Produced By - #10 - Andrei Botez Chitic: Achieving Mastery in Editing From a Young Age

Starting point is 00:00:03 Andre Boteschich is a London-based edit assistant at a picture shop, an award-winning post-production house, with years of experience in editing. Coming from Romania, Yark Andrei moved to London with his family, seeking a better life. After overcoming multiple difficulties, they settled and Andre has been living in London since then. Growing up, he faced multiple obstacles at school, but those didn't deter him from pursuing his passion for art. Studing film at university in London, he focused on improving his editing skills and edited two finally short films. Despite the global pandemic that impacted his entry into the industry, he managed to run the job in an editing house where he became a proficient edit assistant.

Starting point is 00:00:49 After that, he joined his current position where he sees his career progressing and continues helping others with editing. Listen to this episode to get inspired by Andre's struggles while growing up. Here how we edited to finally year university projects on a tight schedule and learn some terminology behind editing. Enjoy. Hello, Andre. Welcome to the show and thank you for joining us today. Yeah, thank you for having. Can you please try to introduce yourself for the beginning?

Starting point is 00:01:22 Yeah, sure. Well, my name is Andre. I'm 24 years old, living in London, aren't we? I am from Romania originally and I'm not here when I was here when I was. was 12th, but I was looking prior when I was 10 years old and then I left back to Romania and come back when I was 12 and I lived in London since then and I'm not looking to go back anytime soon. Not looking now. I think I'm happy here in this country and the opportunities it gives you compared to Romania where I felt a bit put to the side. Whereas here I think my qualities in general just got discovered.

Starting point is 00:02:03 you know so I feel like I want to give to this country what they gave to me basically out of curiosity were from capital city in romania no i'm miles further further away close to moldova it's a very small city it's called was late not many people know about it but it's very close by the end of the Romanian and Moldovian border I'm half romanic i can say that and I'm half moving in something unique i think i've never met anyone from moldovia I know that you're not from there but not even half yeah yeah very close to it you can drive there like it takes an hour an hour and a half you can go to Moldova so yeah I'm very close so why did you move to london in the first place well first instance it was my parents that wanted to just give themselves and

Starting point is 00:02:52 myself and my brother a better life and it kind of didn't work out for the first day when I came here at 10 he just didn't we stayed here for a year that things were crumbling and my dad decided to go back. And so, like, we went back to Romania, studied for, like, two new years. And then my dad decided, you know what, we can't do anything in this country. There's no opportunity as other for himself,

Starting point is 00:03:18 for my mom, myself, or my brother. And then he decided, let's all move back to the UKETI, to London. So we moved back the first few years were a bit hard because, I mean, I speak for myself, not for my family, above, myself because I had to go to school when it started in year nine. My English, even back then when I was 10 years old, wasn't very good. I was just getting there, grass a bit.

Starting point is 00:03:43 When I came here again, again, it wasn't very good. It was hard to communicate with the people, like with the kids. And most kids, you know, like at 12 years old, they'll make fun of me because that's kids there, you know. Make fun of your accent, make fun that you can speak English. You'd make fun of all. I was also like very skin and insecure and shy. Yeah, I was being bullied and stuff, so it was hard for the first few years. I kind of wanted to go back to Romania because of that.

Starting point is 00:04:14 Well, you know, as I grew up, my English improved quite a lot. I had teachers to help me out. I made some friends, some close friends that I'm able to even talk to this day. They also helped me improve my English, went to college, uni, all the stuff had jobs. And that contributed in my life. development. I became very shy. I became more confident in speaking. You know, just overcame all the issues I had in the beginning. Yeah, I am where I am now just because I think I also wanted to change and, you know, I also have the help. It came at some point after the last few years.

Starting point is 00:04:50 Yeah. And now there's quite a few people from Romania in London, right? Or at least, yeah, it's my impression. Yeah, there are. There's good Romanians, bad Romanians. UK is like one of those places where Romanians get to Kong. UK and I think Italy are like the main countries that Romanians go to. Is there a specific reason? Italy is because Italian kind of sounds similar to Romania and it's easier to learn than English and most Romanians like decide to go there. Whereas with UK, obviously English, I wouldn't say it's like the hardest language to learn.

