I wonder if there is a study on how video editing can effect the editor's mind and mental health?

It is amazing the amount of intense focus and problem solving the art of video editing is and how one intuitively knows whether something works.

Besides manipulating and invoking an emotional response from the viewer, I think the projects also affect me.

I think about the constant repetition of a playing a sequence and fine tuning it and think I'm getting some Pavlovian damage to my psyche.

Yes, this post is a bit tongue in cheek, but I think there is some truth to it.

I agree with it to some extent.

I don't know how some editors finish their edits in one long stretch.

I can't handle more than 30 minutes at a time without giving my head a break. And I find if I work on a project 2-3 hour tops per day, the end result is always better and more creative.

But then, I do cinematic style wedding films which require a lot more creativity than say corporate or documentary work (from my experience anyway).

I think there's something to John's observation.

For quite some time now, I've been wondering if I was alone (or "not cut out" for editing - no pun intended) in needing a break after 1-2 hrs of editing. Due to deadlines and dates, I've done a few straight-through, long-term sessions; they are grueling, taxing, and "wipe me out" both physically and mentally.

While I'm not sure there's a "psychological" effect due to the content, I describe it as becoming "bug-eyed" after a couple of hours. Much of my work lately has been in the legal field editing, writing for, and narrating pre-settlement/negotiation" brochures with interviews of the plaintiff, which have been educational and can be emotionally compelling, but are not scripted and "wander". So, arriving at a 20-40 minute "documentary" takes lots and lots of cutting. I seldom do more than a 1-2 hr stint before taking a break.

I'm kinda glad to learn that I'm not the only one who needs a break relatively often..

Well when I had a 9-5 job I used to take tea breaks regularly. I couldn't stare at the computer for too long as it resulted in migraines.

I seem to recall hearing that our brains just aren't made for focusing and concentrating constantly for more than maybe 45 minutes, and it may have been less than that.

It's one reason films have an ebb and flow - you get a little breather before things get intense again.

A variety or work can also be good. Edit for 20-30 minutes, then go answer an email or get a snack. Come back and do another 30.

I'm lucky. I'm a stay at home dad, and have a great excuse to take frequent breathers. So even if it's 20 hours of editing, it takes me 5 days to do it.

Sometimes my back hurts at the end of the day, my wrist, but mostly my eyes get the blunt of it. I used to edit fashion shows during fashion week, 14 hr days at top speed, tight deadlines, when I came home at night I couldn't switch off and sleep, my brain felt like a swarm of bees, now I do TV news editing, sometimes the deadlines are grueling also, but mostly is the content that gets to me: wars, famines, refuges, diseases, ...only tragedies, in short, no news is good news.
Luckily I also shoot, I'm about half editor, half operator, and occasionally a producer, it gets me off the editing chair.
I think it is a valid point , since we stare and strain at moving images in a glaring screen, it can't be a good thing.

After a long day editing, I will go outside for a walk or a bike, and the world looks totally surreal and somehow hyper-3D. It takes a bit to adjust...

When I was younger (mid 20s when I first got into video and doing weddings) - I would edit for hours late into the evenings after working my 9-5 job. Never really bothered me.

Fast forward to now, almost 40 years old, and I find myself doing the 20-30 minute thing and taking a break all the time. I find that when I start getting sloppy or trying to force things, that means it's time to go do something else.

I'm doing a lot more creative stuff now than I use to , and it is taxing for sure.

I believe there are studies on working with computers in general. Editors aren't unique in spending long hours in front of a computer screen. Although the individual experience may vary depending on if you're having interactions with directors, reporters, producers etc.

Ideally writers seem to spend around 3 hours a day actually writing, although, this figure appears to apply to long form projects like novels, rather than fast turnaround short form stuff. From a professional editing viewpoint, most projects tend to have tight deadlines and so the amount of downtime to think things out is getting less.

One thing editors claimed that editing on film gave them was the amount of time moving material around gave for thinking. Interestingly that's the sort of low level activity proven to be good for creative thinking.

