The Creative edge.

Making the Cut.

 

From video store to video editor - Jeremy Masters has found a dream job.
by Caitlin Sykes.

 

During the seven years Jeremy Masters worked in a video store, you can guess he watched a few movies. And inspired by some of his favourite scenes, he would cut them together into montages using his old-school VHS machine. He had no idea how editing really worked, but getting in and giving it a go set him on the path to a job he loves.

 

Jeremy works as a video editor for an events company called Edge Creative in Auckland. When big companies do major presentations, launch products or have conferences they're actually a bit like a rock show - using video, light, sound, drama, music and images to get their messages across. And they'll use a company like Jeremy's help them produce the show.

 

Most of Jeremy's job involves post-production - video editing, duplicating and DVD authoring. "I like being able to tell a story my way," he says. "You get to really control and predict where you want your audience to go and what you want them to feel." And there's heaps of variety in his job. He can also be called upon to do onsite video - taking and editing footage on the spot at a conference, for example - or to be a camera operator or director. Being able to produce a something that looks great is a buzz, he says.

 

Jeremy was brought up in Hong Kong, but went to boarding school at Auckland's Saint Kentigern College. He was working at a video store in Ponsonby while at uni when he heard about the South Seas Film and Television School. He applied, along with a mate who also worked at the video store, and got in to the 2001 course. "I showed the tutors what I'd been doing with my crappy VHS tapes at home, dubbing them together, trying to montage my favourite scenes out of movies and they saw some potential there," he says.

 

Once on the course everything clicked and he topped his class in audio recording and came second in post-production. And before he'd even finished his course, a post-production company, Central Post Operations, spied his talent and offered him a job.

 

His day job was as a tape operator in the company's machine room, but in his free time he grabbed equipment and ran around with his mates shooting kung fu videos (he's also big-time into martial arts). Teaching himself to use the technology at work, he cut those videos together to hone his editing skills. With that experience under his belt, his talents were spotted again. This time by Edge Creative, which offered him his current job - where he's been for the past three-and-a-half years.

 

"I needed to produce classy-looking stuff within the first couple of weeks. Luckily I did and it's just gone upwards from there." It can be a high-pressure job, but he says the company's tight-knit team is great and pull together and help each other out. Another perk of the job is access to gear: camera, lights, audio gear and post-production facilities. So when he's not working he can continue shooting his own projects, like short films.

 

Technology is an important aspect of an editor's job and Jeremy uses both PC and Mac. He uses Avid Xpress Pro for editing, DVD Studio Pro for DVD authoring and Adobe After Effects for compositing. Photoshop is another basic tool.

 

And if you're keen for a job like Jeremy's he suggests following in his footsteps: get lots of practice cutting stuff together.

 

Also, pop your head in the door of a post-production facility and talk to the people who work there. "And don't turn your nose up at talking to the guy at the bottom because the guy at the bottom has the access to every other guy in the building."

 

Links

 

http://www.edgecreative.net
Photo credit: Marcel Tromp.

 

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