Editing? Here Are 5 Quick Tips to Make You Work More Efficiently

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by Jeff LochJune 19^th, 2018

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We all know being an editor and editing can be a fun and creative thing, but it can also be time consuming and counterproductive when you’re not really “into it”. These tips will help you be more efficient.

You have something to deliver to a client today, or it’s Sunday, there is a beautiful weather outside, and you feel stuck in front of your computer and that empty timeline of your editing project?

Here are five quick tips to make you more efficient:

1. Avoid Disturbances

Simply shut off everything that can be distracting like E-mails, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Phone… you name it. Cut Internet. It can look like it’s just a waste of two or three minutes, but it cuts you off from your editing session, and it can be hard coming back in after.

However, you don’t have to edit eight hours straight, go take some breaks every hours or two, go drink something, talk to somebody for a minute, do a little exercise… you’ll come back on your edit with a fresh eye.

Write down your ideas first.

2. Don’t edit, just yet

Don’t edit straight away. Once your project is fully loaded with all your amazing footages, sounds, musics, graphics, take a paper and a pen, an iPad, a towel or whatever and just think about it.

It’s pretty much useless to blind edit, you’ll lose some time and you won’t be more efficient. Instead, just write down your ideas, how you want to tell the story, the path you will follow during that edit session.

It’ll enable you to structure your ideas and your story.

3. Assign Keyboard Shortcuts to Your NLE

Taking five or ten minutes to edit your most used shortcuts at the beginning of a project can really save you days of work, simply by assigning the tools YOU use the most.

4. Color Code Your Material

It can seem boring, but color coding and organizing all your materials can be a life saver.

Take some time to assign a color to each scene or interview so you can find them quickly in your bins or in your timeline. When your client is sitting right next to you, asking you for a modification on the edit, you’ll quickly be able to show him what you’ve got.

Apart from looking colorful, it will show him that you’re a really organized person, ready for the next job.

5. Try and Destroy

Don’t be afraid to try things that can seem to be weird or not logical, invert your sequences, start by the end, play with the speed of your footage…

It will not work every time, but you can sometime find some interesting and new ways to tell your story, because there is not only one way to tell a story.

Remember when you’re editing that it’s a technical thing, but also an artistic part of the project, and that there is no rules you can’t break.

What about you, when editing on a lazy day, do you have some tips on how to stay creative and efficient?  Please share with us in the comment section below.