December 17, 2025 • 53 mins
Episode Summary
In this episode of Filmmaking Conversations with Damien Swaby, Damien is joined by the talented and driven, a promo producer, editor, and filmmaker whose determination, discipline, and creative resilience have shaped a truly distinctive career in post-production. From her early beginnings as a theatre actor in Ireland to becoming a multi-skilled editor and producer across some of the UK’s most recognisable broadcasters — including Channel 5, MTV, Discovery, Warner Bros., and CNBC — Itunu shares a journey built on hard choices, constant upskilling, and an unwavering commitment to craft.
She opens up about the reality behind her pivot away from acting, explaining why stability mattered, how she rebuilt her creative identity from the ground up, and how storytelling eventually led her to fall in love with the edit suite. Her career path includes assisting on A Place in the Sun, creating fast-turnaround promos for global networks, and navigating high-pressure workflows with precision and clarity. She also discusses what it takes to produce compelling short-form content in a world where audiences may never turn the sound on — and how music, rhythm, editorial choices, and graphic design all work together to deliver powerful messaging in under 30 seconds.
A highlight of the conversation is her work on CNBC’s digital-first franchise Built for Billions, and how collaboration, trust, and editorial instinct helped elevate the promos beyond expectation. She also shares her experiences with software like Avid, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Baselight, and her philosophy on clean, organised projects that support entire teams.
Outside her broadcast work, she speaks candidly about her award-supported short film Give Me Your Phone — a story born from a deeply personal and frightening moment. She reveals how she turned that experience into a thoughtful exploration of privilege, vulnerability, and perspective, bringing the film from concept to completion through grit, community, and creative conviction.
This episode offers inspiring insight for filmmakers, editors, post-production professionals, and anyone building a creative career based on skill, dedication, and self-belief.
Key Topics Covered
Call to Action.
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and share the podcast. Follow Damien Swaby for more filmmaker interviews and insights into the craft and business of storytelling.
In this episode of Filmmaking Conversations with Damien Swaby, Damien is joined by the talented and driven, a promo producer, editor, and filmmaker whose determination, discipline, and creative resilience have shaped a truly distinctive career in post-production. From her early beginnings as a theatre actor in Ireland to becoming a multi-skilled editor and producer across some of the UK’s most recognisable broadcasters — including Channel 5, MTV, Discovery, Warner Bros., and CNBC — Itunu shares a journey built on hard choices, constant upskilling, and an unwavering commitment to craft.
She opens up about the reality behind her pivot away from acting, explaining why stability mattered, how she rebuilt her creative identity from the ground up, and how storytelling eventually led her to fall in love with the edit suite. Her career path includes assisting on A Place in the Sun, creating fast-turnaround promos for global networks, and navigating high-pressure workflows with precision and clarity. She also discusses what it takes to produce compelling short-form content in a world where audiences may never turn the sound on — and how music, rhythm, editorial choices, and graphic design all work together to deliver powerful messaging in under 30 seconds.
A highlight of the conversation is her work on CNBC’s digital-first franchise Built for Billions, and how collaboration, trust, and editorial instinct helped elevate the promos beyond expectation. She also shares her experiences with software like Avid, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Baselight, and her philosophy on clean, organised projects that support entire teams.
Outside her broadcast work, she speaks candidly about her award-supported short film Give Me Your Phone — a story born from a deeply personal and frightening moment. She reveals how she turned that experience into a thoughtful exploration of privilege, vulnerability, and perspective, bringing the film from concept to completion through grit, community, and creative conviction.
This episode offers inspiring insight for filmmakers, editors, post-production professionals, and anyone building a creative career based on skill, dedication, and self-belief.
Key Topics Covered
- How Itunu transitioned from acting to a sustainable career in post-production
- Working across Channel 5, Discovery, MTV, Warner Bros., and CNBC
- Navigating high-speed editorial environments and promo production
- Creating impactful short-form content for news, business, and digital audiences
- Detailed insights into editing workflows, graphics integration, QC, AAF/EDL handling, and version control
- Premiere Pro vs Avid vs DaVinci Resolve vs Baselight — honest comparisons
- Crafting the promos for CNBC’s Built for Billions
- The story behind her first short film Give Me Your Phone and turning trauma into art
- How organisation, humility, and collaboration strengthen post-production work
- Staying adaptable and relevant in a fast-changing creative industry
Call to Action.
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and share the podcast. Follow Damien Swaby for more filmmaker interviews and insights into the craft and business of storytelling.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
You are listening to the IFH podcast Network. For more
amazing filmmaking and screenwriting podcasts, just go to IFH podcast
network dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Hi, how are you today?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hi Damon, I'm doing very well. How are you.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I'm doing well. I'm doing well. Speaking to a fellow
North London, I think, and I get to do that
on the podcast. It seems quite weird because it's an
international podcast and I speak to people across the world,
but I have yet to speak to a fellow North
London and I think. So this is quite a good one.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Nice one. Happy to be happy to be your first
local guest.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I guess nice. I'm glad, glad to hear it, glad
to hear it. So I've been online and I've seen
so much fabulous work from you. You've worked with some
gigantic organizations, amazing organizations that have such a brilliant proven
track record in the industry, and happy or a part
of those organizations doing great work. So what led you
(01:05):
to want to become someone working in post production as
an editor and a producer and what was your history
before you got involved in the industry.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yes, so thank you, thank you very much for that question,
and thanks for having me on. It's I'm so pleased.
My journey wasn't an easy or straightforward one. I'm not
so easy. It wasn't straightforward. I actually started out as
an actor. So I'm from I grew up in Ireland.
(01:39):
I'm originally from Nigeria, but I grew up in Ireland
and I went to college in Sligo where I studied
theater performing arts. So I trained to be a theater
actor and I was a writer as well. And after university,
after a couple of years of auditioning and not really
getting a stable role, I decided to upscale and I
(02:02):
went back to university, and this is when I moved
to the UK. I went to the University of Bristol
and I went in actually training to be a director
because I had the acting background, but acting for stage.
And I was in like two years after university after
college as we say in Ireland, and those two years
(02:24):
after college of auditioning, I was auditioning four stage and
for screen. And so then when I decided to upscale,
I wanted to be a director because I had that
background of being an actor, so I thought I and
I did. I didn't know how to approach acting approach,
storytelling from an acting point of view, So I wanted
(02:47):
to train that to become a director, right, So I
went into the university thinking this is what I was
going to do. But I got in there and I
absolutely fell in love with postproduction, with editing, and the
doors started opening from there. So I went in fiversity
(03:10):
in Bristol. This is where I studied film, and I
did a couple of internships there and film at Films
at fifty nine in Bristol. I did an internship there,
and I just like did lots of different jobs in
Bristol as well with the BBC because you know we've
got the BBC Natural History unit there in Bristol. But again,
(03:32):
as I said, the whole recently up skilling and kind
of pivoting from the acting career path was for sustainability,
and I still wasn't getting that because it was very
more much short term roles and short term jobs, so
(03:52):
I might have a job for a month or three
months or two weeks, and I and kind of personally
need stability, so I needed to find another way. So
then I decided to expand and I left Bristol and
came to London, and I actually did get my first
(04:14):
break with this post production company. They're based in Shepherd's Bush.
It's called West Digital post Production, and that's where I
got my first job. And the job was edit assistant
at a Place in the Sun, the TV show I'm
sure you're familiar with it. I'm not actually, So it's
(04:34):
a show on Channel four. It's about these couples that
buy homes abroad. So yeah, it's a place in the
sounds to buy properties in you know, in Spain and
you know, different different sunny destinations across the world. So
I was this was my break into the industry. So
(04:55):
I was an edit assistant for that for about a year.
And and while I was working on that, there was
a lady, one of the edit producers, like she would
come in, work on the show and go away again.
And on one occasion, like you know, we became quite
good friends and colleagues. And on one occasion was she
wasn't working with us, she sent me a message and
(05:18):
she said to you, I'm here at MTV and they're
looking for an edit assistant. Are you interested. And at
this time my job on a Place in the Sun,
it was only for a year or nine months, so
it was coming to an end, and I thought absolutely,
of course I would love to work at MTV. But
it wasn't MTV. It was actually Channel five because it's
(05:41):
part of you know, the viacom. So she was there,
and you know she this is how I got my
next job. And then the next one came along again.
I was approached by someone on LinkedIn and I said,
are you interested in working as a compliance editor for Discovery?
I said still it After a year at Discovery and
(06:04):
there was an opportunity to join the promo team. So
this is when I shifted from creating long term and sorry,
this is when I shifted from creating long form content
to short form. So then I was working as a
promo packaging editor at Discovery, but not just on Discovery content.
(06:25):
I was also working on things like on TLC, on
the Travel Channel, the Food Network and so on. And
then things went on again and I stayed there for
a while, and then I got the opportunity that I'm
in right now that I'm as a producer and editor
at CNBC. Some a promo producer and editor at CNBC.
(06:48):
So that was another shift. So that was a shift
from and entertainment content at CHANEA five at Channel four
MTV and Discovery to CNBC, which is business and factual content.
And I'm moving from long form to short form. So
(07:08):
that's kind of the journey. So it wasn't that I,
you know, my six year old self thought I would
be an editor of my six year o self thought
I would be on stage or performing. But it's just
kind of happened this way. But like my six year
old self, she's fine, like she's she's very happy because
I still I feed myself in other ways. I do
the independent filmmaking as well, and so yeah, I've got
(07:32):
it's all balanced. So I'm very I'm very grateful. I'm
very happy about where I am right now.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Why did you think the doors weren't opening for you
as an actress? But doors have opened for you in
a different way in video production.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
That's interesting as an actress. I to know, I'm not sure.
Maybe I just wasn't good enough or I'm not just
I'm not saying that as a way to you know,
berape myself. Just competition is f and I did train
and I was very very passionate about it, and I
still am. I just was I just wasn't what people
(08:07):
were looking for, you know. I would go to all
these different auditions for stage and for screen, and I
would see loads of different people who look like me,
and this is like, this is in Ireland. At the time,
they weren't a lot of people. So I would bump
into the same three black women and all these all
these auditions because we're all going for the same thing.
