Recap: #AskGal live a success!
My first #AskGal live was so FUN! Thanks so much for tuning in live to make it a success. Lots of great questions across the board, from post-production health, time-saving editing tricks, and to questions about films that inspire my editing. At the end of the session I held a lottery for those who asked questions, and there were two Gal t-shirt winners and two Gal keychain winners. I also created a poll and it looks like you all want #AskGal to be a monthly thing so there will be more opportunities to win Gal swag and ask me questions :)
Here is a recap of some of my favorite questions and my answers from the #AskGal live:
1. What are the top 5 films (narrative or documentary) that inspire your creative editing #AskGal?
A lot of my editing is influenced by the founders of montage, such as Eisenstein who was a Soviet video editor in the early 1900s - 1940s. He believed that by juxtaposing images and intercutting multiple angles an editor can build emotion and tension within the viewer. In other words, the way you edit directly influences and can change the mood and emotion of the viewer. One of my favorite films of Eisenstein's is Battleship Potemkin (1925). The Odessa steps scene really exhibits his idea of building tension through cuts. It starts with an establishing shot of people fleeing quickly down the steps of stairs and it is intercut with close-ups of people screaming and people falling. This had a huge influence on the way I edit today. How do you establish your scene? How can you edit it to build a particular mood?
I also really love films by Heidi Ewing, Co-founder of Loki Films. She co-directed Jesus Camp, Boys of Baraka, Detropia and more! Loki films produced and edited a few New York Times Op Docs, one called "Dismantling Detroit." I think it is so great that they were able to achieve and really tell the story of Detroit's failing economy through only broll shots, voiceover, and music - no interviews. It's amazing what you can do with just a limited amount of access and media.
2. How do you build up an audience on YouTube and get more subscribers? #AskGal
I'm still pretty new to YouTube and learning as I go. But one thing I knew from the beginning is that people watch videos where they can get free information on how to do a particular task or learn a valuable trick of the trade. Think about what you would find interesting or useful and maybe search Google for potential titles, "e.g. "How to Create Live Text Templates." If you notice there are already a few videos done on your topic already, watch then and think about what would make your video stand out, what makes you unique? Secondly, to get viewers to turn into subscribers, try to upload at least one video a week and keep to a schedule. I now upload at least 1 video a week, but I haven't found a set day that works well for me yet. Try some AB testing to see which days/times work better than others to get more views. Lastly, another way you can get more views is if you copy the title of videos on the same topic that are popular and paste those titles as "tags" to your video. YouTube is designed to suggest similar videos to viewers, hopefully this will connect your video with videos that are already popular, drawing in more views for you.
3. I haven't upgraded to Premiere Pro CC 2017 yet at work. What are the benefits? #AskGal
New visual keyboard shortcut mapping in Premiere Pro CC 2017.
- You can now use live text templates in Premiere Pro without have a license with After Effects. Watch my latest video tutorial on Live Text Templates!
- There is a new visual keyboard shortcut mapping. Hit Option+Command+K (on a mac) and it pulls up this beautiful shortcut map!
- For Open Captions, there are some improvements. Such as, you can now move the in and out points of each caption using a handle on the layer in the timeline as opposed to actually update the timecode by numbers. There is still a lot more to be improved, for example, I would love to be able to copy & paste the style of one caption across all, rather than updating one by one.
- If you have a enterprise Premiere Pro CC subscription there is now a "Team Projects" beta where you can collaborate and work on one project while others are working on it at the same time. It's like Google Docs but for Premiere Pro. This will definitely be useful to teams that have multiple editors on one project.
4. Usually, vid sizes are 1-2GB when I upload to YouTube but reduce to 100MB when downloaded. What's the setting for export to YouTube? #AskGal
I use the YouTube 1080p HD preset when I go to file>export>media in Premiere Pro, which has all the ideal settings that YouTube looks for in their uploads. If you have an 8-10 minute video, the compressed version will still be at least 1GB. When you upload to YouTube, YouTube compresses it, so when you download your video from YouTube within your Creator Studio Video Manager, that download will be at a lower quality than the original upload.
5. Do you have any strategies to reduce headaches and eye strain after a full day of editing #AskGal?
- Try to go to bed by 11:30pm at the latest and get a good night's rest! Sleep is the most important. Full 7-8 hours of sleep will make you more creative and give you more energy to edit!
- Try eye exercises. Rotate your eyes clockwise and counterclockwise. As you rotate focus on different points and then shift them to the next point around your imaginary clock.
- Don't stare at the screen or don't stare/space out, it's bad for the eyes :)
- Try to take a break every two hours of sitting. Or just a short break every hour, if you can. Even if it just for 5 minutes to jump up and down or do downward dog pose :)
Let me know if there are specific topics you want covered in future #AskGal live sessions by leaving a common on the video recording on YouTube. Until next time!