Two quick updates before we get into today’s post:
What should I put up as decorations?
#1 – I finally moved into my new edit bay at the office! Here’s a picture of phase 1. Next up is phase 2, which is all about decorations. Any ideas on what I should put up?
#2 – I got featured on Pro Video Coalition! How crazy is that?! Scott Simmons is doing a post production quick tip everyday this month and he offered to let me write one. Read it here!
Okay, on with today’s post about Focus, Lists and Spirals…
Have you ever felt like there is so much you have to do but then instead of doing one of them you decide to sit down and start watching TV? That’s where I’ve been for the past couple weeks. There is sooooo much going on and I haven’t gotten anything done because I don’t know where to begin.
I really want to get back on track, if I was ever actually on track, with writing more how-to or instructional posts about editing. However since this feeling is so over-whelming at the moment I feel like I should share this struggle with you, tell you what I’m doing about it and get your thoughts on the topic.
I have the worst logo ever for a creative professional and I don’t care one bit. Zero. In this post I’ll tell you why and why a logo could be holding you back from doing your best work.
On Monday I worked 100% distraction-free for hours for the first time in recent memory. I was completely sucked into my work and it all happened by accident. I’ll tell you how in this post.
I, like the majority of video editors I know and meet, am prone to shyness. Shyness in post production is an issue that is probably costing you money and time. As I write this I’m too scared to say “good morning” to the woman I sit next to on the bus at least twice a week for the past year. My commuter bus etiquette might not interest you but did you know that your shyness could be costing you hours of unneeded time in the edit bay?
I’ll explain that along with some other ways I try to fight my own shyness syndrome in the post below.
I enjoy the solace of my edit bay like you do. I’m away from others. Just me, some Bon Iver or Greensky Bluegrass and my project. I can focus on my work without any distractions. This is never an issue until it’s time to leave my cozy, secluded world. My mind is stuck on the edit rather than communicating with producers/directors/clients.
Issues from Not Speaking Up
There are a number of issues in post production that arise from scenarios when you do not speak up because of shyness.
Pre-Production
I don’t know how many times I didn’t speak up during pre-production and it bit me in the ass later. To this day I struggle with it but know it’s better to speak my mind than wait until I’m in post production and this scene isn’t going to work and we can no longer shoot. When there are concerns during pre-production, speakup! Yes, it sucks always being the Debbie Downer but in the end it’ll be less work for you.
Focus. Or else. Photo courtesy of Unsplash by Thomas Lefebvre
Last week I wrote about focusing and asked you to participate in an experiment with me. The experiment was simple – go one hour a day with complete focus on editing. No music. No Internet or email. No cell phone. Here’s what I learned from it.
Growing up I hated reading. I hated reading worse than broccoli and flossing. Somehow over the past 6ish years I have fallen in love with it though. I’m still a slow reader but I’m usually reading at least two books at all times. My most recent endeavor is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It’s not a book about tuning engines. It’s “an inquiry into values.” I’m only ~50 pages into it but already really digging it (a term that’s been stuck in my head because it’s in every other paragraph in the other book I’m reading). The other night I came across a few pages that focus on focus and an idea struck me. I realized this is something I’ve been slacking on and thought we could try out an experiment together in the edit bay to see if it helps us edit video faster.
Today I decided to take a step back and look at what’s been going right for me in post production lately. I gathered some hardware essentials, software tips, productivity hacks and more for you in this post. After reading it this make sure to tell me what is working for you right now in post production. The first thing that’s working for me is literally by my side all day, everyday.
Fantom Drives
I absolutely love these external hard drives. I’ve used them for the past five years. I got introduced to Fantom Drives when my old production manager started buying their GreenDrives for deep storage of projects and shipping media to remote freelance editors when shop got too busy.
Still trying to figure out what to write as a caption for this picture. If you think of one, tell me in the comments section. Photo by Jay Mantri
Last week I had a three-day shoot in New York City. It’s been a few months since I’ve shot anything of substance on a location and I could feel my “cameraman muscle” atrophying. During the shoot I did something I’ve been doing outside of shooting entirely on accident. Afterwards I realized I improved the quality of the video, lessened time spent in post and made the client happier.
Lately I’ve spent a lot of time writing posts and editing videos rather than shooting. An approach to writing, and content creation in general, is the Tell, Tell and Told method. I’m going to go over with you what it is, how I used it on my shoot and where it fits in in post production.
Honestly I have no idea what this is actually called. Someone help me out in the comments section if you know!
Tell, Tell and Told – Explain this, please.
Tell, Tell and Told is simple – tell the audience what you will tell them, tell it to them and then tell them what you told them.
Tell the audience what you will tell them is the basic introduction. I did this above when I said “I’m going to go over with you what it is, how I…” Tell it to them is what we’re doing now. I’m telling you the information I want to give you in the post. Tell them what you told them is a recap. Ex: Today we went over how to change point text to paragraph text in After Effects.
You should do this in any sort of informative product (written, video, other). Think about most of the non-fiction programming you watch. There’s a short introduction that says what’s going to happen in the show. That introduction teases something big that you always have to wait until the last 5 minutes to see. Then the meat of the show happens. Finally there’s a recap of everything that was covered in the last 45 seconds that the editor squeezed in before the credits get squished over to the side to show the start of the next show.
The Shoot
Day 1 of my shoot was wrapping. We had a solid non-talent talent and were actually done early. This was an amazing feeling after getting up at 3:45am to catch a train to NYC. But since we had some more time, and despite of some sleep deprivation, I decided to stop everyone from packing up and leaving when we thought we got everything done on the shot list. Together I guided us through everything we shot and our notes. This turned out to be tremendously helpful.
We realized that 1) we skipped a shot 2) two of our notes were wrong and 3) we should shoot these couple quick items that weren’t on the list.
Procrastination. In the first few months of this website I’m trying to publish at least once a week, preferably every Wednesday. This past week I had a shoot out of town Monday-Wednesday. I knew I had a (self-imposed) deadline to hit but procrastinated the days before the trip and ended up not getting a post written. I waited to take action until it was too late.
The same happens in the edit bay. We get an important, large project or task but hold off on it until it is too late. We end up rushing or put it together 5 minutes at a time alternating with 5 minutes of Facebook. Sometimes you just have to stop everything and focus on the most important task at hand.
This morning I could have easily held off writing this post until Monday. But once I took a step back from my day and looked at everything I was doing (messing around on Twitter, taking a class on Lynda, debating about going to the dog park) I realized this post is the most important thing for me to do. So I stopped what I was doing, which was learning Japanese (we can talk about that in a different post!), put on my favorite song of the moment, opened up Word and started typing.
Parkinson’s Law states that, “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” If we are given three weeks to complete a project we’re usually going to wait until there’s five days left to start on it. Instead of looking at three weeks to complete a project why not break down all the steps – import, log, string out, etc. – and give yourself mini deadlines.
I’m actually in this scenario right now. I have about three weeks to complete editing my most recent shoot. I know I could crank it out in five days, but it wouldn’t be my best work and I’d be super stressed. Instead I’m breaking it down into these mini deadlines. Yesterday’s goal was to get everything imported. Today it’s to organize all my shots and go through my notes (I haven’t done it yet but have a couple hours blocked off later this afternoon!).
