The Editing Essentials For 2015

4K Shooters by Harry Aaron Editing can be a very consuming and at times cumbersome experience for many filmmakers. Mike Wilkinson recently went into detail on FStoppers.com in talking about what he’s learned in his time crafting a workflow for editing video as a freelancer, and in reading it I was able to see that many of his investments and opinions were ones I’ve put into use myself as well. In this piece I’ll take his insights, and add to them from my personal experiences: Keep things portable While having a 4K video card, 5K self-calibrating monitor and 64GB of RAM can be very helpful for a powerful editing station, the reality is that most freelance editors can work without that. Get a laptop, max out the RAM, install a SSD to boot your OS and programs from, keep your files on a BUS-powered external hard drive, and have a good pair of headphones. With a kit like this, you’re able to work from most anywhere that gives you peace and comfort. From Canon Rebels to the ARRI ALEXA, all current digital systems shoot to cards that can easily transfer through laptops. Five years ago Louis CK happily spoke about editing his .r3d files in Final Cut Pro 7, on his MacBook Pro. It can be done. read more...