Diane's Diary #9: Before the Editing Actually Begins…
Updated: Sep 20, 2020
Note: This is Excerpt #9 in Diane’s Diary. If you would like to read previous excerpts, you can find Diane’s Diary 1-8 here.
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We left CSUF with a few hours' of film footage. Before I get into the actual editing conversation, it is worth mentioning the importance of backing up the footage in multiple places. Chateau was gracious and offered to transfer the footage that was on the drive in his camera onto two back-up hard drives. Not only that but then he drove from the other side of town to meet me and hand-deliver it.
The next question I asked myself was, how am I going to turn this footage into a watchable short film? While plenty of people learn how to use editing software, I knew that a) I didn’t have any interest in learning how to use the software and b) even though I have a vision of the story I want to tell, I wouldn’t even know where to begin telling it.
I decided to hire a film editor.
My aim was to hire a fresh editor looking to gain experience. I was more than happy to pay for their work but within my limited budget. Fortunately, there are many newcomer editors and assistant editors that are happy to work for a modest price in exchange for the opportunity.
My husband, Andy, produces movie trailers and there are always assistant editors who have begun their editing career but haven’t yet made a name for themselves as an editor. I have worked with editors and junior editors from his company in the past (i.e. on the book trailer for What to Expect When Adopting a Dog) and other projects and all have been good experiences.
One of the junior editors at my husband’s former company is a young woman named Hannah. (Her bio is at the bottom of this page on my website)
We had spoken a few times in person and she’s an animal lover and has the tiniest, funniest little dog, named Butters who she brings to work with her. I am keen on hiring as many women for this project as I can, and Andy said she had been cutting a few tv spots and was doing a good job. She and I spoke (in June 2019), and she was interested! She was a film major in college, had edited some films in the past, and was excited to work on the short documentary films that I was proposing. Yay!
We worked out a deal and signed an independent contractor agreement and we were ready.
Come back next time when we get into the editing process.
If you haven’t yet had a chance to watch our first 3-minute mini-documentary, here’s a link: