Slating Videos in Your NLE

July 9, 2020July 29, 2015 by Josh Short

This article discusses the importance of slating your videos and how to properly do this and any NLE.

For me, most evenings revolve around eating dinner on the couch and catching up on TV. Since I try to be in bed before 10:00PM I miss pretty much every show that airs at 9:00PM or 10:00PM (I make exceptions for The Walking Dead).

Every now and then while ignoring the commercials you can’t fast forward through, a mistake is made. That mistake… Somehow a slate for a commercial makes it way into the On Demand stream. Each time I first laugh then actually take a look at it because, well, it interests the heck out of me.

Export Graphic from Avid Media Composer

February 14, 2020July 15, 2015 by Josh Short

The other day a new editor asked me how to export a still graphic, like a .jpg, from Avid Media Composer. By now it’s second nature how to export a graphic in Avid but once I started explaining it I realized there’s a lot more that goes into it than a couple keystrokes and some clicks I no longer have to think about.

Here’s how to export still graphics, like .jpg and .png, from Avid Media Composer:

1. Selection

First, select the In Point and Out Point around the frame of video you want to export. Then select the track(s). You do not have to select every video track if you don’t want to. If you have your shot on V1 and just select that track and not V2 and V3 where titles and graphics could be, you will only export the shot. If you select all the tracks you’ll get the graphics and titles too.

What’s Working for Me in Post – Summer 2015 Edition

July 18, 2019July 9, 2015 by Josh Short

Last summer I wrote a post called What’s working for me in post right now. In it I mentioned a handful of items, methods, services and more that I’ve been using which have been helping me tremendously in post production. I feel like it’s time to update it with what’s been working for me more recently in what I’m calling: What’s Working for Me in Post – Summer 2015 Edition.

23 Posts about Video Production, Post Production, Avid and More

July 18, 2019July 1, 2015 by Josh Short

I’ve been writing for my friends over at ScreenLight for…well…a long time. It’s been over two years and in the Internet world that’s a really long time. Over that time I’ve been able to stockpile a bunch of writings that I want to share with you today. 23 of them to be exact.

The posts range from Media Composer tips to the Pomodoro Technique for time management to Apps for Editors and so much more. I’ve broken them up into a couple of categories. At the very top are a few of my favorites and ones I think you should definitely read.

My Favorite Posts

The Edit Bay – A Romanticized View of One Editor’s Relationship With Four Walls

Video Editor is Not a Synonym for Motion Graphics Artist

Editor: The Amateur vs. The Professional

How to Setup a Video Company on a Realistic Budget

Media Composer Keyboard Shortcut Quiz #1

October 9, 2015June 24, 2015 by Josh Short

Hey! Just to let you know I’ve made a 2nd and IMO a better overall keyboard shortcut quiz for Media Composer. You can find it here. — Hey there! This is my second product and my first quiz. This is a quiz for Media Composer editors who want to improve their keyboard shortcut skills. It’s a … Read more

Over the Editor’s Shoulder: Part IV

July 18, 2019June 3, 2015 by Josh Short

This is Part IV and the final chapter in a series called Over the Editor’s Shoulder where I document my daily progress on a freelance editing project I’m working on. I chronicle what I do in the edit bay, what I learn, my struggles, failures, successes and more.

Play Composition in After Effects

June 3, 2020May 17, 2015 by Josh Short

This video tutorial and article is on the different options to play (preview or playback) your composition in Adobe After Effects.

Over the Editor’s Shoulder: Part II

July 2, 2020May 14, 2015 by Josh Short

Hey! Last week I started documenting my journey through a new freelance video project I’m working on. You can find Part I here. This is Part II of Over the Editor’s Shoulder and it will chronicle my progress, struggles, successes and more over the past week for this project.

One-On-One Video Editing Coaching

January 11, 2016April 22, 2015 by Josh Short

I want to make you a better video editor. That’s what I’ve been doing through my site, YouTube channel and other avenues for the past year. Pretty much this entire time I’ve been helping a faceless audience. I’ve been guessing at what you want to learn and hoping I’m using something relatable to be able to teach you. I know it’s working for a lot of you (I love the thank you emails I get!). However a lot of the time I still don’t know what you are struggling with. You, the one reading my words right now, I want to help you. That’s why I want to be your coach.

Recently I’ve had a huge problem. I have had several requests come in for complex custom tutorials that can’t be reused for everyone. I want to help these individuals out but I have such limited time after my 9-5, creating content for this site, walking Peyton, another new secret project I’m announcing soon (!!!) and trying to have something close to a social life. I have two options. I can:

Spend several hours creating these custom tutorials, which results in lost time either with my family or creating content for this site or
I can keep my family time and EVF content creation time but not be able to help these individuals in the way that they want/need help since email and screen shots aren’t enough sometimes.

Neither option works for me.

I cannot justify helping one individual person at the expense of not being able to create content for this site (and thus helping many). It isn’t fair to everyone else…that means you! My family time will always come first and with my limited free time I need some grounds for cutting out on one of them. That justification comes in the form of private, one-on-one premium coaching.

When You Have Enough Tools and It’s Time to Start Building

July 18, 2019April 15, 2015 by Josh Short

Me, and a lot of other editors, like to say that knowing an NLE is just another tool in your tool belt. I like to take that analogy and go a step further. Every effect you learn to apply, software trick you implement, skill you acquire, connection you make, value you create for others and anything else you can think of that works towards improving yourself is a tool. Your tool belt consists of all of these. Each tool preforms a certain action whenever you are working on a project.

With your fully loaded tool belt you can build all sorts of things. The majority of time we tackle two types of projects. The first project is something simple, let’s say a chair if we can turn my analogy into something physical. We know there are four legs, a seat and a back to it. We have at least a rough blueprint we can follow or can easily find someone (or a YouTube video) to guide us. The other type of project is to build more tools! We build ourselves another screwdriver or a hammer or drill bit. These two types of projects pay our bills (barely) and (we hope) make our bosses happy. Are you happy though? If you are anything like me then you might not always be satisfied with the things you are building and their outcomes. Do they have enough reach? Do they improve my life or someone else’s life substantially?

Sure, we’re content after we sell off our chair or put away our screwdriver. We sold enough to pay off the mortgage this month or make ourselves more valuable candidates for a future job by having more tools. What we built was average. Deep down that’s not what we want. That’s not why we do what we do. We want incredible. As I lay here at 11:00PM drafting this on my phone in bed with my wife and dog already asleep long ago I’m reminded about how much incredible I want in my life and how little I am doing about it. For now…