Starting point is 00:05:26 But again, gives you opportunities. You know, if you have a cousin that's really, here you tend to bring your other family members yeah I know if you have other friends and family members you bring them as well it's like a tendency like that yeah I think it's many the opportunities that this country is also I feel like I noticed that both when I meet someone and they say they're from Romania or often see like shops Romanian you know you've got like these stores with yeah yeah yeah often says Romania so it's yeah yeah like it's very known that

Starting point is 00:05:59 Romanians like like this country and like I said there's good Romanians but you know it's lovely to find those Romanians in UK yeah there's also the bad remains like sometimes I would be up on the street and I will see them like screaming and shouting and I just feel ashamed when I see that but you know I tend to like not align myself for those things you know I tend to look at being good positives about Romanians yeah about I have to say that it's probably about all the nationalities that you find both good. Yeah, yeah, it's not specific to Romanians. I think because there were like

Starting point is 00:06:35 some documentaries on Channel Formate, I think it was called the Romanians in the UK where Romanians are coming off by the name of it. And it was like a four-episode show about Romanians in the UK. We were very televised. Kind of about it, yeah. And

Starting point is 00:06:48 it showed some Romanians that were doing good things, but mostly were like Romanian nostalgia and bad things. The way they're bag on the streets, the way they were sleeping being on the streets, they were stealing and stuff. You know, sometimes it sounds me that we have to be portrayed in such a way. But, you know, there's other people that still think that Romania still do get faith in the world.

Starting point is 00:07:11 Yeah, of course. Yeah. So how was it with your education? You studied film, right? So how did you get there? Yeah, I have to go back to my time in Romania. That's why I obviously went to school first. Romania, there's such structure that you just do the basic subject, like that's Romanian,

Starting point is 00:07:32 so many years, some French, science and stuff. But there's nothing really that created by the subject aside from art. Only, like, subject I used to life was actually art, just drawing stuff. I just thought it was fun. It wasn't anything like mathematics where you had to, like, hard to multiply, you know. It wasn't like English where you had to write or rigs and Romanian, you know. all those like subjects. But yeah, like in Romania,

Starting point is 00:07:59 they never teach this type of artistic subjects aside for marks so that, you know, just start like drawing stuff. That's the only thing. Yeah, you're doing. And then I came to the UK the first time and second time. Obviously in schools here, you do more art to stuff. You do play with Lego.

Starting point is 00:08:19 You know how to make proper stuff from Lego. So you use the, I don't know how it's called the Play-Doh thing as well, to make characters. Yes, I know. Yeah. Yeah. And many, many other stops. Like, they give you a computer in school to play with softwares like a movie, Premier Pro, you know, stuff like this. But I never kind of done, like, anything to do with film in school, per se.

Starting point is 00:08:46 I've done everything that has to do with film in my own time. Even when I came the second time in London, I went to schooling in year 9, and then I finished year 11. I've only done a serious subject like business or heart and social care, not seeing a science, those type of subjects. And then I went to college and I pursued to do business instead of for a creative subject. And that was mainly due to my parents. I think it wasn't primarily that I liked business. In fact, I actually didn't enjoy.

Starting point is 00:09:19 very much and then it was my time to apply for uni so well I was having this argument to it one of my friends I kept telling her how I like to do YouTube videos because I was doing in my spare time somewhere please YouTube videos quite bad ones what was it about at first it was about me making to know how to describe it was like this type of videos like where I don't put in ice cream on your face or something. Something like that, yeah. I would do gaming videos.

Starting point is 00:09:53 I would record myself playing FIFA and reacting to my game coming stuff. It was quite cringe, you know. It actually wasn't. It wasn't built online. No, it's on private. I keep up and go back and watch and see where I started, where I'm out. But then I do watch them sometimes where I feel in a bad meeting. I see, you know, I look at them and say, okay, this is where I started.

Starting point is 00:10:18 this is where I'm now and that kind of motivates me to be moving forward. When I kind of show them to people when I'm a bit drunk, it has two people the best to make YouTube videos of stuff, and they are quite bad, so I show them with those times, and people tend to laugh. And I don't mind. I know they are bad, and I say it's bad. Did you nothing audio?

Starting point is 00:10:38 Yes, I had an audience, a small one, but I had one instance or two instances where I had people recognizing me on the street and my channel wasn't big. It was like 200 subscribers. There was 100 something subscribers. So like two people are saying hi to me on the street was like, what? Really? Although like my content was quite bad.

