How to Get Started: Becoming a Pro DV Editor
To be a video editor can be a hugely rewarding career. It's prestigious, interesting, artistic, and you could become rich and famous. That's why there are so many people who have picked video editing as a career. That's the problem. Too many people, too few jobs. So, it becomes a war of attrition to the young upstart looking for a big break. It also helps if you're good at what you do, know some industry players and are lucky.
For example, take my career path. I guess you could say I ended up being lucky, but at first, I had to make my own luck. I had to freelance for four years, doing the worst jobs that exist in TV before I even got my first full-time position. I had to build sets, drag filthy cables through garbage-caked basements, sweat in the Florida sun all day, and take orders from people who were more like prison wardens than colleagues. Even then, the pay was terrible. It took me about ten years of dues-paying before I could earn a respectable living as a TV director. By then, I was able to direct a few shows that showed I had paid my dues and maybe had a bit of talent, and then managed to build up a few national credits. Now I can freelance on nice projects from time to time and write full time. It's a great life. [an error occurred while processing this directive] But how do you get from there to here? On the most general level, the best way to make it is to never give up. Get out there and do some projects. If nobody will hire you, think of an original idea for a short video piece, borrow a camera, plan and shoot some shots, edit them together with whatever equipment you can scrounge up and show the world that you are talented and deserve a chance. Then take that tape and show it to some people who are in a position to give you a job, however small. Freelance, get paid, and while you're doing that, study the field of video and editing during every free moment. Take notes about what you like and don't like with editing you see on TV and at the movies. Live, eat, sleep and dream about editing.
Specifically, I would recommend learning everything there is to know about the Avid Media Composer and all its Avid variants, the editing systems that are used for the vast majority of prime-time television editing in the world. It's also used on most motion pictures and many commercial spot productions, too. I know that sounds like a press release, but it's true. If you know Avid, you can get some work, somewhere. Take classes in it, if you haven't already. Avid offers excellent training programs, and they're offered in many different parts of the country for varying lengths of time. Another hot app right now is Final Cut Pro 3. Learn that, too -- everything there is to know about it -- and get so you can edit quickly on it. It's the rising star in editing right now, and people who know it well will get work. The idea here is to make yourself as attractive to as many people as possible. That means learn how to edit with Macs and PCs, without being too attached to either one. Don't buy too much into one platform over another, because while a few years ago Macs were the only way to go with editing, now you'll probably be asked to use both at different times in your career.
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