Paul Zadie

If you’re like most creative professionals, you probably use your computer for editing, graphics, effects, audio production, and any number of other tasks that require maximum performance from your system. You probably also use that same system for many other things that don’t require top performance.

My usual ritual when starting work for the day is to set my Energy Saver settings to never sleep the system because there is nothing worse than trying to play back a timeline and having to wait for disks to spin up. I spend the day working, then I restore my settings to something that is a lot more energy efficient. This lets me have the performance that I need to work, but gives me the lower heat, lower power consumption, and eco friendliness that I want from my system when I’m not working in a demanding application.

I was getting tired of making these changes manually, so I turned to Google. After a little bit of searching, I found a set of AppleScripts for changing Energy Saver Profiles. These scripts are easy to install and run from the menu bar. The days of manually configuring the energy saver twice a day are gone now.

I get this question a lot from freelance editors that are just starting out. They always have a tough time figuring out how to price their services. Creative people tend to have difficulty with the business side of things and get themselves into undesirable situations all too often. Have you ever set a flat rate for a job then found yourself working for peanuts at the end when you did the math? I know I have. I learned a valuable lesson about this kind of situation way back in my graphic design days, and I still use it as a basis for pricing most of the work I do. The following formula doesn’t apply to all situations, but I find it a solid starting point. Here’s how I figure it out…

Step 1 – Mathematical Guesswork

The first thing to do is determine how much you would like to get paid per hour. It sounds simple enough, but this is a sticking point for many freelancers. There is a lot to consider here. A few factors in determining your hourly rate are your skill level, years of experience, location, overhead, market, education, and the clients that you work for. You don’t need a single rock solid rate. There is room for flexibility. For example, the rate that I charge corporate clients is different than what I charge independent filmmakers. But you should figure out a baseline rate, and work from there. Freelance Switch has a super-fantastic rate calculator to help you figure this out.

Step 2 – Creative Guesswork

Now that you have figured out your hourly rate, you need to try and estimate how many hours you will work on the project in question. Figuring out the amount of time you will spend on a job isn’t an exact science. Sometimes it’s nothing but an unlucky guess. But it gets easier with time and experience. I know this is vague, and may seem unhelpful, but only you can guess at how long it will take.

Step 3 – More Math

Once you have an idea of how many hours it will take… double it. That’s right, double it. It’s usually going to take you at least twice as long as you think it will.

Step 4 – Communicate

Let the client know that you work by the hour, what the rate is, and how many hours you think it will take. Make it clear that the total price is an ESTIMATE, and if you spend more hours it will cost more, and if you spend less hours it will cost less. This way it
is fair for everyone involved.

Sometimes you’ll have to do everything you can to come in under a certain budget because that’s all the client can spend. When this is the case, the client should know that because of the limited budget, you have limited time to accomplish what they want, so there will be compromises. You should work with the client on what those compromises should be and how to get the edit done under budget with acceptable results. All too often it is the editor that is making the compromise of time. Communicate.

This obviously does not apply to every situation, and there are many ways to bill a client. Some of my clients pay a day rate, and some pay a weekly rate. It all depends on the client and the scope of the project.

Setting rates gets easier with experience, but hopefully this helps a little. If you have any tips or ideas that work for you and would help, please share them in the comments.

This second installment of the edit faster and more efficiently series is an extension of part 1 File Organization.

Now that you have an organization system that works, it’s time to move to the next step in the quest for video editing speed and efficiency – keeping bins organized.

Sloppy bins are just as much of a problem, and just as common as a messy file system. Few things waste time like fumbling around and searching for something that you know is there, but just can’t locate. This isn’t just a problem with novice editors. I have seen some very talented pros that are extremely messy. Artists, by our very nature, are a messy bunch. We put so many of our resources into being creative that we don’t think about the tedious tasks that we know we should handle regularly.

Organizing your bins is actually more important than organizing files when it comes to directly affecting your editing efficiency. While keeping your file system organized can save you time by making things easy to find or transport, keeping all of your assets in order in your working environment (i.e. bins) will save even more time because this is where the “hands-on” files that you use throughout your edit reside. It can be a serious pain to go scrolling through dozens or hundreds of bin items looking for a particular video clip, sound file, or a graphic. Even a 30 second spot can sometimes end up having more elements than you want to scroll through to find something.

Like file organization, bin organization should be made a habit. It should also stay consistent across projects for the most part. I say for the most part because I like to organize my bins differently depending on the type of edit I’m working on. Every project is different, but your method should make sense. For example, you probably want to organize a narrative or scripted project by scene number. A multi-camera shoot by camera number. Documentary by reel number, or; day, location, interviews, b-roll, whatever makes sense for that project. Just organize it so that your media is easy to find. Sequences, graphics, photos, music, sound effects, and any other elements should be filed away nicely too.

Just like organizing files, always keep your bins organized logically so that any other editor or assistant can work on the project without getting a headache. Facilities each have a system of their own. It’s usually very easy to find your way around a project at a facility because they tend to have consistently used procedures for everything. If you find yourself freelancing at a company that doesn’t have strict procedures, it is a good idea to leave them with a tidy project. You’ll save yourself the off-the-clock phone calls when they are trying to make sense of your work.

You don’t have to have your project and bins organized exactly the way a facility does. But if your project is destined to end up at a facility for an online, it’s a good idea to find out what the requirements are before you begin your edit. Or before you deliver to them at the least. Don’t deliver a sloppy project, or you will surely drive another editor nuts.

If you are a solo operation, and your edits never go to a facility or another editor, then maybe you shouldn’t worry about the hassle of organizing your work. Wrong! Keep in mind, this is intended to make you more efficient and give you more time to be creative.