Starting point is 00:10:59 Yeah, you know, it was something. And yeah, I was arguing with my friend. I said to her like, that's what makes me happy to create videos to edits, primarily editing and not necessarily filming. I said, oh, my parents want me to go to you and with business a business subject. But yeah, I wasn't really happy about it. And she kind of opened my eyes and she kind of drove me to apply for doing BA film at the Middle Sex University. Yeah, I got to uni.

Starting point is 00:11:28 I was a bit anxious. I wasn't going to get into it because I think the first requirement was for me to write to talk about film in a work document and explains and stuff. And I've never done that before. I just wrote what I thought was needed and I submitted. the war document and yeah in the end I got into the uni and I think my uni years gave me a little top start I used even now even today and was there a specific reason why we chose middle sex to be honest yes and no like I chose middle sex university and I also chose lono south bank both

Starting point is 00:12:07 came to me finally enough I only went to the open day for middle six university out of the two, not because I couldn't be bothered to go to the other one. It just I wasn't able to. But then I came to the Middlesex on the opening day and I remember seeing the lectures, how they presented the course and stuff. And I saw some people that also were there. I really liked the environment. I felt like I was home.

Starting point is 00:12:33 I felt like this is where I belong. Keeping in mind when I was in college and doing business, I barely felt like home because I was the youngest guy in my course in business. I was 16 and people were like 20-something years old. And they were treating me like a kid and, you know, we didn't really have stuff to talk about. So I felt that I didn't really belong in college where I was studying business. Whereas in middle sex, the first day I came,

Starting point is 00:12:58 I thought I can click with that person, no person when I'm still, I feel safe here. And that's what kind of made me choose middle sex, the worst thing else. Yeah. Yeah, so good. So how did you find studying at Middlesex? Yeah, it was good. I mean, when I applied to do film, of course, I didn't know what I was getting myself into.

Starting point is 00:13:20 The only thing I knew, and that's the only thought that stated me until the end, was that I want to focus on anything. So you knew already when you joined? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, there were people in the first that were like, you know, I kind of wanted to do editing, but I might want to try directing, I want to try producing, I want to try something else, you know. Two hours. Whereas with me, I kind of knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to focus on editing, but nothing else. I kind of knew how to use like softwares to a basic level and stuff, but I wanted to get to know even more.

Starting point is 00:13:56 And for me, you know, learning cameras was useful, you know, but wasn't my main focus per se. And even until today, I don't think I'm a good camera operator or a good Bloomberg operator, you know, roles that you have in the film and TV industry. But I think I'm confident when it comes to like using the editing software, editing in general. Yeah, it sounds good to me that you knew from the first year. So you could focus on it for the whole three years and at the end of third year, you'll probably proper skill. Whereas some people, if you don't know in the first year, you don't know even in the second one,

Starting point is 00:14:34 then you kind of have only the last year to develop those skills on the row that you want to develop. Yeah, exactly. You know, like the first software that I ever learned to editing was Comatasia Studio. It's like the software that you record your screen on computers. They also has integrated like some editing futures. Then after that, when I came to Middlesex in my first year, I learned Final Cut Pro and started editing on that for the first part of my first year. And then I've seen that many people use Premiere Pro as a standard in meaning. So yeah, I decided to stick with that until the third year and get more competent in Premier Pro.

Starting point is 00:15:16 And then alongside it, I decided to also learn a bit of After Effects, a bit of Photoshop, a bit of DaVinci. That's the thing. I like learning new software and I like to know a bit of everything. Obviously, I'm not perfect maybe at Vinci or After Effects. But as long as I know the basics, I can get my way around. And if anything, I can always research more and improve more. those softwares. It's about your creativity, I think at one of the day. So what in your opinion is the best software for editing?

Starting point is 00:15:47 At the moment because my work revolves around AvidMina Composer, I'm saying that's the software that I enjoyed the most. It wasn't the case when I was in uni. I really hated out of yeah. Yeah. I know I never really knew how to use it and I didn't really like it. Yeah, you know, like when you see it for the first time, it's not very intuitive. You know, coming from Premiere Pro to Avid, it's like, ah, really?