(08:30):
But I really blessed because straight before I even finished college,
I got an agent. So I was going on auditions
and I was but I just wasn't getting the roles.
And that's fine, that's part of the life, and that's
part of that's just part of the gig, you know.
And I would have stayed at it longer. I did
try it. I did it for two years. But as
(08:51):
I said, I'm someone who needs that stability and who
I could have stayed with it and just like carried
on doing what I was doing. And I had very
supportive pairs and so my mother supported me so much,
and she was like, you know what, don't worry about
bills and I'll sort you out. You just go doing
your things. Are it is nice, it's really lovely, But
I don't know, I guess my pride was just like
(09:13):
you with your whoping college degree, you're still taking no
go find a real job. I think that was the
kick up the bomb for myself that I was like,
you know what, I need to actually go and do
something where it's sustainable and where I can now take
care of my family instead of relying on them. So
maybe if I'd stuck with it for another two years,
(09:36):
I would have had my big break in with the acting.
But I guess I didn't stick at it long enough
to do that because I needed to be self sufficient.
That's why I had to pivot.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
I Fila Mama asking how old were you when you
made that decision.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
I was twenty two.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Oh wow, So you really do understand and you really
do appreciate stability, and you're quite forward thinking in that sense,
because a lot of people don't get the drama school
until their early twenties.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
And well, I mean, as I said, this was university.
So I did you know? I started university at seventeen,
and you know, I finished the course and I gave
myself some time to use the skills that I learned
at university, and I was going out and networking and
doing all of these things. But as I said, the
opportunities were not as forthcoming as I would have wanted. Yeah,
(10:36):
you know, I did do some things. You know. I
was in some short films, and I was in, you know,
some plays, and I was very much part of the
creative community. And so I go and in Galway, and
I was part of the arts council in Galway as well.
So I did loads of different things. But as I said,
(10:57):
they were short term roles and the pay wasn't consistent. Yeah,
you know, And there were times as much as I
loved what I was doing and as much as I
loved the output, and it was just okay, but who's
going to pay the rent? You know? So that's what
I had to make the decision, the say list and
you have to And I did want you know, I
(11:19):
could have gone into another industry. I didn't want to
do that. I wanted to stay in the creative industry.
So that's why I decided to go back to university
and learn filmmaking and film production.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
I completely understand what you mean as a former actor,
those decisions have to be made, and you hit it
on the head. Pay the rent, you know, that kind
of glaring light in your eyes at the end of
the month. Isn't something that could be a problem forever,
that for sure. So when you're working on these brilliant
(11:53):
videos that you do, where's your end to end workflow
froming jest to delivery.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
And for the short, for the short from promos that
c NBC. Yes, okay, So my role at CNBC has
actually changed quite a bit since I started. So I
did start on the news team, and that was really
good for me to get my editorial gear going, you
(12:20):
know about because I I can craft a narrative and
I can tell a story, you know, I write, and I,
you know, direct short films and produce short films and
so on. But news was a whole different bargain for
me entirely because it's about how do you how do
you be creative in a factual sense, you know, so
(12:45):
working on the new stuff and trying to distill these
big news stories into like one minute, exciting sound bites.
I did struggle with that at the beginning. Not so
much struggle, but I didn't have the skills, I didn't
have the the mileage, and I did have to rely
on my producer and my head of the apartment for
(13:08):
the first few months at CNBC. But as I got going,
and as I got used to the new cycle, as
I got used to the terminology of business news, it
came easier, and so I could distinguish between Okay, this
is relevant, this is not. This has to say this
is a strong style bite, so I'm going to put
(13:29):
that at the front, or this ties this whole thing together,
so I'm going to put that at the end, and
so on. So it's about just like knowing still what
you want to say, knowing what your story is. Even
if you have just a minute, or even if you
have just thirty seconds, that's a lot of time to
relay information. So my workflow is number one, what am
(13:52):
I trying to say with this? And then number two
who am I trying to say this too? And why?
And thirdly, what do I want them to do after
they've watched this? You know? So I think a great
promo has to it has to educate or inform, it
(14:17):
has to entertain, and it has to invoke action. And
so these are the things that I try to bring into,
you know, whenever I'm creating content. So what's the action
I want the audience to take after watching this promo?
Do I want them to buy a ticket to a show.
Do I want them to tune into something? Do I
(14:38):
want them to read further somewhere else? Is there an
article I'm directing them to? So yeah, it's it's it's
about that. What am I trying to say? And what
do I want them to do when they've heard it?
That's kind of the the kind of thing, the thought
behind things that I create.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Yes, and how do you feel about your budget day
problema that you recently put out on LinkedIn for CNBC?
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Oh, that was exciting. So yeah, budget that everyone was
anticipating that, you know, on Wednesday, and what is she
going to say? Is she going to waste taxes? Is
she going to do this? Everyone were already anticipating that.
So it was actually very easy for me to get
that out because people are already going to tune in
(15:27):
because they want to know where the money is going.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Yeah, So I worked with As I said, I used
to be on the news team at the NBC, but
I'm we've since moved on now on the marketing team,
but I still work very closely with the US team.
So I have a producer there who will help me
with you know, getting the anchors to record their lines
and in the studio to get to film the pieces
(15:52):
of the camera and everything, and then I would take
the footage and gather the assets. You know, I'm sure
as you've seen, like you know, we've got the call
to actions, like we've got the promo bar at the bottom.
I gather all of that and then I just put
it together and you know, including b ro that's going
to be engaging and for what we're trying to say.
(16:14):
So with that Budget Day promo, obviously it's about we
want the audience to tune into CNBC to watch not
only to listen to Rachel Reeves's speech, but also to
listen to the analysis and that we're going to give.
And so that's what that promo was about, just trying
to get people to tune into something that's ready highly
(16:36):
anticipated by audiences.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
What does your asset QC process look like before editing
those problems?
Speaker 1 (16:46):
And well, this is the thing is I have to
work the time a lot. So the first instance is
when the thing you've been recorded, is it longer than
fifteen seconds? You know, I watch it and look at
the time, and can I cut this through fifteen seconds?
(17:06):
Can I make this happen in fifteen seconds, do I
need to remove? So that is the first step of
the QC, if I'm honest, is about this message and
the delivery from the anchor, from the on camera talent.
It can this fit into the time that we have
and if it cannot, I try as much as I
(17:29):
can with the editor and to make it fit. But
if it can, then that would be okay. We need
to reshoot, but I try not to let that happen often.
So I have to just figure out what stays on,
what goes, and how do I put that, you know,
into the timeframe that we have. And then there's the
graphics as well, and the keyc like the spelling, the
(17:52):
amount of times as I sent prooe up not onto
air but to maybe a head of the department or
something with like a typo. So that is really important
to you know, to key see those and to make
sure that everything that you're sending out for approval is broadcast. Ready.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Have you managed version control when collaborating across regions?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
And may you repeat that please?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
How do you manage virgin control when collaborating across regionsg version? Yes?
Speaker 1 (18:28):
What do you mean by that?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Virgin control. So for example, if you're collaborating in the
video for a team member in Asia or America, oh like.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Frame rates and things, yeah right, right right, yeah. So
this was more of an issue in in long form
content when I used to work because I was working
primarily on Avid on Avid Media Composer, and you know
you can't really Avid is domperamental. I always say with
(19:01):
the workflow, you have to get it what it wants
when it wants it. But now I work on Premiere
and I do find it more forgiven of different formats
and stuff. So you can have different formats in the
same project. And at the time when I was working
on Avid, a lot that was more difficult for me
at least, But now, yes, I would get assets from
(19:24):
the US or from Asia, and it's like different frame
rates and different lists and different that. But I just
make it work. You know, I have a template my workflow.
As I say about that. This is going back to
the stability that I talked about earlier. So I have
a template for everything I do. So if I'm creating
(19:45):
a promo that's thirty seconds, I have a template for that.
I have a project for that where those things go
into and if I'm creating the longer phone promo, I
have a project for that as well. If I'm creating
versions of shows that we do on a week to
week basis, there's a template for that too. And if
there's one that's like maybe ad hoc once in a
(20:06):
while promos, there is a project for that too. So
the way I do do that is just by being
organized and so that I'm not trying to figure out something,
you know, like we've got assets from the US and well,
maybe have an hour before this has to be delivered.
I don't have an hour to create a new template
(20:27):
from scratch. So I will use something that I've used before,
an old project, and like reversion that with the new assets.
And yeah, that's how that works.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
And you mentioned Avid, which and on how you said
you're using Premier Pro for great reasons by the sound
of it, But if you are to use Avid again,
how do you organize media management across shared storage like
Avid or Nexus?
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Right? So this is when I was an edit assistant,
This was what I would doing most often. So at
MTV and at Channel five, this was my entire job
was creating all those different workspaces on Nexus and isis
at the time when we were using it, and then
it did switch to Nexus after a while, and yeah,
(21:19):
it was just like the organization. Again. Workflow is so
important because we had a great technical director who created
this similess workflow and this simless template where with each
new show has its own workspace, so you're not sharing,
you're not bleeding different media's different footage. So the footage
for one show lives on that space and the footage
(21:41):
for another show lives in another space. So if you
need the footage from this show on this other show,
you don't like cross the workspaces. Instead, you just bring
the footag you need from one workspace into the one
(22:02):
that's needed. So that everything is contained. Everything is self contained,
so that when one show is over and we're going
to archive it, everything that was worked in natural lives
within one container and so there's nothing messing if we
need to go back to it two years later and say, oh,
because we used we use the footage from Show A
(22:25):
in Show B, but like Show b's footage is on
this not everything that was contained within Nancial is in
one workspace, right. So this is what I was doing
back in the day at Channel five, And you know
at a place in the sun, but these days it's
it's Premiere and I have my own again, my own
(22:46):
like workspace that I have all my promos. I have
like a dedicated space where I've put everything, and that's
how I work with the media management. It's just about
making sure things are labeled properly so that you can
find it. Yeah, And also, I mean, yes, I love
my job and I take ownership of it, but I
(23:08):
do sometimes that I'll take a holiday or you're sick,
and someone else needs to jump in and finish what
I started. And I need to make sure that it
makes sense to them that I've not left a messy
timeline or a messy media management. If they open my project,
they should be able to find all of the media
(23:28):
and easily without having to say, oh, I've saved it locally.
