Do you find it impossible to edit...
 

...when someone is fussing around you? My wife is tidying up bedrooms in preparation for a family visit. It's bad enough that I can hear her fidgiting away but she keeps bothering me with "Do we need to keep this?" and "What's this off?"

I don't think it helps that I'm using CS4 for the first time and I'm not enjoying what I am editing.

Believe it or not, I work in the entrance hallway of the house, as I lost my office when my first son was born.

I feel your pain. I tend to do a lot after everyone's asleep. You can compain about the noise, but really, it's hard to expect people to be quiet around you when it's in the middle of the house.

Start working when other's are sleeping, or find a place to work that's not in the middle of everything. Not much else you can do.

Couldn't your son go in the hall Vito? :) It's nice and peaceful here now and I've finished the edit. I normally have this part of the house to myself, which is probably why I noticed the distractions.

I'm the opposite, I like having light activity around me while I edit. Helps me think. But yeah family is distracting, I'd rather have a quiet room than have family in the background, or I won't be able to focus properly.

I tried, but my wife objected.

We're putting an addition on the house soon. It's getting cramped in here. Too many kids!

Too many kids!

You're not doing enough night-time editing :)

Perhaps a shed in the back yard would help? (not with kid production, though)

Andrew

This is a perfect thread!
I have 3 boys under age 5 and I was recently "evicted" to the room next to the garage!

I used to be in the room next to the front door which had 12' sloped ceiling and the walls were angled. Awesome acoustically with some minor treatment. Problem was the noise with the boys and my wife yelling at them made it impossible to get anything done whether editing or a simple phone call!

Now I'm in a shoebox with low ceiling and terrible acoustics HOWEVER, it is away from where the boys create their chaos. I do seem to be much more productive! The other problem is my wife works evenings (nurse) and most of my editing is done 9pm-whenever I can't take it anymore! That could be the other reason I seem to crank the work out pretty quickly! Is this the beginning of a "dads who edit" support group? HaHa!

Har, har. I'm not going there!

I will say, however, that in the grand scheme of things, editing pales in significance to what my children have given me in my life. Attached is my five month old, Luca, sleeping on my lap this morning. This stuff can't be beat.

Aww ... just as I was about to suggest the use of ear plugs.

Andrew

Very cute!

And I'm laughing inside 'cause they're all cute at that age. Check back in a year or two! My youngest, 22 months, can scale objects and seemingly walls like Spiderman and I have tried EVERY babyproofing system/method out there with no success. I had to go outside the box and put door chains on all the important rooms and when he was a year old even tried cooking spray on the edges of the counters so he couldn't get a grip. A couple days later, he started moving chairs to aid his climbing obsession.

BUT you're right...kids are a fantastic thing. I just hope I have enough hard drive space to archive all the video and pics I will be collecting for the rest of their lives!

Sounds like it might be time to reprise Danger Baby:

http://www.nosmallroles.com/felix_jeff_fun_h264.mov

My first son at 20 months (he's almost 4 now) with my stepson, then 8. I made this to scare the crap out of my relatives, and succeeded admirably.

Sorry to derail your thread, Ray, but you seemed happy to go off course yourself!

Wow. That's perfect "21st birthday" material!

Andrew

Excellent Vito. I posted a clip on youtube of my 3 year old grandson going down a BMX ramp on his bike. I took so much flack from the "wrap 'em in cotton wool" brigade that I took it off. I wouldn't put that on youtube if I were you. The blender was brilliant. :)

On the other hand, I'm the sort of person who would wear fur to a protest rally ... on purpose!

:-)

Andrew

Guys, Just read the thread, some great info....

Re the kids, make sure you keep taking stills and video as they grow older, particularly through the teen years, get 'em used to the camera whilst they're young. Why, well my two daughters, who are twins, will be 21 next Feb..... They're Mum and I separated many years ago but stay in contact. I rang her the other day asking if I could go through the stills she has as I'm putting together a tape for the girls 21st.....she has had the same idea, we'll collaborate and produce a doozy.....I think we'll call it the 'revenge tape' We'll show it at the 21st party, the girls have no idea..... poetic justice and I've got to say there are some really funny scenes captured on video......Things I'd forgotten all about....

Al

Vito, That was a ripper little video......well done :) Next one will have to be a lipstick cam on the bike while he learns to ride it !!!!!!!!!

Al

Thanks, guys.

Yeah, the sound is quite shocking. It was all planned to look bad but be safe. The coffe grinder won't go on unless the top is on, the knife was dull, the stove can't go on unless you push in the knobs (and he was unable), and I used a split screen for the ladder scene so that I could erase the fact that I was actually standing behind him as he climbed.

Everyone was horrifed except my mom who said "that was cute".

Anyway, back to Ray's subject, it's tough to find peace and quiet to work uninterrupted, and I don't know about you guys, but there's something about our work that makes others think we can be interrupted anytime and it doesn't matter. Why is that?