Command Edit

Josh and special guest Rhonda discuss networking essentials for video editors. They talk about how to make contacts, what kind of contacts to make, how to keep relationships going, how to ask for work, what not to do when you’re networking and so much more.   Also, Josh gives a special announcement :)     Get royalty-free stock music from Soundstripe: http://soundstripe.grsm.io/joshshort  Use the code COMMANDEDIT for 10% off!   Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CommandEdit Join our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CommandEdit/ Get more of the podcast at http://www.CommandEditPodcast.com

Last week we gave you some book suggestions to further improve your editing skills. But we know you are mostly visual learners so this week we'll give you some suggestions for movies that you should study, analyze and learn from. Tired of being limited to what you can afford when licensing a music track? Soundstripe offers a full library of quality music that you pay with only a subscription. No more individual licensing costs! At $10/mth it pays itself off with your first track download. Get your account and use code COMMANDEDIT to get 10% off for the year (http://soundstripe.grsm.io/e/5Me). Music track used in this episode: The West Lands, Matt Wigton Unique Storytelling: Memento Pulp Fiction Fast-Paced Sequences: Whiplash Snatch Fury Road Saving Private Ryan City of God Poor Examples of Fast-Paced Cutting: Underworld: Blood Wars Taken 3 Slow-Paced Sequences (the Slow Burn effect): The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Once Upon a Time in the West The Godfather Part II Strange/Traumatic Sequences: A Clock

In this episode we'll give you some suggestions for books that every editor should read (at least once) in his/her lifetime that will push you a little further in the edit bay. But first, where do you go for your stock music? Tired of being limited to what you can afford when licensing a music track? Soundstripe is a sponsor of this episode and offers a full library of quality music that you pay with only a subscription. No more individual licensing costs! At $10/mth it pays itself off with your first track download. Get your account and use code COMMANDEDIT to get 10% off for the year (http://soundstripe.grsm.io/e/5Me). Music track used in this episode: A New Day 2, Marshall Smith Did you catch the Oscars? Did you cheer for Moonlight or cry over La La Land by the end? While we missed many of the noms this year, we go over some of the big wins from below the line. Josh's Book Picks: The War of Art by Steven Pressfield The Avid Handbook Your NLE's manual Nick's Book Picks: Rebel Without a Crew BFI Modern Cl

Happy 30th Birthday, Josh! Join me in congratulating him for surviving on this earth for 30 straight years without incident. Tweet the show or leave a comment and I'll make sure he gets it. Send beer. Long work hours. No sunlight. Dwindling social life and home time. With only the occasional interaction with a human. It can get pretty lonely in the edit bay. Today we talk about how depressing it can be working in post (whether solo at your home office or with a team in a studio) and how you can beat those post-pro blues with just a few changes to your day. You know what else will make you weepy? Wipster's big changes to their pricing plan. The video review service made several editors the world over shout in frustration with their 400+% price hike to their plans. Find out how this affects you and what other options there are. (psst...and if you ask us, you should be using Screenlight anyways). Remember us gushing about how awesome Soundstripe is? (for those who didn't, listen to Episode 65 with our interview

Hellooooooo? Can anyone hear us?   Oh, wait. Someone’s there? Oh! It’s you! You, dear listener, are there! Did you forget about us?   We know it’s been awhile. It’s been awhile for us too. We, Nick and Josh, haven’t caught up since before the holidays (yeah…that long ago) and in this episode we get into all sorts of post production topics that have been going on in our lives recently.   We’ll dive into Nick’s film, one that’s been in “post hell,” that Nick has been resurrecting. Josh started a new comedy series and had to make a tough choice between starting it in Premiere or Media Composer. Nick applied to join a union, the DGC (Director's Guild of Canada) Josh got a kettle bell! Nick fell in love with a fitness challenge on fellow post-production podcast, Fitness in Post We talk about Black Mirror, Daredevil (again), Six and basically every TV show out there.   We wrap up the episode talking about an important topic for any editor that charges by the hour.   Do you charge when the computer is working and

"Play it, Sam" - Ilsa, Casablanca Finding the right music track for your project can be maddening, what with so many choices to pick from out there. And sometimes you can have trouble finding the words to describe what music track you're searching for. On top of that each music licence has its own price tag so you may be limited by your budget (or your own wallet). Today we are kicking it off with an interview with Travis Terrell and Micah Sannan from Soundstripe, a subscription-based music library that allows you endless uses of its music tracks for all of your projects till the end of time! You can sign up for as little as $10/month and have full access to their ever-growing library of music --- Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CommandEdit Join our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CommandEdit/ Get more of the podcast at http://www.CommandEditPodcast.com

You often organize the clutter around your desk or office, but what about the e-clutter? All of those projects that need archiving, assets that need managing and all of those loose files on your computer that need a home (or the trash). We invited Rhonda Thain (assistant editor Brothers Take New Orleans, Tiny Home) to chat about being a digital hoarder at work, never throwing away any old projects or media files in the off chance that one day they will be needed. If you've ever said to yourself "You never know!" while transferring that FCP7 project from 2003 onto a hard drive to add to the growing stack on your shelves, then this episode is for you. --- Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CommandEdit Join our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CommandEdit/ Get more of the podcast at http://www.CommandEditPodcast.com