Starting point is 00:16:16 It's not very good. But, you know, being at work and I was forced to use Avid otherwise, I wouldn't have the work I have now. I seen the good cells of Avid compared to the bad sides. You know, I say it's a good software compared to the others because, one, you know, if it's running quite slow, you can do certain things to it to make you run fast. You have to be quite technical to do that, but you know, it's possible to do it. I think it's easier to edit, like the workflow that Avid has, it's a lot more easier than, let's say, Premier Pro. Yes, Premier Pro gives you a bit more freedom in certain areas, but in Avid, you can stay more organized and it's better for things like creating films.

Starting point is 00:16:58 Not as much as YouTube, really. For YouTube videos, I would still prefer Premier Pro, although the YouTube channel that I have now. I'm using avid because I want to get more confident with editing avid. But yeah, you know, sometimes with the software, it also depends on why you can use it for. Like I said, a minute ago, I would use it for proper stuff, film, TV shows, whereas Prammer Pro for YouTube, social media, and after effects, you can use it for both instances to be a nasty creating effects and motion graphics. So yeah.

Starting point is 00:17:33 And I guess it's a bit like Adobe in that films that it has. has also other types of software, so it's like, you know, easier to work between those? Or how does it work? As far as I know, they only have, well, Pro Tools, they might have something else, but I can remember, but Pro Tools is like the audio software. Oh, yeah, I remember that one from Inumvircentia. So, like, especially at work, like, let's say we have, like, a TV show that needs to go into the audio department you're going to create some, we call it finishing.

Starting point is 00:18:04 We do certain elements, files, creating AIFs, which then go to the audio people. And that transition is quite easy because the AIAD you create an AVID is instantly going to be known by Pro Tools, I think effects, transition, and stuff. So yeah, it's quite good in that sense.

Starting point is 00:18:22 There's also a good workflow between Avid and DaVinci Resolve. You can also go that round and transfer sequence from AVID to DaVinci and back and forth. When you want to edit or maybe there's some color, do some conform, like bringing in the picture of art is the original, or Syngian style.

Starting point is 00:18:41 Is Da Vinci the one from Black Magic? Yes, it is the free. There's a free version, Da Vinci, which pretty much allows everything you basically need. You know, for more heavy stuff like TV or film production, I want to use the paid version. They have better tools in the paid version. But, you know, the free version is already as powerful. for someone at home that's rather very good sort of.

Starting point is 00:19:06 And if I'm not wrong, it's final cut from Apple. Final cut, yeah, is from Apple. You pay just once, I think, nearly 200 pounds, which is obviously expensive, but you have it forever. And yeah, that's yours.

Starting point is 00:19:20 Obviously, Premier Pro and Master Effects are made by and Wally, which is, I think, the most popular out of the bunch for, like, people in general. But you pay, like, each year don't you? For Adobe? Yes. Yeah, yeah. I think they have different type of subscriptions

Starting point is 00:19:37 which is good, especially for students. You have to pay them off you, first of all. They might have like one payment for a year and then you use it for the app and you renew it again and again. But they have this deal with students where students pay, I think, 16 pounds a month and they get all the softwares. And if you're a student for three, four, five years

Starting point is 00:19:57 and you're actually getting the most out of the softwares, then I think it's worth it. And that's what I've done when I was in uni. I paid 16 pounds per month from all the software and tried to get to know the most out of them. In my spare time, even a teeny, even when doing the projects I was doing and stuff.

Starting point is 00:20:16 Yeah, I remember that at the unit was great that one thing is that you had this software and also I felt that they had great equipment, like great Macs and, you know, the machines there. It was really good. Yeah, yeah, I remember when I got introduced into those editing suites. It was something that was new.

Starting point is 00:20:36 I was like, wow. It feels like, I'm in an actual production. I used to take a lot of pictures like, I look at me, this other sweets and stuff. It was fun, very enjoyable. Yeah, I never got to use the grading suite, though, because I'm not too much into grading, but I've seen it.

Starting point is 00:20:53 I know my other colleagues that were into grading use it a lot, and they can get you quite good results if you know what you're doing. And at work I have those panels as well that I've seen I have this legendary colorist Heidel Ferrell his name is working in your company working in my company yeah he's been I think a Baxter eliminated in the winner as well hey Del Ferrell yeah and I've seen how he works he's like a DJ like how he uses the panels now just he's very fast at working I need to have a look I haven't heard of it yeah yeah he's been working on some projects I can't remember now but

Starting point is 00:21:29 He's quite a big guy in the industry. There's many clients that come to your company just because of them. I was wondering if there was like someone who wanted to become editor, what software would you recommend to beginner? For a beginner, to be honest, you can use any software. You know, there's so many softwa that I do even know the names. For myself, it was Kamatasia. And when I said to people, wow, using Kamatiaa, they were like, what's that?

