Have you ever felt like the worst student ever? Maybe at the maths class in a high school or at PE when running for a mile?
A few months ago I was one of the first to sign up for This Guy Edits’ course “The Go-To Editor”.
As soon as I could I watched a few lessons.
To be honest the 1st module was a bit too basic to me because it sets you up for editing one of the scenes Sven provides footage for. The organization, synchronization. The process I know pretty well.
But from a few more videos I came to understand Sven’s philosophy on the craft, finding clients and the industry.
You see, completion of the course was not a priority for me.
I jumped on the board because the course has lifetime access and I figured out I’d get my money back out of it anyway. Sometimes you need someone to push you a bit in the right direction. That’s what I know will pay off big time.
My goal for the previous year was to get my hands on a short film. To edit narrative work.
I have a ton of corporate video experience but unfortunately, I lack narrative experience even though I feel with my whole body that it’s inside of me. This editing muscle. Waiting to be tamed, practiced and mastered.
Sure enough. With a few tips (or maybe even just thoughts) I got out of the course I finally managed to do it. I’m editing a short film and I’m pretty excited about it!
I’ll try to document all of my insights and things I’ve learned along the way when the work is done. Stay tuned 🙂
So why am I the worst student? Cause I haven’t focused much on the course itself.
Once you get access to it you have a few challenges. A few real movie scenes to edit that you have footage provided for.
I have done none of these.
Still, I think it was a good investment.
I mean, if I don’t edit those scenes ever because I have client projects, my own narrative scenes to edit and videos to produce for the YT channel, I’m probably good.
I know that the 29% of the course I have actually completed to this date, was probably more impactful for my way of thinking about my role as an editor, getting clients, etc. then the rest of it will be. The Pareto principle, right? 😉
That has always been my philosophy. Act before learning. Learn while doing. Develop by doing.
You may know that I graduated as a Civil Engineer. Changing my career path by 180 degrees was a bit scary. Following my principles though, I knew one thing:
That the most important factors leading you to success and a sense of fulfillment are not being tough in any film school.
The rest is secondary.
Except for connections and relationships of course. That’s something much easier to build being in that safe (compared to business) environment of the school.
Living your dream, working on exciting projects and picking the ones you want to work on next. It's all feasible. But it's not only about your editing skills. It's also about storytelling, branding, being proactive and having career goals and tactics.
All of it can be tough and learned and this is what This Guy Edits’ course “The Go-To Editor” is all about.
It's available for sign-up until 10 March 2020 and probably won't be open again for the foreseeable future.
Read more about The Go-To Editor course
The course includes:
That’s me during one of the office hours with Sven:
I asked him a few questions. I got the answers. I got to know Claudio and Erwann - students of the course that just like me took advantage of the office hours.
Spending some one-on-one time with Sven was great. He lives in LA, has numerous editing credits, a lot of the first-hand experience and a willingness to share what he’s learned along the way.
A few months ago one of you wrote this comment under one of my videos:
Yours and This Guy Edits' channels are my favorite YouTube channels on the topic of editing.
I can tell you right now - one of the biggest compliments I've ever received.
Read more about The Go-To Editor course
I’m one of the students (although as you can tell from all the above I’m not the most active ones…) and I believe that if you're really serious about filmmaking and editing, you should join this community as well. It’s not cheap, I know, but it’s obvious to me that this is an investment with a good rate of return.
