One of the main things covered was the difference between online and offline resolution in the industry, which is very important and can vary your salary. Offline editing is when you transcode videos to a lower quality so it's faster to work with, and exporting it as the original quality, useful for narrative editing. Online resolution is editing with the higher quality footage which takes up more processing power and storage. This is more useful for colour grading. It costs a lot of money to edit, even more if you are online editing. And you also need to make sure your computer can hold the native media and is powerful enough to edit.
Naming conventions are also important and can be beneficial to the editor later on, so they can find clips very quickly. Chris' system is usually;
Project name - year, month, day - camera ID - card number
Folder and edit bin structure is also important for finding clips fast. The set up should usually look like this;
- 01_Media
- 02_Audio
- 03_GFX
- 04_SFX
- 05_Music
- 06_Outputs
- 07_Cuts
Always duplicate sequences in case the new edit doesn't work or the client liked it better before. If you save to a desktop, always make sure to take it off and relink the media.
Chris then went to talk about four main post production job roles in the industry which was very interesting, even a few of these appealed to me.
A Data Wrangler takes the footage to the editor without loss. They keep a log and back it up onto two drives. They also use Shot Put Pro to ensure integrity of the footage. Make sure you copy the entire contents from the camera and never put contents of two cards into one folder. This is usually the way in the industry for aspiring editors.
A DIT (Digital Imaging Technician) is in charge of image quality control and essentially do on set colour correction. They also manage the production's workflow, as well as check exposure levels, applying LUTs, looking at focus errors and unwanted shadows, etc.
An Ingest Operator ingests rushes in a range of formats; cards, cameras, drives and FTPs (file transfer protocol). They transcode the media to editable formats and frame rates, and set up project files, sync camera footage and audio, and generally organise footage for the editors.
A Logger looks at the footage and makes detailed notes for the editor/producer, which usually includes the time, subject, location and dialogue. They also look at the themes, sync (of dialogue) and arcs in the story. Time codes and paper logs are also very important for this job. They must have an eye for what the editor wants as well as identify tones of voice, camera movements, too much light in shot, etc. They often go into Assistant Producer roles.
The client is always right, you will have to make choices you don't like to make them happy. Always listen with an open mind. Consider the impact and suggest an alternative and say why it won't work. Always meet the objective.
Always check the film twice, for picture and audio. Fix these issues. Send off a timecoded copy (drag and drop). Always double check and make sure there is no miscommunication. Editing in a full room of people could also happen which is fun, but stressful. Also, get in with the film crew to make sure the edit is easier.
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