Starting point is 00:21:58 I thought that was thinking the same. I've never heard of it. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, there's a lot. There's a lot of songs that you can use anything you feel comfortable with. But, you know, if you want something that it's easy and you don't want to search too much about it. You can use the Venture Zoh because it's free. It gives you all the tools you need to create good edits, to give good color to edit,

Starting point is 00:22:21 to even work with sound. And do some VFX as well. It has a very powerful VFX system, integrating and the digital. DaVinci. And you can use Premier Pro. You can pay for it or, you know, I come from a country where you pirate a lot of software, which is not ideal, but, you know, like, if you want to learn something, I'm always for okay, pirated, but when you get to a point where you can afford to pay for it, because there's a lot of poor people out there that can't afford to pay. So, you know, you kind of have to understand that aspect of life. But yeah, Premier Pro, DaVinci, any software that you have already,

Starting point is 00:22:56 just get comfortable cutting. It's not really about the software usually, it's more about your ideas, your creativity. So as long as you have that needed to be placed in software, just something like you learn, really. Yeah, I think it's a good advice. I agree with that. When you were at university,

Starting point is 00:23:13 what was the final project of your uni? Was it editing some short film in the end? Yes, I don't know if I'm the only one or not, but I've edited two films in my life. year and it was a challenge. Both films were different in style, very different. Was it because there was a shortage or because you are so good that they people wanted to work with you or what was there isn't? I'll come back to the shortage and said to me being good or not ever. I wanted to do it first of all because like I said before my main focus was editing so like I

Starting point is 00:23:52 I didn't want to be a DOP and mess someone else's project because my showmink wasn't good. I didn't want to do sound and mess up the sound because I didn't think it wasn't interested in it. I just wanted to do something that I knew I liked. I knew that I could do well to a degree of people would be happy with me in their team. That's the thing. An editor needs to be good at managing time on the projects. I do think that third year was very well-organized for Warsaw. So one project was an experimental film made with me and another colleague of mine, Maxine.

Starting point is 00:24:28 The name was a film that we've done with just stock footage with stock archive footage from the online. With unloaded stuff that we can use copyright free. Then we basically made film about synchronicity and how things fall into place. Nothing is by chance. Everything is meant to be how it is. And that film was a success new for not as a university project because it was very, you know, the course we were doing wasn't very best when my experimental was more based on like doing the films that you can watch at the cinema. You know, this experimental film was something more like a piece of art that you'd have in like museum.

Starting point is 00:25:11 That's it, you know. But it was a success like people really liked it even in uni, but where the success came from was all the festivals. He went to Bethlehem. He didn't want anything, but the fact that he was selected war. And he went to another festival, which I forgot exactly where. But I know he went to two festivals. He was showcased there. And then he was showcased at an exhibition in London as well, like one or two years ago, which was also good.

Starting point is 00:25:38 And this film was inspired by this guy called Cardhune. Just a quick one. If you enjoy our podcast, please give us a review on your favorite. podcast app, subscribe or share it with your friends. For more information, visit the show notes. Thank you, and back to the show. There was this other guy, filmmaker. I forgot his name entirely.

Starting point is 00:26:00 I think he was Polish, that my director got into contact with and basically sent him the film. He's a very big filmmaker in this experimental title filmmaking. And this guy replied to him and they gave his praise about the film. You know, I felt proud of it.

Starting point is 00:26:17 the same for the director of Maxine or we're proud of it. So yeah, it's there. That's one work that will show to people. I feel proud of my work. I'm really proud of what we achieved. And out of curiosity, why did you decide for experimental film? Yeah, I'm not a guy that usually is associated with experimental. He was out of my comfort zone and still is.

Starting point is 00:26:41 But that was the main reason. Like when Maxim came to me and approached me and told me the idea about it. I do kind of believe in the spiritual things that are things happen for the synchronicity in our stuff. The fact that, you know, I'm doing this podcast now was meant to happen. It's just I wanted to do something that I've never done before. And it was obviously a challenge, like getting like hundreds and hundreds of archive footage, black and white archive from the online and making something out of me to make sense. It was obviously no easy.

