The video production industry is incredibly diverse and it’s expanding at an incredible rate.  Anyone can now compete in the business. The technology has become very affordable.  No longer do companies need to invest in hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment.  The playing field is now level, and there are more job opportunities than ever before.

 
That being said, new schools are popping up that specialize in the video production arena.  In some cases, high schools and even middle schools have video production equipment that rivals professional production facilities. From the early stages, these schools are training kids while producing some amazing video content.  Some schools even have their own television channel. It sounds crazy, but the competition is now becoming quite fierce. This is because of the volume of new candidates that understand the software.

So, if you’re looking for work, what does this mean to you?  Well, as ridiculous as it sounds, you may be competing with candidates that are fresh out of highschool.  Not to long ago, It use to be that freelance video editors could easily demand $70.00 hr or more.  This hourly rate is rapidbly disappearing, and is now limited to some of the larger markets.  Now, in a medium size market, freelance video editors have been forced to bring their hourly rates down to $40.00 hr.  In smaller markets, expect to earn less than that to remain competitive.

So, what are some key elements that employers are looking for?  In the professional video editing business, there are three major players with a large host of other software manufacturers.  These players are:

Apple (Final Cut Studio)

Avid Technology (Avid Media Composer)

Adobe (Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium)

First off, concentrate your energy on learning these software products. If you have to choose one to start with, take a good look at Final Cut Pro,  which is included within Apple’s Final Cut Studio bundle.  If you don’t own the software, consider purchasing an educational license.  All the manufacturers have amazing educational pricing to help you get started.

Second, start a website and upload your video content and demo-reel.  In this business, you might as well forget about a traditional resume.  If someone asks for one, I wouldn’t hesitate to simply point them to your website. If you do not have a website, consider purchasing a mobileme account from Apple.  Even better, if you are Macintosh owner, you can use Apple’s iWeb application to instantly create your website and upload your video content.

Third, you can dramatically increase your value by also learning Adobe Photoshop as it applies to video.  Then, you can really hit a home run by learning After Effects , which is one of the world’s leading visual effects software packages. 

I realize all this sounds relatively simple, but mastering these software applications takes patience, dedication, and a lot of time.  Don’t expect to become a master overnight.  Of course, GeniusDV offers training services to help you get up to speed relatively quickly.  In particular, we offer training courses for Final Cut Studio and Avid Media Composer.  In addition we offer an amazing After Effects training course.  These courses can be taken in a classroom environment, or in an interactive online training environment. 

Read more from: http://www.geniusdv.com/

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 3:58 am and is filed under Digital Filmmaking, Final Cut, Post Production. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.