Not everything is in a place where they can.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Find it completely as very considerate as well when i'm
if someone does what you do, because it can be
such a nightmare opening a project from someone else and
trying to find media and.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
An Also, I mean, of course sometimes they can slip
through the crack and then you know, I might get
an editor sending me a slack message, Hey do you
know where's this piece of archive footage or where is
this piece of graphics? And I was like, oh, do
you know what? It's actually in this other drive. But
it's always in a place where they have access to it,
(24:09):
you know, So it's never on my local drive. It's
in a shared drive where everyone can see it and
everyone can work on it, and someone else can jump
in as soon as it's needed, you know. Even it
might not even be that I'm not available, that I'm
off sick or something like that. It could just be
that my shift is over and now someone else is
(24:32):
taken over and they need to be able to carry
on where I left off.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
I see, very nice. And how do you manage AAF
and EDL exports between.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Apps and with at SMBC. I don't really need to
worry about that too much, but I do with ed
ls right now. These days it's more for the admin
side of things, you know. So yeah, so like I've
I'll finish a promo and then I'll create an d
L and give those to the the post producers so
(25:07):
they can do the correct licensing for all the music
and the the clips that we've used from you know,
from Getty or from shut of stock or whatever it is.
And yeah, just for from the US. Sometimes we get
assets and they'll send an AF and you just import
it and it's quite you know, it's simple enough. It's
(25:27):
quite easy with as I say, with Premiere, and I
know with Avid I had a lot of issues, but
maybe that's just me. Uh But with Premiere, yeah, you
important and then it's populated and then you find your
media and then you get to go and that's how
I found it. Yeah, it can be and if you
(25:48):
if something's not worth we're in the age of information.
And even if my coworkers don't know, oh, it's like,
oh this thing isn't LinkedIn the way it should. The
internets is there. You know someone's been through this, someone
on read it has gotten through this before, and you
can just find it and like find a way to
fix it.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Lately that Google is great and yep as well. YouTube
tutories have helped me.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
You know exactly the amount. Like I think, I remember
the first time I had to create a split track
timeline like project in Premiere just a few years ago.
I was like, how do I do this? Simple tutoria
was done in fifteen minutes. You know, yes, sometimes like yeah,
you don't need to know everything, but that's okay because
(26:36):
you're not. No man is an island. Like there's a
million assistants and editors in the world that I've made
videos about this, that have made tutorios about this, that
I have written articles about this, and you can learn
from them.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
And you blend story, music called cues and brand guidelines
through your work and you obviously are a director and
made sure for as well. How does one influenced another
and does it and does having those experiences actually help
you work? At CNBC?
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Absolutely, music changes everything. Yeah, and especially with my with
the promo. So when I start, as I say, I
start with the soundbites, you know that I say, is
this two time right? And then I make my cuts
and you know, I make I make a structure, and
(27:31):
when I add the music, it changes the tempo, the rhythm,
the tone. It can be. It can go from somber
and solemn and sad to celebratory and happy just from
the it's the same words, you know, the anchors saying
the same thing. The graphics look the same, but the
(27:54):
music just completely changes the tone. But what I am
mindful of sometimes is that lots of people, especially you know,
with the promos because they're cross platform, so it goes
on TV, it's also on LinkedIn, as you said, because
you saw those promos on LinkedIn. They go on Instagram,
(28:14):
sometimes on TikTok. But the thing is sometimes people when
they watch on their phone, they watch with the sound off. Yeah,
and so you need to have you know, you've got
your subtitles so they can see what you're you know,
they can know what the content is about. So in
that case, sometimes music doesn't it doesn't matter because they
can't hear it anyway. So you still need to make
(28:36):
sure that your edit, like the promo, is still visually engaging,
and it's still got the pace, it's still even if
they can't hear the music, they should be able to
feel the rhythm of the edit of the cuts, and
so it's still visually stimulating and it's still interesting to
watch and it's still entertaining. But then like the full
(28:59):
experience is when you've got with the sound and everything
that it's it's amazing, especially when I go overboard and
add some sound effects, you know, and it's like, oh wow,
it just really keep brings it to life.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
How do you integrate graphic packages into your edits?
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Well, for that's the part where it comes in with
the inform and with the co to action. So I
work very closely with our graphics team, and at the
beginning of each promo, I say, oh, guys, I need
so and so to say so and so. But as
I say, we have a very structured workflow already. So
(29:37):
a lot of times they will just provide me with
things that I can edit, that I can customize within
my own project. So they just give me like a
lower third bar that I can change the text and
change the messaging as I wish. And the thing as
well is like they've given they give me a little
of different options. So one day I might feel like
(29:59):
maybe I want to use the blue promo bar, and
the next day maybe I want to use the pink
on you know. Yeah, but the graphics that you know,
use it to to reinforce the message of the promo,
you know, the especially like the end, but the call
to action? What time is it? Where can I where
can I find this program? Can I watch it online?
(30:21):
Is it on TV at a certain time? Is it
on YouTube? Is it like a live stream? You know?
All of that information is conveyed visually through the graphics, and.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
It sounds like they hand a lot of the maybe
ten plegues. Am I right out with you?
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Pardn't say that again.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
So it sounds like they're potentially handing out the temples
to you to work from.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Yeah. So some sometimes it might be like an after
effects template. Yeah, all the time, it might just be
a motion graphics, a disabled temperate you know, so I
can just edit it within Premiere, whether it.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
The more guard mean weird, so you can ensure consistency,
modify and after affect templates that we know and we've
seen that. Yeah, do you handle key in tracking or
in inside Avid? For example? If you're sorry about you're
more of a Premier pro user. Sorry.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Yeah, so in back in the day, I did use
it a little bit because I remember for a short
film that we did a while ago, I did have
to use Avid for Keane tracking and all of that stuff.
And it was self taught. I was like teaching myself
from like tutorials and stuff.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
But the certificate on LinkedIn, well done. Sorry, I saw
your Avid certificate on linked Oh yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
That's right, I did. I did get that a few
years ago while I was working at Channel five. Yes,
and then so with Premiere with Quene like, I do
think it's a little bit easier with me or I
don't know. Maybe I don't know why it is. It's
probably sounds like I have a head of Avid. I
started my career with that and it was just like ah,
(32:04):
and then I started to use Premiere. I was like, ah,
you know, things that just make more sense. But maybe
I just need more training on that. But I did
train quite a bit on Avid, as I said, I
got the certificate. And so with like more complicated edits
I did. I have found it more and like simpler
to use Premiere Pro and things would Things just seemed
(32:29):
to work more seamlessly for me. And because with Avid,
I remember, it was just things would crash. Yeah you
you you clicks the wrong thing and suddenly you've got
like the the circle, the spinning, yeah, the spin of
death and and it just goes away and oh no,
(32:49):
but with Premiere and that happens a lot less. And
so Adobe should probably paid me. This is like an endorsement.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Now, it is what it is, isn't it. You know
your work and you know we'll spit about Adelobe and
Avid obviously in the but what are your what our
CMBCS required export specs.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Well, I mean it depends on what it is. It
depends on what we're doing. So sometimes it's I will
export you know for broad broadcast tech standards, you know,
EXCAMM fifty or it might just be a HITG six
(33:38):
four if it's going on socials, and yeah, it's just
it's just like industry standard.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Really, how do you ensure like broadcast safe color and audio,
because that's very very different from my understanding then what
you would have delivered to YouTube for example.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Yes, so with with Avid, you know, we used to
have to do the the QC search and like the
broadcast safe and the you know we're up to there
was a special I forget all of that. I think
I kind of put all of avids tough in the
back of my head and most of it's gone now.
But and yes, so we had the monitor that would
(34:17):
measure all the levels out for you and you will
have to watch to see, okay is this safe? Is
this not? And you know, doing the QC reports like
non you did your conform But now nowadays, like especially
because because a lot of things we shoot, we're shooting digitally. Yeah,
(34:37):
so a lot of that is already kind of done
for you before you get in the camera, before you
you can get the editing. Yeah, so like from the camera,
from the card, I get it and I import it
and the levels are safe. I might just need to
do a little bit of color grading, might just need
to you know, refine it a little bit. Uh, But yeah,
(35:01):
for most of the part because you know with the
cameras now that you don't have to do too much.
And just obviously with the color with the color grading,
just like stay within the scopes which is all there
for you and plemonitary scopes, and you just like make
sure your levels are your levels make sense. And with
the audio, yeah, you just make sure it doesn't spike
(35:22):
too much. You want to keep everything at a level
that if your audience, if your audience member or your
viewer is watching with sound on, especially with like the
headphones and stuff, to make sure it doesn't you know,
deafen them. And so yeah, you just keep an eye
on the levels, and you keep an eye on the
visual levels and you're good to go.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
And another one of your problems I really liked was
a built for billions. Yes, what was unique about the
post workflow for that promo compared to your other promos.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
And so biit for billions is a show about you know,
tech giants and how they make their money and how
they the strategies of big tech companies. So the first
one that we're working on and is the Ali Baba one,
and that's already out now you can watch that on YouTube.
And so that's a show promo that's different from like,
(36:18):
you know, like news coverage promos that I would work
on more often, so like with the Budget Day promo
for instance, but this is a show promo, right, But
it's also a digital first show promo, So there's are
different like lots of different like and names for different things.