Starting point is 00:27:13 And the first part of the earlier was me spending time in the editing suite. with Maxine, cutting out this film. And we only finished it, I think. So we started, I think, in November 2018. And I think we finished with filming April, I want to say, 2019. We obviously spent a few months working on it and trying new things and cutting up bits, putting up bits and stuff.

Starting point is 00:27:39 And, yeah, I'm really proud of what we both achieved. It's also like, help me connect more with this Maxim guy. We're very prox friends. And how long was it in the end? Was it 10 minutes, 20 minutes? 15 minutes, experimental film or archive footage. How hard was it to find enough of footage that you can use for free? You know, it wasn't really hard finding the footage.

Starting point is 00:28:04 But one of our lecturers gave us a website. You can download archive. That's free to use. The hard bit was what to download and what to include. Not everything would download it was included in the... I have my hard drive and if I were to look for it, I have hundreds and hundreds of archives, hundreds of hours to look at that me and Maxime were there looking out. And we tried bits and peace. We was like, okay, look, you know, this, can go with this and less and that.

Starting point is 00:28:31 And we experimented. That's why it's called an experimental film. We tried from big pieces. And that film, me and Maxim always said we can work on that film forever, and we can still find new meanings there. We decided to steal because we had to see it. Yeah. We go to a state where we were both happy. Yep, that sounds interesting and good project, yeah. How was the second one? Yeah, the second one.

Starting point is 00:28:55 So I think I had myself one week break from finishing my first film to going to the next. When my second film was more like a drug comedy, very different than experimental film. The film was called Frog in a Glass Horse. I was, uh... Yeah, I remember it too. Yeah, I think you were funny. I was there one day helping build a set

Starting point is 00:29:19 Right It was like just a little work But I remember like people Speaking about it because It had quite a big budget and interesting It did It was a big project And I didn't want to

Starting point is 00:29:30 disappoint the people You know the director And producer And the whole thing Like you know There was a lot of work put into it A lot of planning A lot of people opened with the set

Starting point is 00:29:40 Design of the actors It was a project that you know I felt the pressure of you know, I wanted to have something good to show. But I think it was budgeted by this chef as well, which was quite big as well. So yeah, I went into seeing the rush phase and stuff. Me and this guy, Ewan, edited the film together, the day in, day out. And until we got to, to be honest, we had to show the film at the BFR at some point,

Starting point is 00:30:07 and the film still wasn't finished. It was so big. I think you got finished after we finished uni. when you go finish I wasn't working for it anymore because I had to do other things but I know you understand and finish the rest but yeah it was like a collaboration of it there I think I went to the second half you know it to the first half there was a lot of the effects included into that and that was like the most challenging thing really yeah like did you do VFX or who did it both both of us we did the effects but yeah was a combination

Starting point is 00:30:40 Like I remember there was an instance where You know on set you couldn't break the windows on the door The glass you know So you had to add that into like the post-production into VFX That I never done it before And I remember I stayed for like a day A day and a bit to figure out how I'm going to do this Because I've never done it before

Starting point is 00:31:01 I had to add tray paint on the walls I had to make you look like the place is devastated Where the place was actually not So I had to like experiment a lot with effects and look a lot on the tutorials on YouTube and ask some help from you and stuff and you know but in the end we got to you a product that we got ourselves there was a lot of VFX that went into that I even pinpoint there's probably points in that film that I can't even pinpoint what the effects don't know so some VFX looks like well

Starting point is 00:31:34 it was there and some is like it's nice we can see it's there but it's nicely long but it was a a very challenging project. And I remember the day before our deadline, I was very sick. I couldn't get to bed, but I remember I had finished the film, and I couldn't let you and deal all the war by himself and do Saturday. So I remember, like, I just dragged myself out of bed. I came to uni in the editing suites, and I started editing the last bits of the film,

Starting point is 00:32:02 or like the polishing bits. And then we submitted it at like 11 o'clock, I think I'd know it. And both day, everyone was happy. I was dead, like I was proper dead, but it was, you know, it was worth it, I think, even though the film wasn't finished. I tested until, like, I still, until, like, a few months after now, but I'm still proud with it. Did you also go to festivals with that film?

