#QOTD

As I want to pursue a career in editing,  I wanted to become an editor because of all of the creative possibilities that the process can bring. There are various techniques and skills I have and will continue to learn during my role. It was important for me to follow a step-by-step guide, created by editor John Byron Handy on how to edit a piece of film:

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Media Ingestion and management:

Managing your files before even putting them into an editing software is the easiest way to be able to access and find media easily as well as it being in an order for editing later on. Some editors use folders for audio, images, master copies, AE renders, test shots etc its 8 good to do something like this so I could edit parts separately and then put them together for the final cut.

 

Organisation:

Clearly labelling files and folders will make it easier to find them in the future when maybe returning to a project instead of just leaving them as "img.1" for example because this could be anything. The dates on the files will also be helpful as it will relate back to a certain shoot day and this could be another way of organising them into certain folders. Naming files is something I also need to start doing as I have many video files on my laptop already from other shoots and so I need to depict them from each other. This will also be good for time keeping, as even though it may take a while to organise them all, in the long run I wont be searching for hours for a certain video or audio file that I really need to use.

 

Importing:

Hanby has compatible software which imports his footage and audio into different folders automatically on premiere but unfortunately its not quite the same with mine. But when I do import my clips, if they are already in folders before hand they should stay in those folders when imported into premiere so again the organisation stage is very key for me. Folders within folders will also help, for example if we did more than one shoot having "shoot day 1 and shoot day 2" as separate folders with video files inside would be really useful.

 

Editing: 

When editing it is always important to keep backups so no hard work is lost and one of the ways said editor does this is by keeping every stage of the edit as a separate file. Meaning every time he saves it will be called something new so he could always go back to the stage before if he wanted to which i think is a good idea. This is also the same when the final cut is made, it is always best to keep a separate clean version as well as a colour graded one in case something goes wrong or is
not how it should be. 

 

Colour Grading: 

When the final cut has been edited, colour grading is the next stage and this is where the colours are maximised to be more vibrant and appear more natural looking in some cases. In a professional editing scenario, colour grading is a lot more complex and has to be done on a separate software compared to just doing it on premiere like I have attempted before but its still the same process in ways. As you can see from the image the very big difference in images shows how important colour grading is in some cases i.e. his hair and shirt would mostly likely look quite dull if they were left how they were. 

 

Special Effects:

Special effects are most likely done in after effects as its the easiest way of creating titles, graphics

and much more for any piece of film. I have made a few effects myself but nothing very complex but it

can still add a lot to a piece of work. Making something as simple as a text message bubble appear on

screen can help engage the audience into the scene so they know whats going on with the characters

phone and who they are talking to for example. In premiere you can replace the clips with an after effects

composition and this will automatically take the exact timeframe so you can edit and put the clip straight

back when you're done adding effects. This is really useful to know if i ever have to add effects to my films

as I wouldn't have to re-cut any clips again. 

 

The Final Delivery:

Once all of the effects have been added, everything can be exported back into premiere and maybe a music track or other pieces of audio can be added to the final cut. It is then time to export and this should be done at the highest resolution possible to get the best looking piece of film. Exporting two versions is also a good idea for a backup and also to add final touches if necessary later on also.

 

Having a hard-drive or a big work drive is also a good idea for an editor because saving work just on a laptop which could go wrong at any time isnt always the best idea so having something to backup files but also make them moveable is the best way to go. The editor also suggests having auto-save turned on with after effects and premiere incase you forget to do it yourself or a programme crashes automatically. 

 

• Being an editor is one of the most vital roles as you are one of the last parts of the process in the whole production. But, you do not work alone and you have the director and or producer giving you feedback and help throughout. Following a guide like this one has really helped me throughout projects that QOTD productions have worked on and so I will continue to use this in future projects and my career!

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Written by Katie Megan Prentis.