Chapter 17

My Last Bits of Advice

This chapter is divided as follows:

• 17.1 The Day-to-Day Use of the Edit Suite
• 17.2 Is That All Right?
• 17.3 You’re the Host
• 17.4 Attitude
• 17.5 CVs

SEEING THIS MENU MEANS YOU’RE NEARING THE FINISHING LINE.

17.1 The Day-to-Day Use of the Edit Suite

 Survival—The Laws of the Jungle

Editors can spend many of our waking hours in front of a computer, so it’s worth ensuring these enforced periods of physical inactivity do not harm you in any way.

Here are a few tips for damage limitation.

 Listen with Mother—Are You Sitting Comfortably?

A good chair with correct lumbar support is essential. It should be adjusted, along with your desk (some edit suites are equipped with variable height desks) so that your wrists are flat on the keyboard or mouse, your feet are touching the floor, and you are looking at the monitors straight on, or just down a little.

 Walk on the Wild Side—Get Out of That Chair Sometimes

Get up and walk around as much as possible during the day. What I do is leave scripts and shot notes on the other side of the suite so that I regularly have to get up and fetch this information. If you don’t, you can find that the greater part of three hours has passed and you haven’t moved out of your chair.

 Danger Mouse—Hands Off the Mouse!

Use the mouse sparingly. Instead, use the keyboard for as many operations as possible, preferably the ones you perform most often; for example, in and out of trim and all the associated trim functions, jumping along the timeline, and ‘loop-play’ around edits would all be keyboard functions for me.

Holding your hand on the mouse all day can become uncomfortable, and I know some people who have developed repetitive strain injury (RSI) problems with their wrists because of excessive and continual use of the mouse. Alternatively, you can use a pen and tablet, which is much better, and I know that mouse-heavy programs like Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro can be operated more efficiently from a tablet. Just ask for one; most post-production houses will have them.

It is vital to investigate the keyboard shortcuts your editing software will allow. I guarantee time spent here will help you so much in the future, in that you will be really fluent with the software. Also, get all the function keys filled with your most often used software features, including menu operations.

My Avid keyboard is illustrated here. The main points about its layout are that I have duplicated and grouped the source and trim operations together onto the function keys, and I have put the fast forward and rewind buttons, which help me tab forwards and backwards in the timeline, on the keyboard’s up/down keys to match the immoveable FCP ones, with the most important play-loop key alongside. The arrangement ensures that both hands are well occupied throughout the day, to help balance the load.

 The Upper Hand—20 Tiny Fingers…Use Them All!

Use two hands as much as possible. Frighteningly, I have seen some people operate the keyboard with the left hand only and the right permanently glued to the mouse; this is not good.

  From Here to Eternity—Well, at Least from Here to Infinity

You must exercise your eyes as well. If your edit suite has a window, use it as often as you like to focus on the world outside. This will also remind your eyes that they should blink occasionally. Eyes don’t like being stuck at a fixed focal length all the day, and this exercise will help remind them what it feels like to focus on infinity.

 Working Lunch—Take a Break

Now that fewer of us smoke, or are allowed to smoke, these days, five-minute breaks have to be scheduled into your day. Take the natural opportunities of rendering, capturing, importing, or exporting to get out and walk around. It’s so much better than watching a blue bar count the percentages up to 100.

 Time Gentlemen Please—Go Home Occasionally…It Helps!

Even though you think you are achieving so much by working on and on, it’s so often the case that when you come to review such material in the cold light of the next day, it’s usually rubbish.

17.2 Is That All Right?

I do prefer to work alone as long as I can, but sooner or later you’ll have visitors. Eventually, you’ll have to work alongside your director, producer, or writer…or all three!

 Careless Talk—Zip It!

There is a danger, especially when you are working with someone for the first time, that you give away psychological power, which will be very hard to regain. ‘Is that all right?’ is a question that should never leave an editor’s lips; just never say it!

If any edit is not ‘all right’, simply adjust it until it is. That’s the deal. That’s what you’re paid for.

 The X Factor—Don’t Set Yourself Up to Be Marked All the Time

None of the directors and producers I have ever worked with has wanted to act as permanent judge over every edit…that’s your job. They have every opportunity to chip in with suggestions at any stage, but don’t offer up everything you do to be ‘marked’. This will put you in an impossible position from which it is hard to escape.

I understand this requires confidence, but that’s exactly what this book, and the associated exercises, have been designed to give you.

17.3 You’re the Host

You’re the host in the edit suite; this is your room, your office, so make sure you entertain your guests and that everybody is comfortable.

 Come Dine with Me—It’s Your Party

Remember also that there are people behind you in the suite, so do make eye contact with them occasionally, as there is such a danger that all they will see of you is this figure, hunched over the keyboard for most of the day, facing away from them.

17.4 Attitude

It’s a sad fact that you can be the most brilliant and accomplished editor technically, but with a poor attitude, you might end up with no work.

 Top of the Form—How to Stay In the Running

The trouble is, as individuals we are the last ones to recognise that something is wrong, and it just might be our own attitude that is the reason why the phone has stopped ringing.

 Opportunity Knocks—On the Wanted List

Strong client-facing skills are essential, so a confident attitude should always be presented to your client to assure them that they are in good hands.

The client obviously needs to be involved in the creative process, it’s their project after all, but not so much that you become a slave, implementing only their creative vision.

Communicating your own ideas and suggestions in a succinct and coherent way is hugely important to reinforce their confidence in your ability to do the job.

17.5 CVs

 Double Your Money—Without Any Hitch

CVs are a thorny issue, and it’s worth considering what you should do to best promote yourself on your CV showreel before we close.

• As editing is supposed to be invisible, it is very difficult for anybody watching a clip to judge your input on the evidence of the sequence itself. You have to tell them what you did!
• Keep any video showreel material short, 5 to 10 minutes at the most, and include caption information over the chosen clips, as this will give those watching an indication of your influence on the project.
• Don’t make the presentation flashier than the material contained within. I have seen too many CV showreels that overuse video effects with no sense of any taste or decency. A prospective director might go away with the impression that their next project might end up looking like your CV presentation.
• Allow time for anyone watching your presentation to jot down some notes. This is essential, as it is unlikely that your CV will be watched a second time. To do this, keep any important, fact-giving captions up just a fraction longer than you normally would.
• Include name checks of directors and producers you have recently worked with. We live in such a small community that there’s a reasonable chance that your next prospective employer already knows the personnel with whom you’ve just worked.
• If you are sending a DVD, include a few business cards printed with all your contact information.
• As DVDs themselves are slowly heading for the format cemetery, you could put your showreel online, or on your website, or on Vimeo, or even on YouTube, but beware of copyright restrictions.
• As USB sticks are almost as cheap as greetings cards, why not get a few of these printed with your contact details and give them out with your CVs? Make them a useable size (greater than 8 GB) and they’ll be kept in the pocket for longer. Even if the director gives the USB stick to his or her children, your name will still be on it.
• If you have a website, keep it up to date and include on it any recommendations from any directors and producers with whom you have recently worked.
• Include a photograph with your CV and maybe some snaps of you with your last production team.
• Keep all nonrelevant material as short as possible. Sadly, no one is interested in when you passed your cycling proficiency test, or when you first swam a length, or that you like travelling and meeting old people.