Beyond The Feed

I hear this often. 

"Which social platforms will you be posting to?"

It comes in the form of emails and surveys from the various tools that I use to edit videos for clients:

"None." Is my usual response. 

The Assumption. 

These days it seems that nearly every tool I use as a video editor, is questioning which platforms I will be posting to and how many social accounts I will need covered for IP licensing when posting and using their effects, elements, music or stock footage in my videos. They often find it hard to believe - as if I am holding back to save on the cost of licensing seats!

So they ask, "Where are these videos going if not to Youtube, Instagram, Tic Toc, X, or Facebook?"

Well, I might keep my answer shorter than this, but the reality is, they are going into living rooms and on tv's in homes and on screens at offices and they are being shown at memorial services while loved ones gather around and laugh and cry at the memories. 

And they are being put on photo frames in 7 homes so that each of the 30 people who attended that epic trip to the Alps can see them every day as they pass through their kitchen.

They are not designed for bragging rights.

My clients are not asking for likes or to gain subscribers.

They are not for announcing to the world that they're having a "highlight moment" displaying one persona as living an unrealistically perfect life and leaving the viewer sad and wondering why their life doesn't match up.

As one recent client put it,

"Each time we do one of these video/compilations I think that sometime somewhere a person/parent will look at your work and be reminded of the great times we all had, maybe even that persons children will be looking at the same pictures and be reminded of a great vacation many years before. "

In other words, they are for preserving the family legacy.

Together we create a very different video. 

That is because we're not optimizing for the click on the thumbnail or the first 3 seconds of watch-time or trying to learn how to comply with the latest algorithm. 

I see it as "storytelling for the people who lived the story".

"storytelling for the people who lived the story"

There's something deeply intimate about creating a piece that will live in someone's kitchen, not in a scrolled social feed. It's the memorial service video that helps a family process grief together, or the trip montage that becomes recalled and relived for months and years - these have value and permanence that a social post never could. My clients are rarely seeking external validation as much as preservation amongst those they love now and especially when loved ones pass.

My clients are putting their OWN MOVIE ON, on a Friday night!

The Dig. 

There have been moments across client videos where they sent in tons of footage for me to sift through. And neither of us really knew what we were creating. One repeat client simply says to me,

"Just tell us where to send it and you can work your magic". 

And then after much messing around and some drafts back and forth and me looking and digging through everything sent several times, I'll inevitably find some pieces that tie in just...so...uniquely..a..way. Where, if overlooked, they could have easily been scrapped. But with the right combination, music, sound effects, title, or emphasis, they have turned out to be moments that the client loved the best.

Somehow I'll get into the flow and find certain song lyrics that express what is happening in just such a way, that it almost seems as if it's a scripted movie moment. In reality it's just coming together because we both (the client and I) are giving it space to breathe. And once we see what's really there that wants to to come out, that inner story no one was asking for (but once we saw it) we all knew that was what we wanted.

...that inner story no one was asking for (but once we saw it) we all knew that was what we wanted.

It often feels, like I'm an archaeologist on a dig. I've been told there's something at this site. Just gotta keep looking carefully until I unearth it!

The Tear Test.

Once I got a chance to put some videos together that really struck to the heart of a person's life, and while in the edit bay, I don't even know these people and I'm choking back tears...then I have my wife preview a draft to make sure I'm not over-reacting and she cries. Then the client tells me that:

"The family and friends gathered before the video and cried, laughed and reminisced."

...then I knew that I was doing it right.

Those aren't tears of manipulation or manufactured sentiment; they're recognition. Someone's life, distilled into moments that matter.

My People Found Me.

When I first put my shingle out there as a video editor, I gave a lot of thought to what it was that I was looking for. I felt that if I put my website together in a way that it expressed me, authentically, (vs trying to be some snazzy tic toc trend editor) that my people would somehow find me. And that is mostly how it has gone.

People who want something real, tend to find me. My clients are people who want an editor and story cultivator that will take the time to listen and watch and really dive into the footage As messy / poorly filmed / jostled / unstabilized / from odd sources / bad cameras / old photos still under the glass / scrapbooks etc...as it may be!

They just want someone to spend some time with it and get to know what's there...get to know the trip they took - the career someone had - the life someone lived - the life that a couple is starting - a new family member that has arrived and all the stories that need to be told to be passed down.

What Stays.

I love that some clients will put their final video onto a video/photo frame and mail them to those that took the trip or were there for the memory. It reminds me that these videos become part of their daily life rather than disappearing into forgotten feeds. It's the most satisfying of any career I have had, making "real life stories" versus "marketing content". And I spent decades doing the latter!

"My family will treasure this heirloom for generations."