BasharOfTheAges wrote:I'm honestly thinking of doing something MEP related soon, and since the other guide thread was locked after 2 years of no posts i gues this has become the defacto sticky for advice...
Anyway, what's the best way to ensure quality asside from handpicking all the editors for the project and hoping they'll give you the time of day / commit to the project? I'm interested in keeping the quality of what i'm proposing fairly high, and really wasn't sure of how to go about setting up a thread here when the time comes - a screening of past work? Of course i plan to pass the mix i'm using around to people before hand... but if worse came to worse and everyone was busy (as i can see many people are), what would be the more acceptible means of saying "i don't want people in this project that suck?"
A variety of ideas I've considered for the couple serious MEPs I've thought about doing:
1) Be honest. If someone wants to join and you think they suck then say no, you think they suck. Maybe this would only work for the known asshuals of the org though.
2) Joiners have to prove they can edit something like what I want the project to be by linking to past examples of their work in a similar style.
3) A pretty early first beta deadline. Explicitly state you don't expect a full video but rather just enough that you can judge if you want their track to go in or not. Anyone who looks like they're doing an interesting segment stays in and anyone who looks like they're pulling a sierra lorna/silvermoon by just tossing pointless effects on top of a soulless video gets the ax.
4) Disposable tracks. Have a set number of core tracks that the project absolutely needs and fill those with editors you know are good. Have some other tracks that will work in the project but can be cut without hurting anything for the editors you aren't sure of. Just remove whatever sucks at the end.
5) Plan it like a solo video. Storyboard the fucking thing to whatever detail you want then say 'I need someone to do this segment but you can't deviate from the storyboard'. It'd probably work if you kept things semi-general like 'i need a fight scene from here to here' and probably fail if you tried controlling it down to individual cuts.
6 ) Run it invite only. Ask people you think are capable of doing a good job. If you set the deadline long enough that they can fit it in you'd be surprised how many say yes even if you only pester the well known quality editors. If you're worried about not getting enough people then trust the people you've asked to join, let them suggest others they think would be a good fit. After all you aren't going to remember every decent editor on the org. It would probably help if you show you've put thought into how you want the project to be rather than appearing like it's a spur of the moment thing. It'd probably help *A LOT* if the idea you're pitching has more of a hook than just 'I like (band name)'.
