HunnyBunchFilms
10-05-2008, 01:28 AM
With all the threads started on first experiences directing, using special effects, and such I thought it would be interesting to see how you guys learned to edit. I don't want anyone to think this thread is for people to show off their skills. Its just a friendly query I wanted to ask you guys. Also I think I should make a point in saying that its impossible to know everything about editing so I'm just asking you guys how did you reach the point where you are now. I know I have a lot more to learn about editing. Heres how I learned.
When I was in high school and realized I wanted to make movies I started messing around with Windows Movie Maker. I didn't have a camera or any footage to edit, but I did have a computer full of music and anime. So I made some crappy music videos using anime clips. (Its so weird to think that they got sorta huge on youtube and I messed with it before youtube was around). They were pretty terrible and WMM is a pretty crappy program. When I got into my first video class in high school our teaher taught us iMovie, which I still think is a great program. I edited my first stupid shorts in iMovie. Fast forward a few years when I hit college and I took a general video production class. We used iMovie again and I felt right at home. A year or 2 later I took a linear editing class. The class was great but linear editing is terribly outdated. In the last few weeks of class he taught us some simple Final Cut techniques and I loved it. I took a real shinning to FCP and I was looking forward to learning more. Next semester I took a nonlinear editing class hoping to get my hands dirty with FCP. I thought it was going to be great but turns out we were going to learn avid. I have no problem with people who use avid, but I hated it. I barely passed the class and didn't learn a thing about it(too many problems and errors made learning it frustrating). During that same semester I edited a short of mine using iMovie because I knew it very well and I hated avid, not too mention I wasn't confident enough editing in Final Cut. Anyway during the summer after finishing that short my brother got me a copy of Final Cut Express for my laptop(he also got me my mac book pro for real cheap since he works at the apple store). When I installed Final Cut Express I was really excited but I sorta had to teach myself how to edit. I remembered a few tricks from my previous class but it wasn't much. I made a few silly shorts just so I can practice how to edit. The cat videos, and muzzle flare demo on my youtube page for example. A few months later I got hired at NNN and Erik and Justin would need us to edit some stuff for them. It was pretty nerve racking because I really didn't want to mess up. But I did my best and happily I didn't ruin any footage. So I sorta learned some editing tricks while at work in the office. Then I edited my short The Savages in Final Cut, I finally felt confident enough to edit a short film in FCE. I also learned a lot during the summer making those weekly video blogs. It was a great crash course and helped me hone my skills(what little I have lol).
:peter: Holy crap I wrote a lot. I hope you guys liked reading my experiences I'm looking forward to checking out yours.
When I was in high school and realized I wanted to make movies I started messing around with Windows Movie Maker. I didn't have a camera or any footage to edit, but I did have a computer full of music and anime. So I made some crappy music videos using anime clips. (Its so weird to think that they got sorta huge on youtube and I messed with it before youtube was around). They were pretty terrible and WMM is a pretty crappy program. When I got into my first video class in high school our teaher taught us iMovie, which I still think is a great program. I edited my first stupid shorts in iMovie. Fast forward a few years when I hit college and I took a general video production class. We used iMovie again and I felt right at home. A year or 2 later I took a linear editing class. The class was great but linear editing is terribly outdated. In the last few weeks of class he taught us some simple Final Cut techniques and I loved it. I took a real shinning to FCP and I was looking forward to learning more. Next semester I took a nonlinear editing class hoping to get my hands dirty with FCP. I thought it was going to be great but turns out we were going to learn avid. I have no problem with people who use avid, but I hated it. I barely passed the class and didn't learn a thing about it(too many problems and errors made learning it frustrating). During that same semester I edited a short of mine using iMovie because I knew it very well and I hated avid, not too mention I wasn't confident enough editing in Final Cut. Anyway during the summer after finishing that short my brother got me a copy of Final Cut Express for my laptop(he also got me my mac book pro for real cheap since he works at the apple store). When I installed Final Cut Express I was really excited but I sorta had to teach myself how to edit. I remembered a few tricks from my previous class but it wasn't much. I made a few silly shorts just so I can practice how to edit. The cat videos, and muzzle flare demo on my youtube page for example. A few months later I got hired at NNN and Erik and Justin would need us to edit some stuff for them. It was pretty nerve racking because I really didn't want to mess up. But I did my best and happily I didn't ruin any footage. So I sorta learned some editing tricks while at work in the office. Then I edited my short The Savages in Final Cut, I finally felt confident enough to edit a short film in FCE. I also learned a lot during the summer making those weekly video blogs. It was a great crash course and helped me hone my skills(what little I have lol).
:peter: Holy crap I wrote a lot. I hope you guys liked reading my experiences I'm looking forward to checking out yours.