But you know, we might have a feature show that
will be for TV, and then you might have a
(36:43):
feature show that is for digital. So this in this case,
built for billions is digital first and then we'll repackage
it for TV. Right, And so creating the promo for
that was actually just super super exciting. I was really
please used to have worked on it. And so I
(37:03):
was given the brief of the promo and then I
looked at the footage as I said, this is from
my show promo, so I didn't have to go looking
for footage or anything like that. And it was already
available because we're already making the show. And I looked
at the brief and then I, you know, put the
things together and I created something and I sent it
(37:25):
to someone's approval and they said, that's excellent. You can
send it out. And I was speaking to one of
the producers on the show and I sent her that
same some of the thing that I'd worked on, and
she said, you know what, you know, I think we
can make this better. I think we can elevate this
a bit more. Let's, you know, let's meet up tomorrow
(37:45):
or let's meet up this week and have a look
at it. And I said, you know what, the deadline
isn't for a while, so yeah, let's do it, even
though from my side it's been approved. Yeah, like, you know,
I have time. I can make this pop a bit more.
And so we spent a bit of time on it,
and we decided, okay, maybe we don't add this. Maybe
(38:05):
we introduced Jack my bit earlier. Maybe we add a
few soundbites from contributors. Maybe we add a flash here.
Maybe we had changed the music there, and it was
just really fun. And you know, in the end, we
ended up creating about four or five different versions of
the same promo. And in the end she's like, you
(38:26):
know what, choose whichever of those versions that you're happy
to send out, And so I chose the thirty second
version and I sent it out. But then, as I say,
we created loads of different versions. So I said, we
actually have a sixty second version and a ninety second
Like do you want us to do you need that?
So I spoke to the scheduling team and I said,
(38:47):
do you guys need more stuff? Like, I have a
sixty second promo if you want. It's like, yeah, of course,
we love that. Give them the bus. So I reworked
and some of the stuff that we worked on the originally,
and I just like expanded the story a little bit
more like working on thirty second promo versus a sixty
second pormo that's double the time. Wow, that's double the
(39:08):
time to say what I want to say. And yeah,
And then worked on that again and sent that out
and again it was just like, yeah, I love it,
send it out And now it's out as well.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
That's amazing. That I wanted the sixty second problem as well.
It wasn't like it doesn't sound like it's a very
rigid company in that sense of flexibility and excitement regarding
the world that people do.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
Yeah, so sometimes with show promos we might create, you know,
we'll create different versions, but as I say, this is like,
this is for TV and it's for digital. So there
were loads of different versions like go and flying across
and so yeah, created the thirty second vertical for social,
created the thirty second and linear for TV, and thirty
(39:57):
second sixteen nine, sixteen y nine for TV, and then
the sixty second for TV as well. So yeah, it's
loads to work with there. But working on bit four
billions was just incredible. It was so amazing. And the
producer that I worked with, she was so patient, and
you know, she had all these different ideas and different changes,
and she's like, oh, do you know, I hope I'm
(40:18):
not being annoying. I was like, no, you're not. Like,
I love that you're passionate about this, you know. I
was like, yes, you had loads of changes, but you
didn't make it annoying because you didn't make it seem
like like this was a collaborative, collaborative, endevl. It wasn't
I hit this, I hit this cut that you did,
or you don't know how to It wasn't any of that.
(40:41):
It was, oh, I think we can make this better.
That you on my team, and it was like, yes,
I'm on board, you know. So there was a lot
of respect there, and it was just the collaboration I
think that made me enjoy it a lot.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Good glad to hear that. And you've worked across Channel five, Discovery, Brothers,
and of course CNBC. I was each stage of your
career strengthen your skill set?
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Well, it's it's definitely. It's all the different companies and
places that I've worked when of taught me different things
for my career, for my job, but also for myself
as a person, and how to deal with people and
how to deal with projects, and how to deal with
(41:28):
different editing software. My love hate relationship with Avid, my
love hate relationship with Premiere, with Da Vinci, with Audition,
you know. And the thing is, different companies have different
tools that they use, and I've gotten to learn all
of these different things because I was exposed to these
(41:51):
different opportunities, right so at Discovery I got the opportunity
to work using after Effects and I a five and
a place in Aissan. I got to use AVID when
I was in university, and I went in training to
be a director, and I came out as an editor.
I was working on Final Cut. So it's just all
(42:13):
of these I just see them as just like opportunities
for growth and learning, because you might move from one
place to another and you might be used to doing
something in one way, but then you go somewhere else
and they do it in a completely different way, and
instead of panicking, you just embrace the change. You know.
(42:35):
I feel like in this industry there's no room for
an ego, you know, because like sometimes I might write
a script or I've written, oh I've created I've written
a script and I've created a promo and I've created
a narrative and I send it to a senior producer
or someone and they completely change it. Okay, that's not great.
(42:58):
I don't love that. But what can I learn from this?
Why have they changed there? What is the reason? And
then oh, it's because this SoundBite is stronger than this,
or it's because this is repetitive, or it's because you
know this person is no longer in that company, so
we can't include that. You know, it's those things. So
when you remove the ego, instead of oh, why are
(43:20):
they doing this to me, it's what why have they
made that decision? And remove yourself from that situation. It's
nothing to deal with you. It's about what's best for
the story. It's about what's best for the narrative and
what's best for what you're trying to get the audience
to do.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
You mentioned having a love hate relationship with Da Vinci Resolve,
and I've recently moved back to Premiere Pro from Da
Vinci Resolve, which I was using more intensely because I
was using black Magic cameras and color Codex and everything
work a lot better with resolved color grading software. What
were your problems with Da Vinci and what do you
(44:00):
like about the Vincy Resolve.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
So with Da Vinci, I used it for color grading
for my short film and a short film that I
produced a few years ago. And I think the reason
it was love hate was because I was learning it
from scratch. As I said, it was like tutorial, so
I was trying to color grade have it. Never used
(44:22):
the Venturi Resolve before and trying to fix things. So
this is the kind of it was a kind of
color grading job that needed a lot of work, so
you needed you need to know what you're doing to
fix this problem. I didn't know how to use Da
Vinci properly. I didn't know the workflow. I didn't know it.
(44:43):
So I was learning, and I think that's where the
frustration came from, because I was learning as a tool
that I didn't know to solve a difficult situation, to
solve a difficult grade. Uh, this was This was just
the confusion and the frustration that came out of it.
(45:05):
In the end, I ended up using Avid to fix it,
to fix the color grading from the short film because
I couldn't. I guess at the time, I didn't have
the patience to fully immerse myself in that workflow with
the Venture Resolve and to like get it to the
finish line. So yeah, maybe patience is something I need
to work on a little bit. But yeah, it's just
(45:28):
like a patience thing. But with Premiere, with Avid, the
color grading comes a lot easier to me.
Speaker 2 (45:38):
In Premiere, You would prefer to grade in Premiere than
Da Vincuy Resolve, Yes, Okay, that's interesting. Some of the
tools in Premiere prove there's a there's I'm working with
a guy I can't be baseline. Have you heard of baseline? Yeah? Yeah,
he's using that and I'm pretty new to it, but
(45:59):
it sounds quite excited. What do you think of baseline
and have you ever used it before?
Speaker 1 (46:04):
I haven't used it personally, but when I was an
editor assistant, I would are the color graders that would
come in, so we'd have our offline editors and then
our online and the graders would come in to finish
the show and they would work with baselights. So we
would need to like make sure the project was conformed
and ready to and we had to plug in into
(46:26):
Avid as well. And it was one of the older
editors and you know the edit with the pen with
the penn pats and everything, and no direct experience using it.
But no, I have heard of it in.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
The background and you've received the floor create a fun
to make your first short film, that's right? That experience
like other than the Vincy Resolved problems.
Speaker 1 (46:53):
Oh no, it wasn't for that project. It was for
another project. So the Floor Creator fund that was a
few years ago. So for my first short film. I
called it my first short film because that's the first
film that I wrote, directed and produced, So that's why
(47:16):
I called it my first short But it's not like
I have done independent work and independent producing and filmmaking
with other people, and I know all of the different
ups and downs that come with it. And one of
that was the funding. So I knew that when I
(47:40):
wanted to work on when I wanted to do Give
Me a Phone, that I needed funding and I needed
to raise money, and so I tried loads of different ways.
So I applied for the Floor Creator Fund and I
was actually really surprised when I got it, because I
was like, oh, wow, thank you so much. And I
also so did loads of other things. You know. I
(48:02):
edited a friend of mine who's a dancer and a
music producer and he needed a music produce a music
video edited. So I did that and that's how I
raised some more funds Forgiving Me a Phone. And then
also and I did, I gave a workshop at a
theater in central London on screenwriting. I actually approached the
(48:26):
theater and asked them if I can collaborate with them
for rehearsal space, and they said, oh, do you know what, Actually,
we can't collaborate with you unless you work with us.
So we're actually looking for someone to give screenwriting classes.
Can you do that? Then we'll be able to offer
you a space. I was like, so you offered me
(48:48):
a job and the space, sign me up. So that's
kind of what we what I did, and then I
gave the classes and I was able to earn revenue
from that and use that to fund the film. And
working with the team from the floor was really amazing
as well. They were so supportive, you know, they helped
me with and not only with the funding, but with
(49:11):
like the networking as well, and with just like the
platform was really amazing and it's just a shame that
they're no longer like again with the funding like they did,
they're no longer active. But it was amazing to get
that fund absolutely.
Speaker 2 (49:27):
I could imagine funding is amazing to get.
Speaker 1 (49:31):
That.
Speaker 2 (49:32):
The experience was a really nice one as well. And lastly,
what's the project you're most proud of? And why?
Speaker 1 (49:42):
Oh? Most proud of? Oh do you know I will
have to say, give me your phone, okay, that would
be the project and most proud of back it's and
there's other things that I've done that it's out there,
you know, stuff that I've done for Discovery and for
CEA BC and for Channel five. But give Me Your
Phone is mine, you know, and there's full ownership there.
(50:08):
And I was able to bring it from inception to delivery.
