So you want to be a "Professional Editor"? Read this first

[animAe]

Omg, thank you, so much for this. You seriously just saved my ass from making the biggest mistake of my life!

I'm a senior in High School who has been applying to colleges like mad and I was having a hard time figuring out what I REALLY wanted to do as a career. I've been putting Nursing as a major and film editing/studies as a minor and I always thought "Well, if I follow my passion, i'll manage to work things out." After reading this, I realized how stupid I was! Well, I wasn't completely going to sell my soul to big video corporations without giving some thought; I visited a few film colleges/institutions and asked them questions about their experiences. Of course, all I got was bias fluff from them trying to convince me to attend.

Then I started thinking of what I would look like as a professional editor, I would be dead. I already killed my eyesight from editing long hours giving me glasses, I would probably get migranes everyday from deadline stress and spending days cutting clips, and desperately looking online for editing gigs. >_<

Thanks again Castor Troy! I now realize that my interests of editing should STAY as a hobby.

[Castor Troy]

Omg, thank you, so much for this. You seriously just saved my ass from making the biggest mistake of my life!

I'm a senior in High School who has been applying to colleges like mad and I was having a hard time figuring out what I REALLY wanted to do as a career. I've been putting Nursing as a major and film editing/studies as a minor and I always thought "Well, if I follow my passion, i'll manage to work things out." After reading this, I realized how stupid I was! Well, I wasn't completely going to sell my soul to big video corporations without giving some thought; I visited a few film colleges/institutions and asked them questions about their experiences. Of course, all I got was bias fluff from them trying to convince me to attend.

Then I started thinking of what I would look like as a professional editor, I would be dead. I already killed my eyesight from editing long hours giving me glasses, I would probably get migranes everyday from deadline stress and spending days cutting clips, and desperately looking online for editing gigs. >_<

Thanks again Castor Troy! I now realize that my interests of editing should STAY as a hobby.

I'm glad to be of service.

If you still want to pursue some form of professional editing, become a director instead and edit your own stuff. You can even do it on the side and make it your full time career if you can monetize on it. That's my plan.

[BadgerKing]

Very nice thread - excellent info. Eventually I hope to learn Avid. Having seen Premiere Pro CS5 in action, though, it's pretty incredible what it can do. The demo I saw of it had the Adobe employee editing in full HD on the fly (pretty much all Red 4k footage that I can recall) with no lagging. From what I hear, that's a big reason why Apple and Adobe had their little 'quarrel' - when they saw what Adobe did to step up their editing game to counter Final Cut.

[OtakuGray]

The people in the industry can change the industry. If you wanna be an editor, then go for it and don't worry about shit like this. Thats my personal opinion, whether its good or not doesn't matter to me. Still, good information to know if you are looking to be an editor, but i would rather experience it for myself before making a decision.

[Kaream]

Charlie Sheen
Only man who could make thousands of dollars off of tweets.

[Castor Troy]

Charlie Sheen
Only man who could make thousands of dollars off of tweets.

Become a professional editor and you can edit Charlie Sheen footage!

Granted his productions aren't canceled.

[Pie Row Maniac]

Charlie Sheen
Only man who could make thousands of dollars off of tweets.

Become a professional editor and you can edit Charlie Sheen footage!

Granted his productions aren't canceled.

Charlie Sheen's footage doesn't need editing. It comes out a winner when he stops recording.

I have no idea what this shark is for but I'm using it hee!

[Sephiroth]

I doubt it if Castors icons to be believed Godix is flipping him off from whatever afterlife he's in.

[Kalean]

A good read as expected, Castor. Many of our crushed hopes and dreams find their voice in your post ;P

[LuluandAuron]

I always seem to find your posts when I come back to editing work LOL

Wedding videos do pay fairly well. So if you are eclectic in musical taste and enjoy culture, wedding video editing might be an avenue of pursuit. In addition, if you want to hone you iron editing skills, you do get the opportunity (depending on the videographers vision of the "day"), get to edit quite a few amv style montages.

knowing people is key
I've had two freelance contracts in the past. The first was about 10 weddings, and the second was 22. My first boss passed me off to the second videographer, and assured him, I could edit in Avid "no problem" (I'd never opened avid in my life)

Which brings me to the next point...you need exellent problem solving skills.
I was a little taken a back, and all I could think of was a post made by Troy... that editing in avid, was like editing with rocks. So I thought, okay...good place to start.

My new boss had much more confidence then I did in my skills. I had 5 days to learn the program, so I did. I equate it more to editing with oven mitts though. But after you get on to it, it's pretty decent.

Looking to kick it with FCP in the near future