Professional Practice: Editing

Editing stage: From Rough to Fine to Final 

During this process arose the most issues due to disagreements between the client's correspondent and I due to music.

During my first walk through with the client I suggested that they thought about what style of music they would want, think about what slogans or visual text they would want to represent the brand in the video because it wouldn't be a good launch video if it was just like a slide show. I was told that they would have a think about it and get back to me. 

I was then given a song that was selected by the correspondent however upon receiving I realised it was a very well known song and would propose obvious copyright issues. The song was "Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve". I explained that I would need a different song to cut to because it is too slow, and also we do not have the rights to the video. It wouldn't be able to actually be uploaded anywhere without breaching copyright. However, the correspondent reassured me that they would get the rights to it and to cut to that song because he liked it. I followed the orders knowing that it would cause issues because thats what I was told to do. But in my head I knew that they wouldn't be able to get the rights to that song because it is so huge. 

I thought it would be a good idea to research the copyright rules just to be informed; 

Whilst reading the rules, It became very clear to me that we would be breaching copyright. However I am glad i researched because I will apply this knowledge to my future projects.


Without disrespect, I knew that the correspondant didn't understand the severity of it but the client who was in charge would understand as he is from a television background. But I went ahead anyway because that is what the client wanted.

With 1 week and a half to the launch,I was admitted to the hospital and managed I finished my rough cut with the Bittersweet symphony instrumental as requested. In my opinion I did a great job with cutting and pricing together a piece with slow music. Even though I did the best with what I had, it is very clear that there is something missing such as information about the company or at least a small slogan voice over. For a launch, I would expect a punchier video. This is what Geoff Miles originally asked for before I was given this slow song. Here is the first rough cut which I sent to both the client and the client's correspondent; 

As you can see, it is a very neat edit and shows the high security of the building/ company. However this is not a video that I would imagine at a launch.

Client's Correspondent's Feedback 

Here I was told to make it longer,  and change a few images etc but for the most part, he liked it. However I was not comfortable with the feedback given by him because I knew it was the complete opposite from what the Main client Geoff initially wanted. I was also still waiting for some facts or something to add to the video. 

I explained to the client that I was stuck in hospital by this point and when I come out I would be on bed rest and wouldn't be able to come in to discuss the edit. I asked them if they could email me but eventually I had to go in. I now met up with both Geoff Miles and Drew Morley. Of course everything that I informed drew about is what Geoff told me to change. His feedback; 

• Change music, make it faster and to something that was copyright free...
• Add facts to the screen and make it fit the brand
• change a few shots around
• make it shorter

Of course I understood where he was coming from because he was right and these are the things I had been saying from the very start. I was actually quite furious at the fact my suggestions were not taken on board because now my deadline for the edit was 5 days instead of the 3 weeks I initially had. Especially as I was unwell and was supposed to be on bed rest, at this time I just wanted the project to be over.

I was now given a big list of facts that they would want to include in the video. With a newly discussed time frame of 1 minute and under for the video, I told immediately looked at the list and told them that it would not be possible to add all these facts;

The email I was sent;

• In this email I was still being told contradicting things to what Geoff Miles wanted. It is clear that the disagreed with eachother and I was now stuck in the middle of it. 
• I asked Drew to help me find music as I wouldnt be able to spend a lot of time on that as well as do the new tasks given.
• I was now given a heard drive filled with over 300 pictures to go through since they now wanted pictures added. 

With the launch in 5 days as well as other uni commitments such as my studio production pitch to create, this task was on the brink of actually being impossible to complete. 

• Drew did not help me find any music and after spending hours on the internet I managed to find one. 
• During this new edit I came across so many issues which caused a lot of late nights. 
• Being injured did not help either since I was now on medication that made me tired. 
• For this new edit I also had to learn new skills such as making images move and animate texts to fit the beat and have a stylistic feel to it. 
• It was extremely difficult and very time consuming. I kept messaging Drew to tell him that there is no way to fit all those facts in and  also, the facts given had no footage to represent it. He insisted that all the facts had to be in there and in that order. Which to me made no sense because some of those facts do not need to be in a 1 minute long video. 
• This editing process became a very time consuming unnecessarily unpleasant one just because I was going against what I knew just to  please a client who didn't know anything about filming or editing. **Lesson Learnt!**
• I took a stand and decided to create the video how I wanted with the facts that were suitable and sent it to them. 
• I created a new draft of the video, I received feedback that it was great and I now had to make a few minor changes. This edit was done in 3 days.. 
• I was then told that they wanted the video a day earlier because they wanted to test it out on the screen. so instead of 5 days I now had 4 which to me was unacceptable because the amount of work they were asking from me and with such a small turnaround time is something that you would to to a paid professional who's sole job is editing only. I thought it was ridiculous that they would even ask me to do that considering all the factors but I painstakingly sat there over night trying to make their new deadline. I was unable to complete it and ended up sending a firm but professional message to Drew stating that what is asked of me is too much. The fact that I was able to create a brand new video so soon should have been enough, from a time frame of 3 weeks to 3/4 days was enough. 
• In the end I pulled through and they received their video on the day of the launch.

The Final Video

The feedback from Geoff Miles;

Feedback from another official, Leonard Kay