So it's now streaming on Mansa as well. And I
was able to do that through my network and through
my friends and through my filmmaking partners, and we will
to get that out to where it is. It's great
(50:30):
to have great and the names like you know, the
big names like CNBC and Discovery and Channel five, and
that's amazing. But I'm creating story like I'm an employee,
whereas with these with give Me Your Phone, I was
the you know, it was my baby basic, you know.
(50:53):
So I came up with this idea. It was actually
not even like a happy stories. I was. I was
mugged Camden. Yeah, so that was that's where that story
came from. And I was just thinking about, oh, this
is so annoying. Why did I get mugged? Why did
this happen to me? And I thought about it and
(51:14):
I realized it happened to you because you're the person
that can handle it because you can. I replaced my
phone within a week, right, and I realized, how privileged
are you? Like You've even upgraded your phone, Like you're fine.
And so that got me thinking about the dynamics of
privilege and being a victim, you know, because I did
(51:40):
fit I'm a victim of the muggin and this is
not fair. But at the same time, I was like,
the person that mugged me, they they probably that's probably
not their first choice of what to have done that day.
They probably did that for survival. I mean, you know,
I was trying not to. I was trying to cheer
myself up. And so I wrote the screenplay and I
(52:04):
showed it to my friends and my filmmaking partners, and
I said, I think this has got something. I know.
We started to approach different companies, you know, offices, Can
we film in your offices? I approached architectural firms so
that I can get you know, because I wanted my
protagonist to be an architect, like that was his job,
(52:28):
so I needed to learn about that as well. And
it was just great to be able to have ownership
of this thing that was mine and bring it to
life with the help of my network. So that's what
I'm the most proud of, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (52:43):
And so you should be. That sounds amazing and I
love the way you turn the negative into a positive. Yeah,
sometimes that can be hard to do, but I think
you've done that in a fantastic way and the results
of it all really mean that you did an incredible
job there with the film and everything.
Speaker 1 (53:00):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (53:01):
It's been such a pleasure speaking to you.
Speaker 1 (53:04):
Thank you so much, Doom, and I'm so pleased that
you've asked me to be on your podcast. I feel
very honored.
Speaker 2 (53:10):
I'm wanted to have you on and it's people like
you that make the podcast, so thanks so much for
coming on and sharing your workflow, your tips, your experience,
your short film, and all the things that you do.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (53:22):
Thank you.
You are listening to the IFH podcast Network. For more
amazing filmmaking and screenwriting podcasts, just go to IFH podcast
network dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Hi, how are you today?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hi Damon, I'm doing very well. How are you.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I'm doing well. I'm doing well. Speaking to a fellow
North London, I think, and I get to do that
on the podcast. It seems quite weird because it's an
international podcast and I speak to people across the world,
but I have yet to speak to a fellow North
London and I think. So this is quite a good one.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Nice one. Happy to be happy to be your first
local guest.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I guess nice. I'm glad, glad to hear it, glad
to hear it. So I've been online and I've seen
so much fabulous work from you. You've worked with some
gigantic organizations, amazing organizations that have such a brilliant proven
track record in the industry, and happy or a part
of those organizations doing great work. So what led you
(01:05):
to want to become someone working in post production as
an editor and a producer and what was your history
before you got involved in the industry.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yes, so thank you, thank you very much for that question,
and thanks for having me on. It's I'm so pleased.
My journey wasn't an easy or straightforward one. I'm not
so easy. It wasn't straightforward. I actually started out as
an actor. So I'm from I grew up in Ireland.
(01:39):
I'm originally from Nigeria, but I grew up in Ireland
and I went to college in Sligo where I studied
theater performing arts. So I trained to be a theater
actor and I was a writer as well. And after university,
after a couple of years of auditioning and not really
getting a stable role, I decided to upscale and I
(02:02):
went back to university, and this is when I moved
to the UK. I went to the University of Bristol
and I went in actually training to be a director
because I had the acting background, but acting for stage.
And I was in like two years after university after
college as we say in Ireland, and those two years
(02:24):
after college of auditioning, I was auditioning four stage and
for screen. And so then when I decided to upscale,
I wanted to be a director because I had that
background of being an actor, so I thought I and
I did. I didn't know how to approach acting approach,
storytelling from an acting point of view, So I wanted
(02:47):
to train that to become a director, right, So I
went into the university thinking this is what I was
going to do. But I got in there and I
absolutely fell in love with postproduction, with editing, and the
doors started opening from there. So I went in fiversity
(03:10):
in Bristol. This is where I studied film, and I
did a couple of internships there and film at Films
at fifty nine in Bristol. I did an internship there,
and I just like did lots of different jobs in
Bristol as well with the BBC because you know we've
got the BBC Natural History unit there in Bristol. But again,
(03:32):
as I said, the whole recently up skilling and kind
of pivoting from the acting career path was for sustainability,
and I still wasn't getting that because it was very
more much short term roles and short term jobs, so
(03:52):
I might have a job for a month or three
months or two weeks, and I and kind of personally
need stability, so I needed to find another way. So
then I decided to expand and I left Bristol and
came to London, and I actually did get my first
(04:14):
break with this post production company. They're based in Shepherd's Bush.
It's called West Digital post Production, and that's where I
got my first job. And the job was edit assistant
at a Place in the Sun, the TV show I'm
sure you're familiar with it. I'm not actually, So it's
(04:34):
a show on Channel four. It's about these couples that
buy homes abroad. So yeah, it's a place in the
sounds to buy properties in you know, in Spain and
you know, different different sunny destinations across the world. So
I was this was my break into the industry. So
(04:55):
I was an edit assistant for that for about a year.
And and while I was working on that, there was
a lady, one of the edit producers, like she would
come in, work on the show and go away again.
And on one occasion, like you know, we became quite
good friends and colleagues. And on one occasion was she
wasn't working with us, she sent me a message and
(05:18):
she said to you, I'm here at MTV and they're
looking for an edit assistant. Are you interested. And at
this time my job on a Place in the Sun,
it was only for a year or nine months, so
it was coming to an end, and I thought absolutely,
of course I would love to work at MTV. But
it wasn't MTV. It was actually Channel five because it's
(05:41):
part of you know, the viacom. So she was there,
and you know she this is how I got my
next job. And then the next one came along again.
I was approached by someone on LinkedIn and I said,
are you interested in working as a compliance editor for Discovery?
I said still it After a year at Discovery and
(06:04):
there was an opportunity to join the promo team. So
this is when I shifted from creating long term and sorry,
this is when I shifted from creating long form content
to short form. So then I was working as a
promo packaging editor at Discovery, but not just on Discovery content.
(06:25):
I was also working on things like on TLC, on
the Travel Channel, the Food Network and so on. And
then things went on again and I stayed there for
a while, and then I got the opportunity that I'm
in right now that I'm as a producer and editor
at CNBC. Some a promo producer and editor at CNBC.
(06:48):
So that was another shift. So that was a shift
from and entertainment content at CHANEA five at Channel four
MTV and Discovery to CNBC, which is business and factual content.
And I'm moving from long form to short form. So
(07:08):
that's kind of the journey. So it wasn't that I,
you know, my six year old self thought I would
be an editor of my six year o self thought
I would be on stage or performing. But it's just
kind of happened this way. But like my six year
old self, she's fine, like she's she's very happy because
I still I feed myself in other ways. I do
the independent filmmaking as well, and so yeah, I've got
(07:32):
it's all balanced. So I'm very I'm very grateful. I'm
very happy about where I am right now.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Why did you think the doors weren't opening for you
as an actress? But doors have opened for you in
a different way in video production.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
That's interesting as an actress. I to know, I'm not sure.
Maybe I just wasn't good enough or I'm not just
I'm not saying that as a way to you know,
berape myself. Just competition is f and I did train
and I was very very passionate about it, and I
still am. I just was I just wasn't what people
(08:07):
were looking for, you know. I would go to all
these different auditions for stage and for screen, and I
would see loads of different people who look like me,
and this is like, this is in Ireland. At the time,
they weren't a lot of people. So I would bump
into the same three black women and all these all
these auditions because we're all going for the same thing.
(08:30):
But I really blessed because straight before I even finished college,
I got an agent. So I was going on auditions
and I was but I just wasn't getting the roles.
And that's fine, that's part of the life, and that's
part of that's just part of the gig, you know.
And I would have stayed at it longer. I did
try it. I did it for two years. But as
(08:51):
I said, I'm someone who needs that stability and who
I could have stayed with it and just like carried
on doing what I was doing. And I had very
supportive pairs and so my mother supported me so much,
and she was like, you know what, don't worry about
bills and I'll sort you out. You just go doing
your things. Are it is nice, it's really lovely, But
I don't know, I guess my pride was just like
(09:13):
you with your whoping college degree, you're still taking no
go find a real job. I think that was the
kick up the bomb for myself that I was like,
you know what, I need to actually go and do
something where it's sustainable and where I can now take
care of my family instead of relying on them. So
maybe if I'd stuck with it for another two years,
(09:36):
I would have had my big break in with the acting.
But I guess I didn't stick at it long enough
to do that because I needed to be self sufficient.
That's why I had to pivot.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
I Fila Mama asking how old were you when you
made that decision.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
I was twenty two.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Oh wow, So you really do understand and you really
do appreciate stability, and you're quite forward thinking in that sense,
because a lot of people don't get the drama school
until their early twenties.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
And well, I mean, as I said, this was university.
So I did you know? I started university at seventeen,
and you know, I finished the course and I gave
myself some time to use the skills that I learned
at university, and I was going out and networking and
doing all of these things. But as I said, the
opportunities were not as forthcoming as I would have wanted. Yeah,
(10:36):
you know, I did do some things. You know. I
was in some short films, and I was in, you know,
some plays, and I was very much part of the
creative community. And so I go and in Galway, and
I was part of the arts council in Galway as well.
So I did loads of different things. But as I said,
(10:57):
they were short term roles and the pay wasn't consistent. Yeah,
you know, And there were times as much as I
loved what I was doing and as much as I
loved the output, and it was just okay, but who's
going to pay the rent? You know? So that's what
I had to make the decision, the say list and
you have to And I did want you know, I
(11:19):
could have gone into another industry. I didn't want to
do that. I wanted to stay in the creative industry.
