Welcome to Pull My Focus, adventures into the world of digital film-making where we bring you the INSIDE tips on making great videos.

If you’re an editor like I am, you are part of the world of Post Production. And if you work alone like I usually do, you have the great responsibility of reading shot list notes, looking at AND understanding storyboards, gathering rushes and other digital assets, choosing music, creating digital composites, whew, the list goes on. It’s all a part of the job. Especially when that job isn’t just for your own projects, but when you introduce paid clients to all this, then shit gets real!

I’m going to tell you how I keep all this stuff together and remain organized from project to project. Hopefully what I do will help you.

Get Organized

I did a video a while back on organizing your digital assets that you should check out for a deep dive on that. I feel that organization is the foundation of keeping sane. Here are some things you should consider to stay organized:

Use a Project Template to ramp up new projects quickly. An example of this is in my video.

Make versions of your work as you go. Although you can set Premiere to auto-save your work every so often, this doesn’t count as making versions. This is just backups. I suggest you set up a regimen of duplicating your working sequences every so often so you can refer back when you need to. When I work on PMF shows, I usually create a new version every time I open the current project after a long break. Probably once in the morning and once after lunch. When we work with paying clients, I’ll make a new version of my work for the client to see, but internally, we might go through many internal revisions. The goal is to allow yourself some wiggle room. Maybe you had a cut yesterday that was awesome, but for some reason you lost it in the current cut.

If we aren’t doing internal projects, then most of the other work we do is considered “work for hire”. That means the company that has commissioned our work is considered the author and automatic copyright owner of said work. And that means they can ask for not only the finished project but also all the digital assets that make up that project. If and when they do ask for the project files, I have already made sure that all I have to do is compress a single folder and ALL the work is contained within. This means, not just going into Premiere and using the “Collect and Save” option because that only outputs the files that are in the FINAL project. They probably need all the rushes and other digital assets that were created and possibly not used in the final. So make sure you don’t have files spread over multiple drives and computers. Stay organized from start to end.

Communication and Feedback

My first couple of projects were all me. I worked on everything pretty much all by myself with no input from anyone. Eventually, I wanted someone else to see it, so I showed what I considered the final version. And from their feedback, I was amazed at how much I missed and how much better their suggestions made my work.

Communication and feedback is key in post production. When Frank sends me an assembly edit of a video, I add my creative input during the edit. And usually, I will send it back to him expecting him to simply see how amazing it is and sign off. But what always happens is he throws more input on top of my input and it becomes even greater than ever.

If you work alone, I suggest you ask a few, close pals to take a look at your drafts and tell you what they think. Don’t wait until you’re done to do this. The earliest you can get some feedback, the better. Hell, even pitch new ideas to them. You’ll be surprised at where your idea can go when another person that you trust chimes in.

If you work with paying clients, communication should always be in mind. Hopefully, a good project manager bakes in time for back-and-forth feedback and changes. Even still, make sure to report any and all blockers you hit during any point in the process. This may include spending a little more time going over their vision so you are clear on what they want and checking all delivered assets before starting. I don’t consider an asset delivered until I can open it and actually use it.

I highly recommend using a collaboration website to aid in communication. We use a service called Frame.io (note features). There are also other services like Wipster.io and even Vimeo has features for video collaboration.

Plugins are your friend

Plugins are your friend. You don't have to build everything yourself. In fact you'll probably lose valuable time trying to reinvent the wheel when there are perfectly good plugins and add-on modules that you can be leveraging to get ahead. Yes knowledge is power, but as Steve Miller said, “Time keeps on slippin.” It's great to know how to build a complex animation in After Effects, but when the rubber meets the road and you have a deadline to meet, pick your battles think about using plugins, even paid ones. For Premiere users, maybe get a subscription to Red Giant Universe (not a PMF sponsor) It's a great set of tools that add an incredible amount of polish to your productions when used correctly. I will list some links to a couple of other plugins that you might be able to use down below.

Spend time to getting educated

Remember “ABS” for “Always Be Shooting”? Let's add a “ABL” for “Always Be Learning”. I found that with every project I learned a little more each time about my field. Impress your clients and yourself by trying something new. Seek out the information available to you on the internet like our website. Sign up on Skillshare or udemy. Seek out other talented YouTube creators doing what you do. And if you like, drop us a line here at Pixel Valley Studio and apprentice under Frank and I. We'd love to hear about what projects you have gone on and we'd love to chat with you.

Collaboration Tools

Frame.io https://frame.io/
Wipster.io https://wipster.io/
Vimeo https://vimeo.com/

Plugins to check out (various free and paid plugin sites) We are not sponsored by any of these sites:

Premiere Pro:
Red Giant https://www.redgiant.com/: Subscription service with great plugins

Film Impact https://www.redgiant.com/ Transition Packs

Motion Array https://motionarray.com/plugins/premiere-pro Transitions and Effects After Effects:

MotionBro https://motionbro.net/ Cool presets

Animation Composer https://misterhorse.com/animation-composer A free plug-in

Video Co Pilot https://www.videocopilot.net/ Tutorials and Plugins