Psychological Effects of Video Editing

[Josh Bass]

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.

[Karl Walter Keirstead]

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).

[Bob Hart]

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.