This Is The Footage You Are Looking For

Teaching editing is hard. Teaching editing on-line is seemingly impossible. And yet, there is a person who came up with ingenious idea how to go about it. And after some thought and experimentation, I have a firm belief, that Misha Tenenbaum’s EditStock.com is doomed to succeed.

Mind you, when I’m talking about teaching editing, I don’t mean teaching you how to use a software. There are already quite a few places that do precisely that, regardless of which NLE you pick for your own. I mean teaching actual craft that is involved in the process of editing. The harder part.

One of the challenges that editing courses face is that editing by definition requires delivering large amounts of footage to students. Another is that this footage should preferably come from a real project. While the first obstacle is nowadays not so hard to overcome using various on-line hosting services and compressing the files to a relatively decent flavor of H.264 – and perhaps even H.265 in the future – the second seems insurmountable due to copyright issues and protective nature of most productions. Unless you are Misha and come up with an awesome idea to reuse the footage from short movies, which usually do not enjoy any commercial life at all.

Add to that the feedback from experienced editors who either work in the field, or are actually teaching editing at film schools, like Norman Hollyn from the USC, and you have a perfect solution to the problem.

I think you’ll agree, that this is an awesome idea. Directors get a bit more exposure, and a cut from a modest fee that you pay when you want to download a piece of footage that is of interest to you, thus have an incentive to work with EditStock. Students can choose from a variety of genres and skill levels, and the number of available choices is constantly growing. What’s there not to like? See for yourself:

Am I enthusiastic? You bet! I was skeptical at first, but once I understood the idea, and gave it a try, I am a believer. It’s like an ultimate win-win for all the parties involved. Kudos to Misha for coming up with such a great resource. Whether you are an experienced editor, or just starting, you will find challenges to match your skill, and will happily come back to EditStock for more.

Of course, in the end, the proof is in the pudding. I sincerely recommend going to EditStock.com, downloading a sample scene and giving it a go. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. And if you hurry up, you might still be able to register for a free webinar arranged in partnership with Moviola.com, where Norman Hollyn will be giving feedback on your edits. See you there!

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