Lifetime Employability
by Martin Sterling
on
Sep 10, 2007 at 3:08:56 pm
After reading The World Is Flat, I am curious to know how an FCP editor would gain lifetime employability in this field, or would Great FCP skills just be one of the many skills the future creative professional needs to know a long the side of Heavy After Affects, Maya 3D modeling, Shake compositing, and much more.
I guess what I am asking is, "does being just a good editor cut it anymore"
Re: Lifetime Employability by Bret Williams on Sep 10, 2007 at 3:52:38 pm
None of that will gain anyone lifetime employability. Knowing how to use particular tools is just that. Knowing the art of design, color, typography, motion, light, etc. combined with people skills is a broader step toward lifetime employability. It's learn a new tool if you know what you want it to do and what it's designed to do.
Re: Lifetime Employability by Russell Lasson on Sep 10, 2007 at 3:54:38 pm
[Martin Sterling]"I guess what I am asking is, "does being just a good editor cut it anymore" "
I would say that if anyone ever sits back and says, "I'm good enough not to have to learn anymore," then they're on the road to unemployment.
I live in a small market and there aren't very many people who make a living off of only being an editor. They all, including myself, have expanded they're skills outside of editing to keep themselves marketable.
In larger markets, I think it's much more likely to have people who only edit and don't do much anything else. But even then, if they don't continually work on being the best editor out there, then people are just going to hire someone else with the same amount of editing skill, but who also knows AE, Motion, etc.
In my mind, the key to never becoming obsolete is to make education a life long process. This is what I strive to do. That is why I have involvement in the Cow.
Re: Lifetime Employability by Martin Sterling on Sep 10, 2007 at 4:32:23 pm
one of the reasons I put this question out there is because, I know very well FCP. I also know Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects. I don't feel I know them on the grandest scale to crank out some of the more exilerating things people are used to as well as I feel I dont have much expertise in design theory. I find it difficult to develop these skills with the majority of my clients wanting basic editing. I make some background plates that I create from already royalty free material that I might blend together with some alhpa channels and couple things here and there, but nothing from scratch. that is difficult for me.
Re: Lifetime Employability by Smileswearily on Sep 10, 2007 at 6:41:31 pm
I am just going through a situation where I pitched a show and the client was really excited about it, and they were like, "okay, make us a promo."
"You mean a pilot."
"No, you know, a promo with motion graphics and stuff."
Well, I didn't know After Effects, and made that clear. I tried my best in the given time period (a week), and came up with something amateurish at best.
After three weeks, I learned enough about AE to come up with something that looks professional, but in that time of getting my skills up and getting it together, the client lost a lot of faith in me and my abilities.
My advice is, as soon as you have time and money, purchase and learn a new program- get 100% on After Effects and then move on to a 3d program.
Re: Lifetime Employability by todd reid on Sep 10, 2007 at 8:01:42 pm
Walter, please elaborate.
Do you mean you CAN make it as just an editor?
I think that there is still some time left for people who want to "specialize", but that time is drawing to a close. These people however, must be way above average to thrive.
I pride myself on a VERY solid and experienced editing base, but I also have some photoshop, motion, shake skills that fit in quite nicely. But I would probably not take a gig purely based on my talent in anything but editing.
Re: Lifetime Employability by walter biscardi on Sep 10, 2007 at 8:27:29 pm
[todd reid]"Do you mean you CAN make it as just an editor?"
Absolutely. A good editor is always in demand. Look at movie editors, that's pretty much all they do and they are in demand. Why? Because they can tell a good story.
Same with me. I'm most in demand because of my strong storytelling skills no matter what the type of project it is. Yes, I can work Photoshop, After Effects, Motion, Color, DVD Studio Pro and Encore, but 90% of my work is due to my editing skills. And having good editing skills means knowing how to use all the tools together to tell a good story. So that means understanding Photoshop, After Effects and some of those other tools. Final Touch, now Color is a very powerful storytelling tool allowing me to influence what the viewer feels as they watch a scene through color grading.
[todd reid]"I think that there is still some time left for people who want to "specialize", but that time is drawing to a close."
Being outstanding at what you do will never draw to a close and the only way to be outstanding is to choose what are you are going to specialize in. A LOT of my work comes from clients who tried the one man band, very small shop that does everything. Script, Shoot, Edit, DVD, Web, Sound, you name it, they do it. Usually they do one thing well and everything else so-so or they really don't do anyone one thing well. So they hire me and what I do is specialize in Post. I hire photographers who specialize in photography. I hire sound designers who specialize in sound design. Specialists are going nowhere. It's the "one man band" who will have a hard time keeping up folks like me who have surrounded themselves with very good professionals who specialize in giving the client the absolute best product they can have.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
http://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.