So that's why I decided to go back to university
and learn filmmaking and film production.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
I completely understand what you mean as a former actor,
those decisions have to be made, and you hit it
on the head. Pay the rent, you know, that kind
of glaring light in your eyes at the end of
the month. Isn't something that could be a problem forever,
that for sure. So when you're working on these brilliant
(11:53):
videos that you do, where's your end to end workflow
froming jest to delivery.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
And for the short, for the short from promos that
c NBC. Yes, okay, So my role at CNBC has
actually changed quite a bit since I started. So I
did start on the news team, and that was really
good for me to get my editorial gear going, you
(12:20):
know about because I I can craft a narrative and
I can tell a story, you know, I write, and I,
you know, direct short films and produce short films and
so on. But news was a whole different bargain for
me entirely because it's about how do you how do
you be creative in a factual sense, you know, so
(12:45):
working on the new stuff and trying to distill these
big news stories into like one minute, exciting sound bites.
I did struggle with that at the beginning. Not so
much struggle, but I didn't have the skills, I didn't
have the the mileage, and I did have to rely
on my producer and my head of the apartment for
(13:08):
the first few months at CNBC. But as I got going,
and as I got used to the new cycle, as
I got used to the terminology of business news, it
came easier, and so I could distinguish between Okay, this
is relevant, this is not. This has to say this
is a strong style bite, so I'm going to put
(13:29):
that at the front, or this ties this whole thing together,
so I'm going to put that at the end, and
so on. So it's about just like knowing still what
you want to say, knowing what your story is. Even
if you have just a minute, or even if you
have just thirty seconds, that's a lot of time to
relay information. So my workflow is number one, what am
(13:52):
I trying to say with this? And then number two
who am I trying to say this too? And why?
And thirdly, what do I want them to do after
they've watched this? You know? So I think a great
promo has to it has to educate or inform, it
(14:17):
has to entertain, and it has to invoke action. And
so these are the things that I try to bring into,
you know, whenever I'm creating content. So what's the action
I want the audience to take after watching this promo?
Do I want them to buy a ticket to a show.
Do I want them to tune into something? Do I
(14:38):
want them to read further somewhere else? Is there an
article I'm directing them to? So yeah, it's it's it's
about that. What am I trying to say? And what
do I want them to do when they've heard it?
That's kind of the the kind of thing, the thought
behind things that I create.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Yes, and how do you feel about your budget day
problema that you recently put out on LinkedIn for CNBC?
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Oh, that was exciting. So yeah, budget that everyone was
anticipating that, you know, on Wednesday, and what is she
going to say? Is she going to waste taxes? Is
she going to do this? Everyone were already anticipating that.
So it was actually very easy for me to get
that out because people are already going to tune in
(15:27):
because they want to know where the money is going.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Yeah, So I worked with As I said, I used
to be on the news team at the NBC, but
I'm we've since moved on now on the marketing team,
but I still work very closely with the US team.
So I have a producer there who will help me
with you know, getting the anchors to record their lines
and in the studio to get to film the pieces
(15:52):
of the camera and everything, and then I would take
the footage and gather the assets. You know, I'm sure
as you've seen, like you know, we've got the call
to actions, like we've got the promo bar at the bottom.
I gather all of that and then I just put
it together and you know, including b ro that's going
to be engaging and for what we're trying to say.
(16:14):
So with that Budget Day promo, obviously it's about we
want the audience to tune into CNBC to watch not
only to listen to Rachel Reeves's speech, but also to
listen to the analysis and that we're going to give.
And so that's what that promo was about, just trying
to get people to tune into something that's ready highly
(16:36):
anticipated by audiences.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
What does your asset QC process look like before editing
those problems?
Speaker 1 (16:46):
And well, this is the thing is I have to
work the time a lot. So the first instance is
when the thing you've been recorded, is it longer than
fifteen seconds? You know, I watch it and look at
the time, and can I cut this through fifteen seconds?
(17:06):
Can I make this happen in fifteen seconds, do I
need to remove? So that is the first step of
the QC, if I'm honest, is about this message and
the delivery from the anchor, from the on camera talent.
It can this fit into the time that we have
and if it cannot, I try as much as I
(17:29):
can with the editor and to make it fit. But
if it can, then that would be okay. We need
to reshoot, but I try not to let that happen often.
So I have to just figure out what stays on,
what goes, and how do I put that, you know,
into the timeframe that we have. And then there's the
graphics as well, and the keyc like the spelling, the
(17:52):
amount of times as I sent prooe up not onto
air but to maybe a head of the department or
something with like a typo. So that is really important
to you know, to key see those and to make
sure that everything that you're sending out for approval is broadcast. Ready.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Have you managed version control when collaborating across regions?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
And may you repeat that please?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
How do you manage virgin control when collaborating across regionsg version? Yes?
Speaker 1 (18:28):
What do you mean by that?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Virgin control. So for example, if you're collaborating in the
video for a team member in Asia or America, oh like.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Frame rates and things, yeah right, right right, yeah. So
this was more of an issue in in long form
content when I used to work because I was working
primarily on Avid on Avid Media Composer, and you know
you can't really Avid is domperamental. I always say with
(19:01):
the workflow, you have to get it what it wants
when it wants it. But now I work on Premiere
and I do find it more forgiven of different formats
and stuff. So you can have different formats in the
same project. And at the time when I was working
on Avid, a lot that was more difficult for me
at least, But now, yes, I would get assets from
(19:24):
the US or from Asia, and it's like different frame
rates and different lists and different that. But I just
make it work. You know, I have a template my workflow.
As I say about that. This is going back to
the stability that I talked about earlier. So I have
a template for everything I do. So if I'm creating
(19:45):
a promo that's thirty seconds, I have a template for that.
I have a project for that where those things go
into and if I'm creating the longer phone promo, I
have a project for that as well. If I'm creating
versions of shows that we do on a week to
week basis, there's a template for that too. And if
there's one that's like maybe ad hoc once in a
(20:06):
while promos, there is a project for that too. So
the way I do do that is just by being
organized and so that I'm not trying to figure out something,
you know, like we've got assets from the US and well,
maybe have an hour before this has to be delivered.
I don't have an hour to create a new template
(20:27):
from scratch. So I will use something that I've used before,
an old project, and like reversion that with the new assets.
And yeah, that's how that works.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
And you mentioned Avid, which and on how you said
you're using Premier Pro for great reasons by the sound
of it, But if you are to use Avid again,
how do you organize media management across shared storage like
Avid or Nexus?
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Right? So this is when I was an edit assistant,
This was what I would doing most often. So at
MTV and at Channel five, this was my entire job
was creating all those different workspaces on Nexus and isis
at the time when we were using it, and then
it did switch to Nexus after a while, and yeah,
(21:19):
it was just like the organization. Again. Workflow is so
important because we had a great technical director who created
this similess workflow and this simless template where with each
new show has its own workspace, so you're not sharing,
you're not bleeding different media's different footage. So the footage
for one show lives on that space and the footage
(21:41):
for another show lives in another space. So if you
need the footage from this show on this other show,
you don't like cross the workspaces. Instead, you just bring
the footag you need from one workspace into the one
(22:02):
that's needed. So that everything is contained. Everything is self contained,
so that when one show is over and we're going
to archive it, everything that was worked in natural lives
within one container and so there's nothing messing if we
need to go back to it two years later and say, oh,
because we used we use the footage from Show A
(22:25):
in Show B, but like Show b's footage is on
this not everything that was contained within Nancial is in
one workspace, right. So this is what I was doing
back in the day at Channel five, And you know
at a place in the sun, but these days it's
it's Premiere and I have my own again, my own
(22:46):
like workspace that I have all my promos. I have
like a dedicated space where I've put everything, and that's
how I work with the media management. It's just about
making sure things are labeled properly so that you can
find it. Yeah, And also, I mean, yes, I love
my job and I take ownership of it, but I
(23:08):
do sometimes that I'll take a holiday or you're sick,
and someone else needs to jump in and finish what
I started. And I need to make sure that it
makes sense to them that I've not left a messy
timeline or a messy media management. If they open my project,
they should be able to find all of the media
(23:28):
and easily without having to say, oh, I've saved it locally.
Not everything is in a place where they can.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Find it completely as very considerate as well when i'm
if someone does what you do, because it can be
such a nightmare opening a project from someone else and
trying to find media and.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
An Also, I mean, of course sometimes they can slip
through the crack and then you know, I might get
an editor sending me a slack message, Hey do you
know where's this piece of archive footage or where is
this piece of graphics? And I was like, oh, do
you know what? It's actually in this other drive. But
it's always in a place where they have access to it,
(24:09):
you know, So it's never on my local drive. It's
in a shared drive where everyone can see it and
everyone can work on it, and someone else can jump
in as soon as it's needed, you know. Even it
might not even be that I'm not available, that I'm
off sick or something like that. It could just be
that my shift is over and now someone else is
(24:32):
taken over and they need to be able to carry
on where I left off.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
I see, very nice. And how do you manage AAF
and EDL exports between.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Apps and with at SMBC. I don't really need to
worry about that too much, but I do with ed
ls right now. These days it's more for the admin
side of things, you know. So yeah, so like I've
I'll finish a promo and then I'll create an d
L and give those to the the post producers so
(25:07):
they can do the correct licensing for all the music
and the the clips that we've used from you know,
from Getty or from shut of stock or whatever it is.
And yeah, just for from the US. Sometimes we get
assets and they'll send an AF and you just import
it and it's quite you know, it's simple enough. It's
(25:27):
quite easy with as I say, with Premiere, and I
know with Avid I had a lot of issues, but
maybe that's just me. Uh But with Premiere, yeah, you
important and then it's populated and then you find your
media and then you get to go and that's how
I found it. Yeah, it can be and if you
(25:48):
if something's not worth we're in the age of information.
