and switching out the upholstered chairs every now and then;-)

[Mike Cohen]

Not shown in my original post is my wall-o-shelves, containing raw footage for all active projects, some finished projects, some stock footage, reference books, catalogs and, oh yes, food supplies. I keep a good selection of soups, canned tuna, granola bars, powdered drink mixes, bottled water, instant coffee, plastic utensils, paper towels and the occasional Twinkie. Usually a jar of peanut butter and jelly and a loaf of bread in the fridge if I know I have a busy week.
These items are often called into play at 2AM while finishing a video, rendering or whatever.
As for eating, it is usually at my desk, but we do have several restaurants in our office park, so when clients visit we try to go out, or eat in the conference room.
It is clear that everyone works in their own unique way.
As long as the projects get completed…that’s goal #1.
Good point about remembering when the trash gets emptied (Saturdays) – a banana peel deposited Monday is a living breathing creature by the weekend!

Interesting posts.

Mike

[Will Edit for food]

[Mark Suszko] “12-plus hours at a stretch in the suite”

Usually after hour nine, my stomache’s eyeing up the paint chips in the corner.

I love it when we get the budget to online at Post Central in Rochester, NY. The editors can’t figure out black levels to save their lives, but they have one hell of an on-sight chef, and full kitchen. Never enjoyed working through lunch that much!

And those instant coffee makers that are wired into the 160-degree water tap… uuuuoooooaahhh that’s goooouuuud…

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will edit for food
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[Charley King]

Now along these lines. It has always been a practice to empty trash every evening to the outside so none of these stagnant ocors will eminate from the room.

Never ever place food or drinks on any desk or counter that contains equipment. I have always kept a small table behind me to hold coffee cup and any food items, just lean back and take a drink or bite. The clients have always had a nice area in the back out of the way of my rocking desk chair. I have to rock when previewing, or anytime I don’t have my hands on the equipment. Their area has a nice monitor so they are not standing over my shoulder, a sofa, soft chair, tables, etc.

Now that I am in a corporate structure and not the main stream commercial suite, I have a room filled with all of our shooting equipment, all the editing equipment, everything in one small room. You wouldn’t believe the difference in the now and the then.

Charlie

[Steven L. gotz]

And here I thought that mealtime was for rendering! I often need an excuse to stretch or eat or whatever, so rendering makes a great excuse. Or, if you are hiding the fact that you are rendering, lunch makes a good excuse.

Steven
Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 / After Effects 6.5 Pro https://www.stevengotz.com
Learning Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 https://www.lynda.com
Contributing Writer, PeachPit Press, Visual QuickPro Guide, Premiere Pro 1.5

[Will Edit for food]

[Steven L. Gotz] “And here I thought that mealtime was for rendering!”

Not too much anymore. With faster processing, you’re lucky to get a smokebreak in before the render is done.

Remember the good ‘ol days when one second = one frame rendered?

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will edit for food
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[Steven L. gotz]

I’m sorry, but I have to laugh a little. Now that I edit HDV, rendering is a part of my life again. And the export times to WM9 are outrageous, even with Aspect HD and Premiere Pro 1.5.1 – somewhere around 12 times realtime on my 3GHz system.

[Mike Cohen]

I count on daily rendering to get my daily exercise not to mention my COW browsing time – for those of us still using a G3 400 mhz machine, or even a Pentium 4 with a 20 video track Premiere Pro sequence, rendering is a given, and after 12 hours in front of the machine, a sweet blessing. Would I trade those breaks for a kick-butt new G5 or 3 gigahertz PC, you bet I would.

Mike

[Person Lastly]

coffee refills or a stop at the outhouse is all i get with my renders. but i offline commercials. no longform or finishing.
kvl

[Oliver Peters]

Since we’re sharing images…. Back when I worked for a facility, here’s the last “big” suite I built:
https://oliverpeters.com/facdes.htm check image #2 (Symphony)
Note the desk behind the editor. This is a client desk raised slightly and with a parallel set of flat panels duplicating the editor’s displays. Also the edit desk was radiused AWAY from the center and not the typicaly “U” design. Both contributed to clients feeling very comfortable in “their area” and not constantly feeling the need to inch closer to the editor’s chair.

Sincerely,
Oliver

Oliver Peters
Post-Production & Interactive Media
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com