Hi, I'm thinking about getting into video editing because I'm quite bored with my current studies and I would love to work for an esports related company such as MLG.

So please tell me anything and everything about your job and what you do exactly.

I'd like to know what kind of skill sets you think this job requires. I'm also wondering if video editors are expected to create graphics, what softwares do you mostly use, is knowing some form or programming necessary?

Also what kind of classes or courses did you take to be professionally regarded as a video editor and would you recommend that class or course ?

Thank you for your time

getdeadplz

United States116 Posts

February 15 2012 14:37 GMT

YOu need to be more specific then video editing there are plenty of feilds within what do you really want to do live editing, Video editing, Scratch design. There are a lot of feilds you need to do some of the research yourself and figure out what you want to do.

Not sure your age but don't you have a guidence consueler at school?

Delicious Insanity

Belgium841 Posts

February 15 2012 15:16 GMT

I am a last year film student at university and I have been working with editing software for years. I am not an editor though. I might have some helpful information.

Software

This depends on the institute where you'll be taking your classes. Most self respecting schools either use Final Cut Pro or Avid. Adobe Premiere is a good alternative but is not used in most studios. It is very popular with Windows users who, for example, make Youtube videos. I believe TotalBiscuit uses this software. It is a good piece of software, but I have yet to see it in a studio.

Final Cut Pro is currently at version 10 (X). This version is not loved at the moment by professionals, so many still use the previous version, Final Cut Pro 7. (Apple did not make V8 and V9, they do not exist.)

Graphics

As far as I am aware, editors do not need to create graphics.

Programming

Programming is not a needed skill. In a professional environment every task has clear borders. Editors cut and paste video, that is it. They do not do titles, they do not edit audio, they do not create graphics. They do a very specific job.

I'd say one of the most important things for an editor, besides knowing the software, is knowing how to tell a story with images. A movie gets directed 2 times. 1st time when shooting and second time when editing. Editing in a pro environment is cutting and pasting video, that is it. A good editor can create an impressive sequence in the most simple software. If you're good, you can do a good job in iMovie or Windows Movie Maker. Those pieces of software allow you to paste a piece of video before or after another piece of video. That's is all what's needed. No fancy flashes, no fancy graphics, etc. Of course, iMovie and Windows Movie Makers do have their technical limitations, for example in exporting, so you'd never use them as a pro, but in essence, you should be able to make a good sequence in them.

Watch movies, video clips, shows, learn how to tell a story with just images. Get some software and MESS around.

Hope this helps. :-)

LittleAtari

Jordan1090 Posts

February 15 2012 16:25 GMT

I decided to study cinema after making AMVs for a couple of years. I went in with the intention of wanting to edit, thinking that it would be similar to what I was doing in my hobby. As I studied, I realized that I had the wrong perception what I thought I should study and later switched to animation.

Video editors are most often expected to just edit. Generally speaking, you will not be creating graphics and will only do minimal effect work like some light color correction. Flat out, I found it to be boring and not challenging. Editing is a pretty simple job, a lot of choices are already made for you in most areas and it's a matter of just executing the cut properly. Therefore, most companies will actually just get someone from their team who has a different skill set to do it. Any animator or vfx artist knows their way around editing software. So if you simply just want to edit film, good luck finding a job. It's very rare that a person gets hired just to for editing.

Now, the reason I switched from wanting to edit to animation is that I realized that I went into the programs wanting to create my own content and wanting to tell stories with it. I wanted to do more than edit. Most people that say they want to edit don't realize that what they actually want to do is study one of the following: Animation, Visual Effects, or Motion Graphics. You'd be better off picking one of these fields to study than just saying that you want to just 'edit.'

Good luck!

Hug-A-Hydralisk

United States174 Posts

February 15 2012 17:24 GMT

Video editing is very easy to get into! All you have to do is just have fun with it, make a music video, try some amateur special effects, etc...

These are some of my video editing endeavors on youtube:

Kukaracha

France1954 Posts

February 15 2012 18:07 GMT

Video editing, as said above, isn't one thing, but many.

If you just want to "make funny videos", just get a simple program like Pinnacle Studio. You don't need Premiere or Final Cut because you will not use 75% of the program.
If your passion is cinematography, you can be a professional video editor. As someone already said, he's basically a second director: he gets the rushes (hours and hours of raw footage) and assembles the movie according to his own choices. The director can give his opinion but it's mostly a solo job. You also work on the image, the colors, and the visual atmosphere of the movie. He's an important person in the making of the film, even though this is little known by the general public.
Your passion is something else and you just want to do video editing in that area: don't study video editing, you don't need it for that. There's a lot of art theory and history in video editing. You don't actually need to study just to put two pieces of footage together (like demonstrated by Youtube).
Plus, you actually won't get a job at any SC-related event if you're just "a video editor" because they don't need one. They need technicians, designers maybe, animators, but the little video editing they do can be handled by one single person who's probably an animator to create overlays and presentations.

TuElite

Canada2123 Posts

February 16 2012 09:34 GMT

Thank you for all your answers, I will take time to look further into this and find a more specific field. If anyone else as more to adds, feel free to, it will be very much appreciated!