Building Your Home Video Suite
Many entrepreneurs starting a home business just set a
desk in an empty bedroom, hang out their shingle and they're in
business. But starting a video business requires specialized needs for
space and gear.
According YouTube.com, there are 4 billion video
views per day and 60 hours of video uploaded every minute - which means
one hour of video is loaded by users every second. That's a lot of
people getting into video - the revolution is in full swing.
People from Boise, Id. to Baton Rouge, La. to Boston have been drawn
into the magical world of video production. If you're thinking about
taking the plunge and putting together your own home studio, you might
want to consider a few important issues before plopping down some
"Benjamins."
Following the architectural maxim form follows function, what you buy
should be directly related to what you are trying to achieve. Let's
focus on building a fully functional video editing workstation to
transform your shots, scenes and sequences into works of art.
Environmental Protection
Space is not the final frontier; it is the first place to start. This
might be a personal matter, but since you might be spending as much as
12-hours at one sitting within this nest, the size should feel
comfortable. You might not have a choice, but you should be able to
control the amount of light that comes into the room. Too much sunlight
on a screen will destroy your objective evaluation of light, color and
dimension in any software program.
You will need a desk. The desk should be large enough to hold a mouse
area, monitor, keyboard, speaker system and of course safely hold
cameras to pull cards from, or capture if you're using tape... Just like
a musician has to sit a certain way to create just the right sound, a
producer must position properly within the feng shui of the room.
The first time you sit down at your video editing workstation, you
should feel the power of what you have in front of you. You can either
be very comfortable, or totally intimidated. If you take the proper
steps and get the right equipment, this can be your favorite room in the
world.
Screen Size Matters
If you work on projects with more than six layers of audio and/or
video, try to get the biggest monitor you can afford. Technology doesn't
stand still, so you should make sure your monitor has DVI or HDMI
inputs so you can see the results of 1080p resolution from your
projects. We will all be expected to produce Blu-ray-quality material in
the near future.
There are several theories on where screens should be mounted. I am
sure you have seen a video editing workstation at a major movie
production house with large screens positioned high on a flat black
wall. This is done with the idea that they are producing video for a
theater screen, not an iPhone. This would be a literal pain in the neck
for the home video editor. Imagine having your neck tilted up for eight
hours. Monitors should be at eye level.
Depending on the size of your screen, it should be 22 to 28-inches
away from your eyes. For some of us who wear progressive eyewear, you
might want to get a special pair of glasses ground to the exact length
between eyeballs and screen surface. Your total focus is the screen.
This means you will move your head less and you'll have less eye
fatigue.
Light or Dark?
We have always added a little back-lighting behind the computer
screen bouncing off the walls to help lower fatigue as well. But, some
people like to be in a dark room. The contrast ratios can start to fool
you. We have seen some correction plug-ins misused while editing in too
much light, and not enough in the room. No two eyes are alike, but a
dank-dark video or washed out scene will not be good for the audience.
Remember the audience. Black-out curtains are now attractive and easy to
use, no more need to create a tacky look by covering the window in
foil. In fact, if you use a layered curtain, you can control the level
of blackout.
Within Reach
Unless you are a keystroke editing jockey, most people use their
mouse to do most of the heavy lifting when editing. Some doctors
recommend that you position yourself higher than the mouse or keyboard
to eliminate issues with carpal tunnel syndrome, while other experts say
sit low and make sure you take the weight off your wrists by keeping
elbows-to-wrist on the table. That will determine where you place your
mouse pad.
Video editing is one of the most addictive creative processes you
will encounter. You can sit down at 7 p.m., then when you look up at the
clock in what seemed like a few hours, you discover that it's two in
the morning. One tip to make life better is to label files immediately
after and create a project folder in your video editing workstation.
Keep what you need within reach both digitally and physically.
Thanks for the Memory
You will need a big machine. We always recommend, get as much RAM as
possible. You might be able to put together a short video with few
complicated effects or plug-ins on a laptop with 4GB of memory, but you
will really want at least 8GB in the RAM department to get the job done
properly.
With less memory, your software tends to lock up and that could mean
losing work. We always reset the auto-save in a program like Adobe
Premiere Pro CS5 down to 10 minutes.The software gets better all the
time, although you often have to pay for upgrades to benefit from them,
you never know when your security anti-virus program decides to run a
scan. Keep in mind, when you have an audio editor, Adobe Photoshop CS5, a
browser and other tools open, bad things can happen. The good news
about a platform like Adobe Creative Suite Production Premium 5.0 is for
the most part all the tools work together fairly seamlessly. Just like
Sony ACID and Vegas Movie Studio work well together as well. For Mac
users, you know the power of all the programs being from the same DNA
and the unique ease of use of Final Cut Pro and Studio.
Relics of Art
Another aspect you should consider early on is archiving your work.
With prices coming down every day, a good video editing workstation
should include a few 1TB USB 3.0 desktop external hard drives storing
all your raw video. 1TB drives are going for about $130 and they will
free up space on your camera and that computer sitting under your video
editing desk. But while editing, make sure the files you are working on
live on the hard drive of the editing machine. External drives tend to
over-think at times. And your machine should be on the floor, not the
desk. Cooling fans create vibrations that microphones pick up.
If you live in an apartment or dormitory and you want your neighbors
to like you, get yourself a good pair of earbuds or headphones. There's
nothing more irritating than the sound of scrubbing audio when you
aren't the person scrubbing. Also, be careful not to get sucked into the
headphone mix syndrome. Always listen to the primary edit on the kinds
of speakers you expect your audience to use. You may fall in love with a
mix in your ear canal only to be disappointed when you hear the actor's
voice buried by the music on your speakers.
His Master's Voice
One of the greatest inventions for the video editing desk has been
the USB microphone. There are several out there. Audio-Technica AT2020
USB Cardioid Condenser Microphone retails at $249. The AT2020 kicks a
lot of volume, so you will have to set the volume in your hardware
preferences to less than one third the possible volume. The frequency
response is quite dynamic for voice, but you will pop your "Ps" without
trying. We recommend a clamp-on microphone pop filter to help eliminate
that problem.
You probably don't have a sound proof or acoustically friendly room
for your video editing workstation. If you want to drop in a quick voice
over that doesn't sound dramatically different from the wireless mic
track on the video, you will need a clean voice track. We found these
24x24x2-inch acoustic foam panels to use in concert with the USB mic.
For about $30 a panel, this was a great way to improve the audio without
breaking the bank - and they are portable.
No Man Is An Island
Now let's get to the big elephant in the room looming large near the
video editing workstation. All editors love to work alone. The fun of
moving files around, backing them up, adjusting that sound effect and
auditioning, then going back to nudge something into the perfect place -
can be slowed by having that other person in the room. Many clients
want to hover over your shoulder to "supervise" every aspect of the
production. We had two actors want to watch the process one night after a
shoot. They were quite impressed with the quick results of green screen
keying, but after about ten minutes of the real nitty-gritty of
editing, they decided their work was done.
Yes, you should always have that second chair for the client,
producer, money person or media maven, but you have to make sure they
don't interfere with your productivity. You will need some headphones
for them as well, or work with your headphones on, and only play them
sequences that are almost finished. Collaboration on a project in a team
setting can be fun. They can be working on graphics, or trimming audio
and labeling files while you start the project. This can increase your
productive and bring the project in faster.
Your video editing workstation is your kitchen. You should have
everything you need at your fingertips. You should feel comfortable and
have all the things you need to settle in for a productive session of
video editing. You can sleep during rendering.
