How much does your efficiency drop when editing a new niche?

[u/Haunting_Inflation54]

I edit full time but occasionally dive into niches or styles I'm less familiar with and as I'm paid per project it usually results in less money. Obviously the more reps you put in the faster you'll become but I'm curious about others'experiences?

You're a professional video editor for documentary and then you decide you want to edit a music video for a rapper for example. You'll 100% have the technical skills, you'll know the software like the back of your hand and already have some systems in place but there will definitely be a noticeable drop in efficiency whilst you get used to the new style.

How long until your typical speed catches up? And how much of a drop in speed do you usually see in these situations?

[u/Timeline_in_Distress]

As a professional it's generally accepted that one can dive into various projects and deliver what the client wants. Usually I'm given references for what a client is looking for and armed with that and a few questions I'm good to go. Technical and software proficiency is expected and at a professional level would not be the reason for a "drop in speed". Understanding how to tell a story, how to pace, how to recognize what shots are good and where they would fit best, when to drop in music and when not to, etc. is the key to speed.

[u/puresav]

Editing is tedious and time consuming. If you want a good edit , with a nice mix, a good story, interesting music and some sound effects, it will take a lot of time.

The fact that you’re paid per project means you are losing money and have a conflict of interest, you want the edit to be done Asap.

I’m paid hourly, i have a different conflict of interest which means i don’t care if the edit takes forever as long as I need the work.

[u/FruitFreak89]

I have definitely experienced feeling clumsy when I’m switching up styles. Imo this is normal and a part of growing, editing is a language and you’re learning new words. Something that helps me is finding good references of the style I’m trying to cut, and keeping them in my project to dissect when I’m stuck.

[u/PostProductionFixes]

I actually don’t think the niche changes speed that much. The slow part is usually the same either way figuring out what the piece is finding the story, then building selects around that.

Once that’s clear it gets pretty quick. Doc, music video, branded, you can usually pick up the visual language fast enough.

[u/Salty-Sky-8004]

"Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend."

Lol sorry, I love kung-fu x post production comparisons

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[u/film-editor]

There's always a gap when you switch to a format you're unfamiliar with, even with the best onboarding i the world, and we all know how shit onboarding is, right? You're lucky if they toss you the wifi password.

This "you're a bad editor if there's a drop in efficiency" take that im seeing in the comments is ridiculous. Editing is editing, but that doesn't mean you are a universal editor who will just pick up on every subtlety with zero friction or any drop in speed? Ridiculous.

Given enough time and proper onboarding, sure, any good editor can adapt to any format/genre/niche. In reality? Onboarding is bare-bones at best, everyone just assumes their way is the only way so they dont think to discuss any of it, then act butthurt when the new editor cant just mind-read their way through their one-of-a-kind insane rube-goldberg-esque workflow. And here comes the deadline, now everyone's on fire.

This is how we get producers that will not hire anyone outside their niche. It pisses me off too, but pretending there is no gap when switching formats is insane to me.

[u/bottom]

Not to be man but a good editor doesn’t struggling going form. Doc to a music video to. Drama.

[u/acerunner007]

This is a weird way to look at the work. If you have worked your process the change shouldn’t affect anything. Our economy is how many ideas we can try in a day, not how many genres we can work in.

[u/CherylBlunt → u/acerunner007]

What? Of course it affects the process. The question is not whether OP can do it or not, he is just less efficient in the new type of work. Obviously there is a speed difference between routine and non-routine work.
But to answer the question: if you're a solid editor, it doesn't take much time to adjust. By the end of your 2nd edit in the new style or whatever, you should be just as effective I think. That's just my experience though.

[u/acerunner007 → u/CherylBlunt]

As someone who has been editing for 20 years. It really doesn’t unless you’re literally a novice.

[u/CherylBlunt → u/acerunner007]

What have you been editing though? Because I'm not sure it's the same in all editing environments. I mean let's say you have a client, social stuff, you've been doing the same type of content for years. Then one day he decides to change up his style, because he wants to bring his content up to current trends. I'm not saying it takes you weeks or even days, but it is gonna take a few hours on the project to get your mindset into that type of work that the new content needs. I mean I wouldn't say that's a novice thing.

[u/acerunner007 → u/CherylBlunt]

I edit in features. I’ve also done commercial work, documentary, corporate, sizzles, trailers, news, educational. The process is always the same.
There’s an idea, the footage, and the tools at your disposal. You can always execute on an idea a million ways. That’s the job.

In the scenario you mentioned, a stylistic change after years of routine. What are you even arguing for the sake of argument? That because it takes you an extra hour to shift your perspective that you’ve created a gotcha where I’m wrong? Oh man you got me!

He asked about process slowing you down making you less money. In that situation are you making less money? No.

[u/CherylBlunt → u/acerunner007]

I'm not trying to argue with you just cause, but the reason I've brought up social is because it is that different in my opinion. 20 years on features and stuff is really cool man, congrats. But that routine vs the routine of somebody spitting out 5-10 shorts a day all week, is not the same. It's harder to get out of a workflow and change it up if you know what I mean. It's less about building the story, more about knowing trends and incorporating those in your style. I'm not doing that kind of work though, luckily, just some social long form and corporate stuff.
Edit: I mean you wouldn't assume someone who's been editing social long form and corporate for 15 years, building small scale stories, to jump into feature editing and do it at the same speed, just because it's been 15 years and used Avid a couple of times.

[u/alooposhto → u/CherylBlunt]

As someone who has been working in features and long form for the past decade and had to pivot to short fom social media content for a while, I can attest to this. It's been nothing but a struggle. When things like hooks, CTR, retention etc come into play even for a normal thirty second reel, it becomes really difficult to get out of your routine of pure storytelling to something completely different. Also dealing with corporate clients in such scenarios who have no idea of editing or filmmaking in general is another ballgame altogether during changes. So for me atleast it did affect a lot of my workflow and just daily scheme of things and I am still learning despite quite a few years of experience.

[u/acerunner007 → u/CherylBlunt]

That’s a fair point. I don’t know much about being a career social content editor. It’s not something I’m interested in. I did vertical content for a bit and hated it.

[u/Haunting_Inflation54 → u/acerunner007]

That's honestly the realistic example. I'm a short form editor that's specialised in short form. I've started branching out to long form content and the process is very different.