Young Editor-Next Move?

[Walter Soyka]

[Kelton Corc] “I need to move forward, and want to know how to do it. I am on a budget, being a kid, and I want to get the cheapest, yet best upgrade to make better videos.”

What does “better” mean to you? What do you want to improve about your current work?

Fancy hardware doesn’t necessarily make for better videos. If there’s a specific technical problem you need to overcome, then fancy hardware helps, but the best hardware in the world will not make better videos by itself.

[Kelton Corc] “I’m a young editor (14) and I want to keep pushing my skills for career options in the future.”

You’ve got an early start, and that’s great. You can focus on learning storytelling with what you’ve got now, and worry about getting more gear later.

Watch the classics. Study them. Analyze what decisions the filmmakers made, and try to figure out why they made them. Listen to director’s commentaries. Learn a little film history.

Expose yourself to art forms unrelated to film. With respect to creativity, you are what you eat, and having broad exposure to the arts will give you greater resources to draw upon. Paintings, music, sculptures, architecture, dance — all have something direct to offer (color, melody, composition, rhythm) that can actually make you a better editor.

Keep making videos. Ask for critiques, and learn from the feedback. Get other people involved in your projects, and get yourself involved in other peoples’. This is a team sport, and being a good collaborator will get you recommendations when you’re working.

I see far too many people who only want to learn to push the buttons. They regurgitate the effect of the week that they learned from a free tutorial on the Internet — but without really learning the underlying techniques, or how they convey thoughts or emotions. These are not the people I want working for me. If you can buck that trend by becoming a true storyteller and a creative collaborator, you’ll have an outstanding foundation for a great career.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Kelton Corc]

Better so it just a little less of a headache, I know that gear doesn’t make better editors, although I do some tech reviewing also so it is not just to look pretty.

Like I said, just above I do some tech reviewing so I hit two birds with one stone. Trust me though I can learn about Filming and I do, every day. My father is a Professional Video Editor and I guess I picked it up after him. One thing that I think is I have no idea if I will be a video editor in my future, but I don’t care. I live my life, trust me video editing is not taking up my whole life, I fit it in to and extent. I know what you are supposed to do in film making, you tell a story, that is worth a million words.

After that I know that gear does not make people better, yet I am not saying that I want to blow my savings on a Mac Pro. I won’t even buy a new computer because I love the gear that I have as it fits both my life and my hobby. I just want a little boost of performance, maybe a hard drive, because it is bad to edit off of your system drive. Or a camcorder that I could use for, well everything because the Flip isn’t even mine actually(family’s).

[Ryan Mast]

Find a good community theater in your area and go learn how to build sets, light, run sound, and act. Live there until you graduate high school. Make promo videos for them, to show of your work. Learn pacing, working with a crew, and problem-solving in high stress. This will make you a better videographer, and it’ll introduce you to other jobs that you might like better than making videos.

Tech doesn’t matter, as long as it’s not holding you back. I edit on a 4-year-old G5, because it just works. If you want some more toys to play with, get a couple halogen worklights at Lowes to experiment with. Get Final Cut Express — your young brain learns quickly, and you have time to play with it. Knowing how to work quickly and precisely in Final Cut Express will make you much savvier when you jump up to FCS, CS5, Avid, etc. If you want a new camera, save up for a decent Canon consumer camera or a T2i.

Find a couple of older editors/directors/etc who will give you harsh, precise, and constructive criticism. Take your work to them often, and ask them for homework.

Keep doing your thing. 🙂

—
Meteor Tower Films
We make music videos, design video for live theater, and build interesting contraptions.

[Kelton Corc]

Well, my town doesn’t have anything where I can go to kinda observe videography, yet I always travel with my father to his sets and sometimes watch him edit while I edit some tech reviewing stuff. Also a G5 is great, that actually would run FCP better than the 13″ MBP I have now, from the graphics POV. Also you say get some toys, I do, don’t underestimate me because I am only 14, I work around with HMI’s the boom, and various types of mics. Also I use FCS and I make good use out of it at that. Like I said I get a lot of advice from my dad, not to mention knowledge.

[Alan Lloyd]

Storytelling above all.

How do you make a sculpture of an elephant? Get a block of stone and carve away everything that doesn’t look like an elephant.

And as the others have also noted, learn the other parts of the production process as well.

Always principles over specifics – principles are portable, specifics rarely are.

And maintain your joy in it. If you stop loving it, you might as well be swabbing floors someplace.

[Kelton Corc]

Yes I know that the story is the main part and the only reason we edit is to make the story look good and spread the story around.

[Kelton Corc]

Also could someone please give me an answer the question originally asked?

[Ryan Mast]

Well, if you’re already editing with FCS and shooting with your dad’s pro gear, it sounds like you’re pretty much set.

—
Meteor Tower Films
We make music videos, design video for live theater, and build interesting contraptions.

[Gary Hazen]

Next move for a 14 year old??
Girls, Cars and trying to stay out of trouble.

[Kelton Corc]

Ha, not the answer I need though.