Things I wish I'd known before becoming an editor

It’s really important, especially when you’re starting out, that you are not having little mistakes in your work. Trust me it does happen, and the best way to make sure nothing falls through the cracks is just making sure to check it more than once. 

Really as a minimum, you should do a check:

• When you’re exporting the video from your editing software
• When you’re uploading it to Frame (or whatever platform you use)
• Before you send that link to a client or for someone else to review

It’s really important that you have confidence in your work. You need to be able to say, “yes, I know there’s no problem with that work.” 

If you can, then click send.

I’m not saying you have to be the world’s best animator or colourist, but having a fundamental knowledge of how colour and animation interact with editing software is really helpful for working in a team because it means that you can think about the whole post-production process.

Not only does that make working with others a lot smoother and easier, but it will set you apart from other editors applying for the same jobs because at the end of the day, not everyone learns these things and it’s super useful when you do know them, so you’ll stand out. 

I can’t stress how important having clear file structures and workflows that work for everyone can be when you’re working as part of a team. 

Not only does it make things easier for yourself, but you can actually hand over projects for people to work on and then they also understand what’s going on. So just get into that habit of being more organised. 

It will save you time. 

It will save you money.

It will save you stress.

It saves everything. Just, just do it.

As a junior, you might often feel pressured to work late to impress people, but really, if you keep doing that every day, you’re going to get burnout and that’s never a good thing. You’re not going to improve, you’re not going to learn, you’re just going to be tired and you’re going to be a little bit sick of editing. 

There will be times when you do have to work late because that’s just the job of an editor, sometimes there are deadlines you have to hit. But that should be few and far between, and you should try your best to be respectful of your own time. 

Especially when you’ve been working on a project for a long time, it can be quite easy to get attached to your edits, but it’s important to remember your vision isn’t the only one and people will often have feedback.

Not all of that feedback is going to be comments you necessarily agree with but even if you don’t, it’s important that you action it or at least try to see if it works.

At the end of the day, it’s all part of the creative process and you need to be working together well as a team to make the best video possible. 

That’s pretty much it! Have fun, and get out there and edit!