I completely agree with the Guru and Mark,

But what also got on my wick was the 'I also work part-time' line. That's not really an excuse at all. My first professional commission was a 3 camera camera, 3 hour shoot (9 hours footage in total, for those with difficulties). All edited and delivered in 2 weeks, on top of my then part-time job. The editing also included picture in picture, and fancy titles, luma keys, and custom transitions.

I would be ashamed to spend 4 weeks to edit 3 hours of footage! even If I did only have evenings to work on it, especially if I was charging for it!


get some proper practice in before you start charging people.

I've edited & delivered five hours of wedding footage in a week..so some improvement from my side ...it is just a matter of gaining editing experience I guess.

The last wedding we did was about 2-1/2 Hrs of footage.

I had it roughed in within about a day and a half of hard work and then a few more hours to do the final render and burned to disc.

Now this was a simple wedding with not a lot of special effects in Post though.
The music was what was being played by the DJ that they hired.

Just a simple, "what was there" gig with editing to remove unwanted crap like the folks who have to walk in front of the camera or other junk that was undesirable

Best
Robyn

Let me begin by saying AGAIN that I highly respect the folks on this board. Many, many times I have turned here to receive fantastic advice (and hope that in some small way I have contributed the same), and I have never been disappointed.

I'm very frustrated with the recent posts on this thread that were directed towards me. I am not hostile, nor aggressive, nor argumentative. I honestly believe that my words were taken far, <i>far</i> out of context and have therefore (understandably) been responded to in a very hostile manner.

I'm no stranger to constructive criticism, and I have fully read and digested everything that was said here, several times over. Some clarification is clearly in order:

In summary, my first post said: I agree that edits should be done quickly, that I can not edit quickly, that I've seen a lot of sub-par "pro" work (especially in wedding vids) that was done quickly. I finished by stating:
This was not meant as a challenge, or a hostile "prove it" kind of statement - in fact, I rephrased this sentence several times over to avoid exactly that impression. I sincerely don't know how I could have phrased it any better. Perhaps I should have asked, "Can someone please show me examples of their work that was edited quickly, so I can see what's possible when done well?" But now, I honestly believe that even that would have been met with the same “challenging” impression and subsequent verbal beating.

GDR, you gave a wonderful example of pro work that was edited quickly. And even though you probably took my request as though I were being an ass, you were still kind in your first reply, which I appreciate.

The Guru, you also gave an excellent example of work that was produced quickly, and I didn't initially realize that you, too, had probably taken my request as hostile or cocky or whatnot.

I picked up on that, which is why in my following reply, I wrote, in summary: GDR's video was a fantastic example, the type of work I aspire to do in the future, thanks for posting it, and please realize (again) that I wasn't being critical or challenging. I finished by saying this:
How could I have been any more humble, sincere or legitimate? Apparently, that particular post just opened the flood gates of people who think I’m a fucking jerk.

I don't know what I have said or done to infuriate you fine folks, but I logged in today to find myriad comments being tossed my way, and I must address them:

I certainly would not say, and have not said anything of the sort in the nearly 3 years I’ve been a part of this board. This was in no way, shape or form my intent, and I tried to phrase my posts to make this clear.

I have never claimed to be any sort of “pro”, sincerely. Which is why I don’t charge for my work. In fact, the only work in this industry I’ve ever been paid for is event videography. All the editing I do commercially is unpaid, and I’m using this experience to improve my skills until they are worth paying for.

Had this been a challenge, I would certainly feel silly after GDR’s excellent video response.

I would never state and have not stated nor inferred that my work was up to any sort of professional standard. And shit, I even went so far as to describe that I am an amateur with a ton to learn, and that I WASN’T being cocky. I don’t know how I could have made myself any more clear.

I can understand how my posts may have been taken in a challenging or critical way. However, I don’t know how I can make it any clearer that I am not a pro, not being cocky or challenging or argumentative, and that I am sincere and humble when it comes to the fact that I have a lot to learn. This board is an invaluable resource to me and I certainly wouldn't do anything to ostracize myself from some of its best contributors.

I’m honestly disappointed by the name-calling and aggressive and mean responses. If you think that I deserved that, please take a moment to read again my two posts. Certainly there are newbies who will come into this board and challenge and generally act like dicks to those who they should be learning from – we’ve all seen them. I am not one of them.

I’m trying to diffuse this, honestly. I don’t want my name attached to the above bullshit just because some folks thought I was being a dick. I welcome any and all replies, but please – take it easy on the name calling and derogatory remarks. They may have been appropriate had I actually been guilty of any of the offenses outlined above.

I havent read all the thread again - but I am sure some of the above quotes was me.

I certainly met no personael emnity and was replying in the spirit of the discussion - or the aparrnet spirit - this is just a soo common talk board problem.

Aplogies from me for pissing you off - I realyy did not mean too.

I can be a right dick at times

Mark.

__________________
Lowering the tone of video since 2004.

www.zaskarfilms.com You tube channel 'zaskarfilms'
JVC DV5001e (big cam), Sony PC6E (tiny cam), Vinten pro5, PAG light, SM58, Sony ECM50, Sony C-76, 0.5x convertors for sony, Rode video mic, Vegas 7.

Mark - thanks for taking the time to read and reply. I hope I've redeemed myself from apparently coming off as a dick as well

I will jump in here and make comment.
Fast editing is not at all unrealistic and can certainly be done, especially if the flow of your video allows things to move along in a logical order without the need for a lot of cuts and other work.

During certain parts of a wedding video, case in point, when the guests are arriving I like to circulate around the setting capturing folks arriving, visiting, getting seated etc.

If I dont have any rubbish in the footage I will not cut much if any of it and simply run the segment as is and allow the scenes to change as they were shot.

I tell my customers that we try to provide a "What was there"approach to the video.

Now with that said, I can make a lot less work for myself come post production.

Another factor in how fast you can produce the finished product is how motivated you are and how well you know your editing suite.

Now I will admit that recently I had an entire video completed and burned to DVD and then dropped the finished DVD the player on my big screen to sit and do a final proof.

AAAAWWWWE SSSSHHHH &*()_+_++|

I had mispelled the grooms last name and it was in the middle of the video.

Back to the editor, fix the issue, rerender the thing and burn a new master.

It can happen and its something that very well Better NOT get out of your studio if you wish to maintain your good name and of course get paid.


Speed is essential to making customers happy, BUTTTTTTTTT only to the point of keeping quality.


I use Vegas 5.0 as my main editing tool and aside from not having all the latest widgits it works well and I am quite happy with it.
Work flow is easy and efficient and allows most short productions to be finsihed in a timely manner.

How long it takes is in direct proportion to how much time you want to spend in front of the editor and how many tweeky little additions and Fx's you feel the need to add.

Best to all

Snowy

Indeed - I agree - as for jazzy effects - its dont take long to add white glow and a bit of misty blur to even the brides wrinkles - lol..

__________________
Lowering the tone of video since 2004.

www.zaskarfilms.com You tube channel 'zaskarfilms'
JVC DV5001e (big cam), Sony PC6E (tiny cam), Vinten pro5, PAG light, SM58, Sony ECM50, Sony C-76, 0.5x convertors for sony, Rode video mic, Vegas 7.