All Things Apple Podcast! http://cowcast.creativecow.net/all_things_apple/index.html
Re: Lifetime Employability by CharlieX on Sep 10, 2007 at 8:39:03 pm
I'll add: Yes you can be an editor only, but you really need to surround yourself with specialists in other aspects of Post or you're done. The boutique edit houses are a dying breed - if all you do is offline edit, be prepared to lose work.
Re: Lifetime Employability by Sean ONeil on Sep 11, 2007 at 12:33:42 am
Editing is storytelling. Like writing. What is expected of writers? New computer programs and cheap color printers have become available - are they expected to provide graphic illustrations/storyboards as well?
Turn on the TV. 99% of what you see are straight cuts without any graphics.
I agree, a boutique shop needs to be able to produce motion graphic content. But I'm not sure expecting everyone who sits in an edit bay to be a jack of all trades is a good thing.
Re: Lifetime Employability by Bob Zelin on Sep 12, 2007 at 9:57:14 pm
I will add my stupid opinion, as I have been in this business for a very long time, and have seen the extinction of film editors, CMX linear editors, and now AVID editors.
EVERYTHING YOU KNOW will be obsolete one day soon (long before you are ready to retire), and you BETTER be ready to learn something new, because there will ALWAYS be something new. We are currently seeing the old dog AVID editors saying "FCP sucks" (and everything else sucks), because they learned the AVID, they know how to cut, and they dont' want to learn anything else. Well, FCP will eventually die, as everything else will (well, maybe Photoshop won't die out).
Re: Lifetime Employability by Tom Meegan on Sep 11, 2007 at 11:33:50 am
I think think the fact that generalists need to hire specialists to compete begs the question:
Will skill "X" help create life time employability?
Any skill that transcends tools will help lifetime employability.
That being said, deep knowledge of current tools is essential if you want to be on the ground. It is typically more valuable to be exceptional with complex expensive tools than with complex inexpensive tools.
Think of building design and construction as an example.
Architects do not need to keep up on the specifics of crane operation. It is helpful if they know about major changes in the capabilities of cranes, but architects do not need to know how the levers work.
Contractors need broad and fairly specific knowledge of many areas. Plumbing, heating, electric, cement, drywall, etc.
Subcontracts need to focus on being the best available at a certain price point for their chosen skill. Carpenters need to know a lot about nails, lumber, etc. They need to know about plumbing, electric, etc in so far as these trades effect carpentry.
If you do choose to specialize, you have to be learning new skills in the chosen specialty all the time. And to be excellent, you need to understand how the different disciplines interact.
If you aspire to be an architect you need to find big fish clients, because many small projects don't need an architect.
Contractors do well by combining the skills of specialists.
Television and film projects are very like this:
Architect = Large project Producer/Direcctor (Superbowl Commercial/Feature Film)
Contractor = Producer on small to medium project, Operations Manager on large project
Re: Lifetime Employability by adkimery on Sep 13, 2007 at 4:28:07 am
Lots of good POVs here that I think showcase how many times the answer in this business is, "Well, it depends..." The size of your market and the size of your projects have a lot to do w/whether or not being a specialist or a jack of all trades is the best approach. As Walter said, there are a ton of people in Hollywood that just editor, or just assistant edit or just operate a camera, etc.,. There are also a ton of people in Hollywood that editor and do vfx or write and direct. What's right for one person isn't necessarily right for the next. One has to recognize what one's own strengths and weaknesses are and see how that matches up w/one's location and the types of projects one wants to work on.
Being a specialist is only a helpful if clients are hiring specialists and being a jack of all trades is only helpful if clients are hiring jack of all trades.
Re: Lifetime Employability by filmmakerguy on Sep 15, 2007 at 7:09:19 am
I've enjoyed this discussion quite a bit, especially the fact that it starts with a seemingly basic, innocuous question, but ends up really getting to the heart of what we do.
I would add that one's true skillset is ultimately driven by their interest and passion. You're never going to spend the days and weeks necessary to learn the latest program unless your inner desire drives you. Those learning because the "have to" and "everyone else is" end up being capable at best, but never truly embracing a new platform and pushing the limits of the new medium.
Keeping up on all of the latest cameras alone became an insurmountable task, and one day it dawned on me that I'm a director, not a cinematographer. My job is to tell him what I want, and his job is to deliver. We work together to that end, but I surely can count on the fact that he is a specialist, and his intricate knowledge of the camera surpasses mine, so I let him do his job proficiently. Now I still browse all of the camera brochures and articles, but that is being aware of the tools at my disposal.
Alex Melli
www.suktion.com
I would also reiterate that the most saleable skillset is people skills. I've directed a feature and many shorts, and as incredibly important as every single technical and artistic element is, nothing is accomplished alone, and collaboration has proven to be the biggest reward.