Okay so this episode with Joe isn't long-winded as f#@% but his podcast sure is. I'm not kidding. It's called the Long-Winded As F#@% Podcast. Let me back it up a bit. Joe Vallero is an editor who made the move to LA and has the IMDB page to show it. In our interview with him here we ask him about how making the transition to LA and finding work went for him, any tips he would have for other editors looking to wedge their foot in the proverbial door of big productions and what myths about working in LA hold water and which ones are just fluff. His work experience is also pretty interesting if you take a look at his credits. He's edited featurettes for a number of larger productions (War of the Worlds, 300: Rise of an Empire, Argo, Hatchet). (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1207760/) And, as mentioned, he has a podcast that he co-hosts called The Long-Winded As F#@% Podcast where he and co-host Nick review randomly-selected movies from the library of Netflix. (http://lwafpod.com/) Tweet Joe on Twitter and tell him

Welcome on back! You may notice that we took a bit of a hiatus there for a bit. So first of all thanks for continuing to subscribe and listen to us. What do you do when you're dealing with sensitive material at your work? Have you ever been concerned that you're working on could offend your audience? Should you play it safe and avoid offending your audience or is a little controversy going to benefit your project? In this episode Josh and I talk about how to tread lightly when dealing with potentially volatile material in your work, and how it might affect any of your creative decisions. Nick works on horror features so from his point of view a little bit of controversial material can sometimes equal "bad press". Shock value is highly sought after from horror directors when it comes to excessive gore, nudity or remarks. But how far is too far? Josh having worked on a number of corporate/commercial videos that represent big businesses knows all too well the concern of representing a brand faithfully without se

Here's something you never think about until it's biting you in the tookus: creating your end credits. Every movie needs 'em, so does yours. So why leave them as the last step before completing your film and let them look like garbage? Enter Endcrawl, the online service that saves your time by making your credits for you. And today we are talking with Pliny Eremic and Alan Grow, the co-founders of this service, about how it solves a problem so many films have struggled with in the past. Credits are tedious, suck your time away and they are never...EVER...finished. There always seems to be one last change to make to them: a name missing, a mispelled credit, someone credited with the wrong job, someone to thank at the end...ad infinitum! Endcrawl solves the problem by allowing you easily make changes to your credit crawl and then it will send you a fresh, new render of it for you to drag 'n drop into your timeline. Nick has experimented with the beta version of this service in his recent features and it IS as s

SPOILER ALERT: If you are not caught up on The Walking Dead when you listen to this then you may be very upset by what we discuss. You have been warned. Anybody who's anybody was glued to TWD Season 7 premiere this week, so let's talk about the style of the show, how it's managed to survive 7 seasons with its story arc and also what common tools do horror films/series use often to grab their audience's attention? The show suffered a drop in ratings during season 6 and the writers pulled an H-bomb out of their pocket by teasing the death of an important character. This left fans biting their nails while they waited for the answer: Who bit the bullet? Cliffhangers and teases like this are used very often, especially in horror movies. Jason Voorhees jumping out of the water at the end of Friday the 13th, Freddy's last jumpscare at the end of the first Nightmare on Elm Street, the ending of every Saw movie...in fact, now that I think of it pretty much ALL of the horror films out there end with a cliffhanger. Was

  Oh man...so the benefit of batch recording episodes is that you always have one to put out even when you fall behind in recording. The downside is whatever the topic is may not be as timely as it was when you first covered it. Thus, we present to you our Back to School episode that was originally recorded in early September. We congratulate one of our listeners, Katie Green, who is currently kicking ass in her first semester in her broadcasting program at Sheridan. There are a number of news updates that we discuss, including hot feature updates for Adobe CC 2015, determining whether GoPro's latest video is legit or sorcery, and BlackMagic continues to assimilate other software into itself by purchasing Ultimatte and Fairlight plugins. Then just wait for it...because we discuss some news ways for you to add to your bag of editing tricks. When you first open a program that is completely foreign to you, where do you start? Nick has some insight from when he made the leap from After Effects to Nuke as a compos

Nick is tired because of a wrap party on his recent feature and Josh has been off of caffeine for a while...but it doesn't matter because we're so excited to talk about Stranger Things! ... Okay so we are a little late to the party with this one but it was recorded so long ago and Nick kind of dropped the ball on posting new episodes in the last couple of weeks (and he's sorry!). But we have a number of good episodes ready to go for the next while so strap in and press play. Stranger Things was an instant game-changer when it came out, playing to viewers' nostalgia of the 80's and delivering a smattering of well-written characters with a good mystery adventure to take us on. We chat about our experience with the series, why we felt it was hyped up as much as it was, and also what this could mean for any trends the filmmaking world will see as a result of its success. This includes an increase in directors requesting that 80's style synth score and the title font for their own film. Not joking, within 2 days o

