Lessons from an Alaskan fish factory: Torb and Nola Jensen share an editing time-saver for organizing footage so your cut moves like a well-run line.
Before moving to New York, I had the dubious honor of working for a fish factory in Alaska. I started at the front of the factory, and, over the years, made my way down the line to the back of the factory where the finished products were shipped out to destinations around the globe. The one task that was perpetually being employed during all phases of production was sorting. Mis-sorts really slow down production. In fact, a mis-sort could cause production to come to a grinding halt.
As a digital editor, what I’ve found to be an incredible time saver and stress reliever is using the skills I learned in Alaska of sorting “proto-products”
(film clips) into designated categories prior to actual production.
Suppose I have an hour of footage I want to turn into a three-minute music video. I can simply import the entire hour of footage as one clip and start editing. Or, I can spend the extra time during the log and capture phase to break up that hour of footage into short, one to two-minute clips, label each clip with a descriptive name, and color code the clips from “best” to “worst”.
Now, the clips are not only easier to find and work with, but I am also much more familiar with the content of each clip. I know even though this clip is labeled and sorted into the “walking” category, there are a few frames in there which will edit perfectly into this “running” scene I’m working on.
I’ve found the more time I spend on “sorting” – then, the more time I have left over for the “fun stuff”. Torb began his early days as a farmhand before relocating to Alaska where he settled into a ten year career as a seafood processor. Tired of fish, Torb moved to New York City where he graduated from the New York Film Academy. Nola began her early career as a director. She has been directing and assistant editing for almost five years. Their website is www.torbtown.com.
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