And even if my coworkers don't know, oh, it's like,
oh this thing isn't LinkedIn the way it should. The
internets is there. You know someone's been through this, someone
on read it has gotten through this before, and you
can just find it and like find a way to
fix it.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Lately that Google is great and yep as well. YouTube
tutories have helped me.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
You know exactly the amount. Like I think, I remember
the first time I had to create a split track
timeline like project in Premiere just a few years ago.
I was like, how do I do this? Simple tutoria
was done in fifteen minutes. You know, yes, sometimes like yeah,
you don't need to know everything, but that's okay because
(26:36):
you're not. No man is an island. Like there's a
million assistants and editors in the world that I've made
videos about this, that have made tutorios about this, that
I have written articles about this, and you can learn
from them.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
And you blend story, music called cues and brand guidelines
through your work and you obviously are a director and
made sure for as well. How does one influenced another
and does it and does having those experiences actually help
you work? At CNBC?
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Absolutely, music changes everything. Yeah, and especially with my with
the promo. So when I start, as I say, I
start with the soundbites, you know that I say, is
this two time right? And then I make my cuts
and you know, I make I make a structure, and
(27:31):
when I add the music, it changes the tempo, the rhythm,
the tone. It can be. It can go from somber
and solemn and sad to celebratory and happy just from
the it's the same words, you know, the anchors saying
the same thing. The graphics look the same, but the
(27:54):
music just completely changes the tone. But what I am
mindful of sometimes is that lots of people, especially you know,
with the promos because they're cross platform, so it goes
on TV, it's also on LinkedIn, as you said, because
you saw those promos on LinkedIn. They go on Instagram,
(28:14):
sometimes on TikTok. But the thing is sometimes people when
they watch on their phone, they watch with the sound off. Yeah,
and so you need to have you know, you've got
your subtitles so they can see what you're you know,
they can know what the content is about. So in
that case, sometimes music doesn't it doesn't matter because they
can't hear it anyway. So you still need to make
(28:36):
sure that your edit, like the promo, is still visually engaging,
and it's still got the pace, it's still even if
they can't hear the music, they should be able to
feel the rhythm of the edit of the cuts, and
so it's still visually stimulating and it's still interesting to
watch and it's still entertaining. But then like the full
(28:59):
experience is when you've got with the sound and everything
that it's it's amazing, especially when I go overboard and
add some sound effects, you know, and it's like, oh wow,
it just really keep brings it to life.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
How do you integrate graphic packages into your edits?
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Well, for that's the part where it comes in with
the inform and with the co to action. So I
work very closely with our graphics team, and at the
beginning of each promo, I say, oh, guys, I need
so and so to say so and so. But as
I say, we have a very structured workflow already. So
(29:37):
a lot of times they will just provide me with
things that I can edit, that I can customize within
my own project. So they just give me like a
lower third bar that I can change the text and
change the messaging as I wish. And the thing as
well is like they've given they give me a little
of different options. So one day I might feel like
(29:59):
maybe I want to use the blue promo bar, and
the next day maybe I want to use the pink
on you know. Yeah, but the graphics that you know,
use it to to reinforce the message of the promo,
you know, the especially like the end, but the call
to action? What time is it? Where can I where
can I find this program? Can I watch it online?
(30:21):
Is it on TV at a certain time? Is it
on YouTube? Is it like a live stream? You know?
All of that information is conveyed visually through the graphics, and.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
It sounds like they hand a lot of the maybe
ten plegues. Am I right out with you?
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Pardn't say that again.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
So it sounds like they're potentially handing out the temples
to you to work from.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Yeah. So some sometimes it might be like an after
effects template. Yeah, all the time, it might just be
a motion graphics, a disabled temperate you know, so I
can just edit it within Premiere, whether it.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
The more guard mean weird, so you can ensure consistency,
modify and after affect templates that we know and we've
seen that. Yeah, do you handle key in tracking or
in inside Avid? For example? If you're sorry about you're
more of a Premier pro user. Sorry.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Yeah, so in back in the day, I did use
it a little bit because I remember for a short
film that we did a while ago, I did have
to use Avid for Keane tracking and all of that stuff.
And it was self taught. I was like teaching myself
from like tutorials and stuff.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
But the certificate on LinkedIn, well done. Sorry, I saw
your Avid certificate on linked Oh yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
That's right, I did. I did get that a few
years ago while I was working at Channel five. Yes,
and then so with Premiere with Quene like, I do
think it's a little bit easier with me or I
don't know. Maybe I don't know why it is. It's
probably sounds like I have a head of Avid. I
started my career with that and it was just like ah,
(32:04):
and then I started to use Premiere. I was like, ah,
you know, things that just make more sense. But maybe
I just need more training on that. But I did
train quite a bit on Avid, as I said, I
got the certificate. And so with like more complicated edits
I did. I have found it more and like simpler
to use Premiere Pro and things would Things just seemed
(32:29):
to work more seamlessly for me. And because with Avid,
I remember, it was just things would crash. Yeah you
you you clicks the wrong thing and suddenly you've got
like the the circle, the spinning, yeah, the spin of
death and and it just goes away and oh no,
(32:49):
but with Premiere and that happens a lot less. And
so Adobe should probably paid me. This is like an endorsement.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Now, it is what it is, isn't it. You know
your work and you know we'll spit about Adelobe and
Avid obviously in the but what are your what our
CMBCS required export specs.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Well, I mean it depends on what it is. It
depends on what we're doing. So sometimes it's I will
export you know for broad broadcast tech standards, you know,
EXCAMM fifty or it might just be a HITG six
(33:38):
four if it's going on socials, and yeah, it's just
it's just like industry standard.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Really, how do you ensure like broadcast safe color and audio,
because that's very very different from my understanding then what
you would have delivered to YouTube for example.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Yes, so with with Avid, you know, we used to
have to do the the QC search and like the
broadcast safe and the you know we're up to there
was a special I forget all of that. I think
I kind of put all of avids tough in the
back of my head and most of it's gone now.
But and yes, so we had the monitor that would
(34:17):
measure all the levels out for you and you will
have to watch to see, okay is this safe? Is
this not? And you know, doing the QC reports like
non you did your conform But now nowadays, like especially
because because a lot of things we shoot, we're shooting digitally. Yeah,
(34:37):
so a lot of that is already kind of done
for you before you get in the camera, before you
you can get the editing. Yeah, so like from the camera,
from the card, I get it and I import it
and the levels are safe. I might just need to
do a little bit of color grading, might just need
to you know, refine it a little bit. Uh, But yeah,
(35:01):
for most of the part because you know with the
cameras now that you don't have to do too much.
And just obviously with the color with the color grading,
just like stay within the scopes which is all there
for you and plemonitary scopes, and you just like make
sure your levels are your levels make sense. And with
the audio, yeah, you just make sure it doesn't spike
(35:22):
too much. You want to keep everything at a level
that if your audience, if your audience member or your
viewer is watching with sound on, especially with like the
headphones and stuff, to make sure it doesn't you know,
deafen them. And so yeah, you just keep an eye
on the levels, and you keep an eye on the
visual levels and you're good to go.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
And another one of your problems I really liked was
a built for billions. Yes, what was unique about the
post workflow for that promo compared to your other promos.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
And so biit for billions is a show about you know,
tech giants and how they make their money and how
they the strategies of big tech companies. So the first
one that we're working on and is the Ali Baba one,
and that's already out now you can watch that on YouTube.
And so that's a show promo that's different from like,
(36:18):
you know, like news coverage promos that I would work
on more often, so like with the Budget Day promo
for instance, but this is a show promo, right, But
it's also a digital first show promo, So there's are
different like lots of different like and names for different things.
But you know, we might have a feature show that
will be for TV, and then you might have a
(36:43):
feature show that is for digital. So this in this case,
built for billions is digital first and then we'll repackage
it for TV. Right, And so creating the promo for
that was actually just super super exciting. I was really
please used to have worked on it. And so I
(37:03):
was given the brief of the promo and then I
looked at the footage as I said, this is from
my show promo, so I didn't have to go looking
for footage or anything like that. And it was already
available because we're already making the show. And I looked
at the brief and then I, you know, put the
things together and I created something and I sent it
(37:25):
to someone's approval and they said, that's excellent. You can
send it out. And I was speaking to one of
the producers on the show and I sent her that
same some of the thing that I'd worked on, and
she said, you know what, you know, I think we
can make this better. I think we can elevate this
a bit more. Let's, you know, let's meet up tomorrow
(37:45):
or let's meet up this week and have a look
at it. And I said, you know what, the deadline
isn't for a while, so yeah, let's do it, even
though from my side it's been approved. Yeah, like, you know,
I have time. I can make this pop a bit more.
And so we spent a bit of time on it,
and we decided, okay, maybe we don't add this. Maybe
(38:05):
we introduced Jack my bit earlier. Maybe we add a
few soundbites from contributors. Maybe we add a flash here.
Maybe we had changed the music there, and it was
just really fun. And you know, in the end, we
ended up creating about four or five different versions of
the same promo. And in the end she's like, you
(38:26):
know what, choose whichever of those versions that you're happy
to send out, And so I chose the thirty second
version and I sent it out. But then, as I say,
we created loads of different versions. So I said, we
actually have a sixty second version and a ninety second
Like do you want us to do you need that?
So I spoke to the scheduling team and I said,
(38:47):
do you guys need more stuff? Like, I have a
sixty second promo if you want. It's like, yeah, of course,
we love that. Give them the bus. So I reworked
and some of the stuff that we worked on the originally,
and I just like expanded the story a little bit
more like working on thirty second promo versus a sixty
second pormo that's double the time. Wow, that's double the
(39:08):
time to say what I want to say. And yeah,
And then worked on that again and sent that out
and again it was just like, yeah, I love it,
send it out And now it's out as well.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
That's amazing. That I wanted the sixty second problem as well.