  We have a BUNCH of stuff to share with you! Let's see how much we can cram into this episode. Throughout the week we collect links, useful tips and eyebrow-raising articles that we come across to discuss and now it's time to give them all to you. It's an AKS (All Kinds o' Shit) episode this week! Are you using Instagram Stories or do you prefer Snapchat? There are people in either camp using these tools to provide video to their followers. I've been trying both out to see the differences and what kind of value can be provided to his followers. I like to show glimpses of my timeline progress, behind-the-scenes of sets that I'm on and of course multiple images of #CoffeePorn. You can follow Nick on Snapchat (merc_media) or on Instagram (mercmedia) to see shots of his work and coffee. You can follow Josh (joshort) on Snapchat to see pics of how his vacation is going right now. Let us know which ones you use regularly and help us decide which one to stick with. Sierra OS for Mac users is coming this fall and th

We welcome editor Erik Swanson on the show, who recently completed work on his first feature length credit: Rise of the Sufferfests, a documentary that explores the rising trend of OCR (Obstacle Course Racing). You may have heard me talk about OCR occasionally as it's become an obsession of mine in the past year. If you've heard of Tough Mudder, Spartan races or anything similar then you've probably thought one of two things: 1) "That sounds like fun!" or 2) "Why do people actually do this??" Rise of the Sufferfests sets out to answer that latter question, as director Scott Keneally investigates the world of OCR using himself as a guinea pig and interviews with multiple racers. Erik Swanson got started in filmmaking working mostly with sports editorial footage for 11 years before jumping into the world of freelancing and becoming attached to RotS with Scott and his group. Documentary filmmaking is not for the faint of heart. It can involve insanely large amounts of dedicated time, endless hours of footage to

Being sick and on the job... This started as a Twitter discussion from a question Scott Simmons posed earlier. There were many different opinions shared and it's not a simple yes/no question. So we're here to discuss it further, what are your rights as a freelancer and how should you balance out the responsibilities of the job and your own health? --- Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CommandEdit Join our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CommandEdit/ Get more of the podcast at http://www.CommandEditPodcast.com

Welcome to Episode 54 of Command+Edit Podcast! We all inevitably reach a point in our careers when we start to really question if this industry is for you. Let's face it, it's not for everyone. This came about recently when a colorist/editor that we follow, Ben Brainerd, announced on Twitter that he was hanging up his hat and switching careers entirely. You can read all about his decisions, how he arrived at them and his reasons for settling on this new path (and a completely different address!). http://ragingmushroom.com/the-big-why/ Follow Ben Brainerd on Twitter (https://twitter.com/ben_brainerd). If you have ever reached a point where you seriously considered getting out of the filmmaking business entirely, then we would like to hear your story. Email us (CommandEditPodcast@gmail.com) or tweet us (www.twitter.com/CommandEdit). --- Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CommandEdit Join our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CommandEdit/ Get more of the podcast at http://www.CommandEditPodcast.

We are often asked the question "How much does a video cost?" The short answer: It depends. As a comparison you could ask "How much does a house cost?" and then point out the many factors that affect the cost of a house: location, size, materials, how quickly it needs to be built, etc. You want to ask specifics from the client early on to determine what kind of video they are expecting to receive, but you also don't want to scare them off with an overwhelming inquisition. You want to ask the right questions to just get the information you need to produce an accurate quote or estimate. That way you ensure that you are giving an accurate number for your services and your client can rest easy that that number won't change (much) during production. Some standard questions that you can ask a client are: Who is the audience? Will a script be provided? What materials are already produced and available (graphics, stock footage...)? Will we require actors or spokespersons from the company on-screen? Will their be voi

After the briefest of hiatuses we are BACK! Did you miss us? This episode Josh and Nick get into the topic of codecs: When to use which ones? How to optimize your encoding settings for faster exports/higher quality videos. How to establish delivery specs with clients early on And some other goodie topics for you As well there a number of links you should click on this week. Nick is trying Audio Network's new plugin for Adobe Premiere CC that makes it incredibly easy and fast to find the right music for your edit. It includes a panel right in the Premiere interface so you can search, select and edit with stock music tracks without ever leaving Premiere. They are looking for Beta testers to sign up and try it out. (http://us.audionetwork.com/content/whats-new/adobe-premiere-pro-plugin? If you're looking for a basic tutorial on getting started in Premiere...this ain't it, but it'll give you a laugh. Some people are just not in the right emotional and mental state for making tutorials (https://www.youtube.com/

  Can a monkey be taught to edit? Or at least can any HUMAN be taught to edit? This is the question we set out to answer in this week's episode. We live in a time where anyone could certainly have access to the gear and training necessary to start learning. And for some it's a prickly topic of conversation about how so many up-and-comers are diluting the market and creating too much competition for the rest of us. Or is there far more to it that simply cannot be taught and will always separate the "button mashers" who only know the shortcuts to those of us who call ourselves storytellers and rely more on theory and technique of what makes a good edit? More and more editors are filling the market each year, as well there are more companies that are turning to training their in-house staff the basics of Adobe Premiere to save money on hiring an outside freelancer. Listen up to Episode 51 and let us know what you think in the comments section over at www.CommandEditPodcast.com. Or tweet us your thoughts on Twitt