I have found its best to do as much as you can during production to ease post-production. 3 seconds extra spent in production saves me 60 seconds in post.

I assume this is pretty basic, and some of it is a carry-over from film-days:
If I finish filmed a scene, and I instantly know it is not useful, I record a few seconds of a black frame
(close lens cover, turn gain all the way down, cover lens with my hand)
Then once I've uploaded the footage, I can instantly see the black frame and delete it and the scene immediately before it.

Likewise, if I have a scene that I know is a definite keeper, I will film a few seconds of a white frame (usually by turning the gain all the way up).
Again, during post, I can instantly see the white scene and give it its proper attention

I have found it's best to do as much as you can during production to ease post-production. 3 seconds extra spent in production saves me 60 seconds in post.

I have always followed this approach to the limit. When doing sports events, I am so careful about keeping every scene as clean and tight as possible and avoiding superfluous footage, that half the time, I have to do no editing at all.

i was starting to take on quite a bit of editing work in the last few years. i only really LIKED editing way back in school and for a few years after, at some point realizing i just wasnt that into it. i have now gotten to the point where i actively HATE it. doesnt matter what im editing, something about sitting in that chair dealing with infinitely minute decisions drives me bonkers. the only way i could do it is if i could put in an hour a day, tops, and most deadlines are way to tight for that with many edits taking 40+ hours. i think the most boring day in the field is better than the best day in the chair.

i think the most boring day in the field is better than the best day in the chair. After almost 10 years I still really like to edit but not when it's under time pressure, then I feel more like a robot doing automated tasks and I don't enjoy it at all, I have decided to stop doing weddings but still need to handle what was booked for this year and at this moment I"m in the most busy part of the year with editing sessions up to 10 to 12 hours a day when I"m not shooting , I am honestly looking forward not having to deal with that pressure anymore so I can start to enjoy shooting video a bit more.

Every once in a while you hear about someone editing for 12 hours a day on a regular basis. I always wonder. . ."HOW????"

Every one to two hours I take a break, walk around and get back to it, this is not months in a row, it only happens every year in May when I have to finish several projects with a deadline, after that I can spread my work in a more workable way. But this is the last year I will be doing that. It actually is not that bad, I have worked in an office environment where you where also 8 hours a day hooked on a pc with only two 5 minute and one 30 minute break and that for 5 days a week and a entire year.

dont get me wrong, im not trying to dump on this aspect of the craft and how many folk make their living, i just realized at some point i have an extreme aversion to it. maybe its th solitude (and that i spend my off time alone and often sedentary) and the opinion that working with other people makes the day go by so much faster. i also do prompter professionally which is basically sitting in front of a computer all day being completely uncreative. but somehow that is not nearly as bad. there are people around, THINGS are happening. i USED to love it, when i first got into at school and for a few years after. i guess at some point thr novelty wore off? who knows.

For sure, editing is tedious. I like scripting commercial interviews, then recording and I, too, find it difficult to like editing.

Sony Vegas used to crash 10 times a day but the most recent release hardly ever crashes (or maybe I have learned where not to go and what not to do).

I used to spend hours trying to synch field audio with the reference on-camera sound but I finally bought Plural Eyes and that converted hours into minutes.

Video equipment always is a problem - I need a monitor, I could probably use a curved track, I need LED lighting to replace my 2400 watt construction lights. I very recently replaced my old Manfrotto with a Libec and am getting used to handling it with one finger (very sensitive, but super smooth).

I think I may have prattled on about this previously somewhere so please forgive any repeat. During WW2, there apparently existed a stress-related psychotic state in some people tasked with operating ASDIC or sonar ( underwater echo-location ), and WT ( wireless telegraphy morse code ) operators.

The task required deep and unremitting concentration. Because lives depended on their key skill set, the operators would drive themselves beyond normal mental fatigue limits.

Nurses during the war in Australia defined those in the air force who suffered as "dit-happy WT operators". I have no idea what the marine definition was but mental exhaustion of the operators was apparently an issue ships officers were mindul of.

Editors in high-pressure environments may well be approaching the same league as air-traffic controllers.