It wasn't like it doesn't sound like it's a very
rigid company in that sense of flexibility and excitement regarding
the world that people do.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
Yeah, so sometimes with show promos we might create, you know,
we'll create different versions, but as I say, this is like,
this is for TV and it's for digital. So there
were loads of different versions like go and flying across
and so yeah, created the thirty second vertical for social,
created the thirty second and linear for TV, and thirty
(39:57):
second sixteen nine, sixteen y nine for TV, and then
the sixty second for TV as well. So yeah, it's
loads to work with there. But working on bit four
billions was just incredible. It was so amazing. And the
producer that I worked with, she was so patient, and
you know, she had all these different ideas and different changes,
and she's like, oh, do you know, I hope I'm
(40:18):
not being annoying. I was like, no, you're not. Like,
I love that you're passionate about this, you know. I
was like, yes, you had loads of changes, but you
didn't make it annoying because you didn't make it seem
like like this was a collaborative, collaborative, endevl. It wasn't
I hit this, I hit this cut that you did,
or you don't know how to It wasn't any of that.
(40:41):
It was, oh, I think we can make this better.
That you on my team, and it was like, yes,
I'm on board, you know. So there was a lot
of respect there, and it was just the collaboration I
think that made me enjoy it a lot.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Good glad to hear that. And you've worked across Channel five, Discovery, Brothers,
and of course CNBC. I was each stage of your
career strengthen your skill set?
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Well, it's it's definitely. It's all the different companies and
places that I've worked when of taught me different things
for my career, for my job, but also for myself
as a person, and how to deal with people and
how to deal with projects, and how to deal with
(41:28):
different editing software. My love hate relationship with Avid, my
love hate relationship with Premiere, with Da Vinci, with Audition,
you know. And the thing is, different companies have different
tools that they use, and I've gotten to learn all
of these different things because I was exposed to these
(41:51):
different opportunities, right so at Discovery I got the opportunity
to work using after Effects and I a five and
a place in Aissan. I got to use AVID when
I was in university, and I went in training to
be a director, and I came out as an editor.
I was working on Final Cut. So it's just all
(42:13):
of these I just see them as just like opportunities
for growth and learning, because you might move from one
place to another and you might be used to doing
something in one way, but then you go somewhere else
and they do it in a completely different way, and
instead of panicking, you just embrace the change. You know.
(42:35):
I feel like in this industry there's no room for
an ego, you know, because like sometimes I might write
a script or I've written, oh I've created I've written
a script and I've created a promo and I've created
a narrative and I send it to a senior producer
or someone and they completely change it. Okay, that's not great.
(42:58):
I don't love that. But what can I learn from this?
Why have they changed there? What is the reason? And
then oh, it's because this SoundBite is stronger than this,
or it's because this is repetitive, or it's because you
know this person is no longer in that company, so
we can't include that. You know, it's those things. So
when you remove the ego, instead of oh, why are
(43:20):
they doing this to me, it's what why have they
made that decision? And remove yourself from that situation. It's
nothing to deal with you. It's about what's best for
the story. It's about what's best for the narrative and
what's best for what you're trying to get the audience
to do.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
You mentioned having a love hate relationship with Da Vinci Resolve,
and I've recently moved back to Premiere Pro from Da
Vinci Resolve, which I was using more intensely because I
was using black Magic cameras and color Codex and everything
work a lot better with resolved color grading software. What
were your problems with Da Vinci and what do you
(44:00):
like about the Vincy Resolve.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
So with Da Vinci, I used it for color grading
for my short film and a short film that I
produced a few years ago. And I think the reason
it was love hate was because I was learning it
from scratch. As I said, it was like tutorial, so
I was trying to color grade have it. Never used
(44:22):
the Venturi Resolve before and trying to fix things. So
this is the kind of it was a kind of
color grading job that needed a lot of work, so
you needed you need to know what you're doing to
fix this problem. I didn't know how to use Da
Vinci properly. I didn't know the workflow. I didn't know it.
(44:43):
So I was learning, and I think that's where the
frustration came from, because I was learning as a tool
that I didn't know to solve a difficult situation, to
solve a difficult grade. Uh, this was This was just
the confusion and the frustration that came out of it.
(45:05):
In the end, I ended up using Avid to fix it,
to fix the color grading from the short film because
I couldn't. I guess at the time, I didn't have
the patience to fully immerse myself in that workflow with
the Venture Resolve and to like get it to the
finish line. So yeah, maybe patience is something I need
to work on a little bit. But yeah, it's just
(45:28):
like a patience thing. But with Premiere, with Avid, the
color grading comes a lot easier to me.
Speaker 2 (45:38):
In Premiere, You would prefer to grade in Premiere than
Da Vincuy Resolve, Yes, Okay, that's interesting. Some of the
tools in Premiere prove there's a there's I'm working with
a guy I can't be baseline. Have you heard of baseline? Yeah? Yeah,
he's using that and I'm pretty new to it, but
(45:59):
it sounds quite excited. What do you think of baseline
and have you ever used it before?
Speaker 1 (46:04):
I haven't used it personally, but when I was an
editor assistant, I would are the color graders that would
come in, so we'd have our offline editors and then
our online and the graders would come in to finish
the show and they would work with baselights. So we
would need to like make sure the project was conformed
and ready to and we had to plug in into
(46:26):
Avid as well. And it was one of the older
editors and you know the edit with the pen with
the penn pats and everything, and no direct experience using it.
But no, I have heard of it in.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
The background and you've received the floor create a fun
to make your first short film, that's right? That experience
like other than the Vincy Resolved problems.
Speaker 1 (46:53):
Oh no, it wasn't for that project. It was for
another project. So the Floor Creator fund that was a
few years ago. So for my first short film. I
called it my first short film because that's the first
film that I wrote, directed and produced, So that's why
(47:16):
I called it my first short But it's not like
I have done independent work and independent producing and filmmaking
with other people, and I know all of the different
ups and downs that come with it. And one of
that was the funding. So I knew that when I
(47:40):
wanted to work on when I wanted to do Give
Me a Phone, that I needed funding and I needed
to raise money, and so I tried loads of different ways.
So I applied for the Floor Creator Fund and I
was actually really surprised when I got it, because I
was like, oh, wow, thank you so much. And I
also so did loads of other things. You know. I
(48:02):
edited a friend of mine who's a dancer and a
music producer and he needed a music produce a music
video edited. So I did that and that's how I
raised some more funds Forgiving Me a Phone. And then
also and I did, I gave a workshop at a
theater in central London on screenwriting. I actually approached the
(48:26):
theater and asked them if I can collaborate with them
for rehearsal space, and they said, oh, do you know what, Actually,
we can't collaborate with you unless you work with us.
So we're actually looking for someone to give screenwriting classes.
Can you do that? Then we'll be able to offer
you a space. I was like, so you offered me
(48:48):
a job and the space, sign me up. So that's
kind of what we what I did, and then I
gave the classes and I was able to earn revenue
from that and use that to fund the film. And
working with the team from the floor was really amazing
as well. They were so supportive, you know, they helped
me with and not only with the funding, but with
(49:11):
like the networking as well, and with just like the
platform was really amazing and it's just a shame that
they're no longer like again with the funding like they did,
they're no longer active. But it was amazing to get
that fund absolutely.
Speaker 2 (49:27):
I could imagine funding is amazing to get.
Speaker 1 (49:31):
That.
Speaker 2 (49:32):
The experience was a really nice one as well. And lastly,
what's the project you're most proud of? And why?
Speaker 1 (49:42):
Oh? Most proud of? Oh do you know I will
have to say, give me your phone, okay, that would
be the project and most proud of back it's and
there's other things that I've done that it's out there,
you know, stuff that I've done for Discovery and for
CEA BC and for Channel five. But give Me Your
Phone is mine, you know, and there's full ownership there.
(50:08):
And I was able to bring it from inception to delivery.
So it's now streaming on Mansa as well. And I
was able to do that through my network and through
my friends and through my filmmaking partners, and we will
to get that out to where it is. It's great
(50:30):
to have great and the names like you know, the
big names like CNBC and Discovery and Channel five, and
that's amazing. But I'm creating story like I'm an employee,
whereas with these with give Me Your Phone, I was
the you know, it was my baby basic, you know.
(50:53):
So I came up with this idea. It was actually
not even like a happy stories. I was. I was
mugged Camden. Yeah, so that was that's where that story
came from. And I was just thinking about, oh, this
is so annoying. Why did I get mugged? Why did
this happen to me? And I thought about it and
(51:14):
I realized it happened to you because you're the person
that can handle it because you can. I replaced my
phone within a week, right, and I realized, how privileged
are you? Like You've even upgraded your phone, Like you're fine.
And so that got me thinking about the dynamics of
privilege and being a victim, you know, because I did
(51:40):
fit I'm a victim of the muggin and this is
not fair. But at the same time, I was like,
the person that mugged me, they they probably that's probably
not their first choice of what to have done that day.
They probably did that for survival. I mean, you know,
I was trying not to. I was trying to cheer
myself up. And so I wrote the screenplay and I
(52:04):
showed it to my friends and my filmmaking partners, and
I said, I think this has got something. I know.
We started to approach different companies, you know, offices, Can
we film in your offices? I approached architectural firms so
that I can get you know, because I wanted my
protagonist to be an architect, like that was his job,
(52:28):
so I needed to learn about that as well. And
it was just great to be able to have ownership
of this thing that was mine and bring it to
life with the help of my network. So that's what
I'm the most proud of, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (52:43):
And so you should be. That sounds amazing and I
love the way you turn the negative into a positive. Yeah,
sometimes that can be hard to do, but I think
you've done that in a fantastic way and the results
of it all really mean that you did an incredible
job there with the film and everything.
Speaker 1 (53:00):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (53:01):
It's been such a pleasure speaking to you.
Speaker 1 (53:04):
Thank you so much, Doom, and I'm so pleased that
you've asked me to be on your podcast. I feel
very honored.
Speaker 2 (53:10):
I'm wanted to have you on and it's people like
you that make the podcast, so thanks so much for
coming on and sharing your workflow, your tips, your experience,
your short film, and all the things that you do.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (53:22):
Thank you.
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