Starting point is 00:32:25 I think that film didn't go too many festivals. I think you got selected to get showcased at the BFI, which won, I believe, the design award and best directing and producing award, which was still, like, you know, it's true. like for pros for the team stuff. I can't lie, I kind of wanted the film to win anything as well, but it wasn't possible. They were probably other films. They're not the people for the better related.

Starting point is 00:32:52 You know, as long as the film still won some awards, I'm still happy for my contribution. Because I remember when they were working on it, and the production value was like per upper big, even all the props, they built a set, the way people spoke about it, the budget and everything, it was like, wow, this is big. Like Max, the producer, he told me that he woke up every night, like three in the morning

Starting point is 00:33:17 and go. And I went to Tesco to ask the bus for like boxes. I think he's down that for a week that he got a lot of boxes. We're used to help build the set. You well, you know, there's a lot of effort put into it by everyone. So, you know, when I was sick, I didn't want to stay in that, you know, I feel sick at all the end of the end. I felt like a hat to, you know.

Starting point is 00:33:37 Yeah. Sounds like a tough but a good experience. It was, it was very good experience. I always like kind of think about it. I want to go back and really need those experiences. Sometimes I think that I didn't live in the moment, you know. And it's after you finish in it, I think, you know, that was actually fun. I would like to do that again.

Starting point is 00:33:58 Yeah. And before we move from topic of university, can you maybe share some tips to people who are studying, or want to study how to you know take advantage of that or how to benefit from university as much as they can well you know so me going from college doing business to union doing film my parents were not happy many people probably feel like they need to satisfy their parents rather than themselves which don't think that should be the case you should do whatever makes you happy so yeah do that when you get into

Starting point is 00:34:33 uni I think it's important I might probably have done that enough myself I'll always the importance of that to socialize with people, like to get to know more people, get your connections, because that colleague of yours that you think it's not cool might be one of those people that will go far into the industry and because you haven't been his friend or you haven't tried to be his friend or you won't get far. So it's important to have connections and even with the people in your year with people below you as well. I think it's important because, you know, like if someone's below you doesn't mean he's less competent. The same goes with someone's a bargain.

Starting point is 00:35:10 Everyone's like around the same age groups. It doesn't matter. So you get to know those people as well, see their interests, get to do projects together and start. I socialize. So Saras, I think is the most important part of going to any. Obviously, don't like mess about and mess up your year and not go to the next. Yeah, enjoy cheer with those long work with your peers, with your friends,

Starting point is 00:35:34 or turquilees, make the most out of it. It helps you later on your lap. That's my main tip. As with the lectures, when I went to uni, I didn't really know, like, terminology. You didn't know what the DOP was. They didn't know many other parts that you could do in filmmaking slash degree. The uni gives you those terminologies, gives you that knowledge of what's film set like, what's the team is set like, what's expected of you, what's not expecting of you. They're going to give you qualities that you need in the future, you know, to be outspoken, to be in you reliable, stuff like that. this, you know. I think it helps you way into those aspects.

Starting point is 00:36:10 Yeah, I can only agree. Great points. So how did you start planning your way into the industry? When you started thinking, how did you approach it, how it went? Yeah, for me, getting into the industry was a bit tough at the beginning. I remember I had, and that's maybe because of the COVID situation. Oh, yeah. It was out of my control and I was really frustrated meeting the point. where I got really, not really sick, but I got sick because of the stress on me. I saw my other peers that because they were slightly more advantages than me, got into the industry before COVID and thus, you know, after COVID slightly finished,

Starting point is 00:36:50 they could get back into it, whereas I didn't even have experience of how can I, you know, people are a bit more restraints of who they were going to hire. They were going to hire someone. They would hire someone they worked with before. So you did they have a job before the COVID or COVID kind of happened? happened when you started looking for a job? Yeah, so what happened? I finished uni. I was already having a job.

Starting point is 00:37:12 I was working for Samsung, like promoting their phones and stuff, which was a good job. I really liked it to a certain point and then it didn't. And when I was working at Samsung, I was pushing to get into the advertisement side of something, like to create the production as well, to create the videos. And I tried, like I put myself out there many times, tried to try to. to be the best worker I can be so I can go into that other role and stuff. You go to the point where I got interview in 2019 by the end of the year, you know, well, I interviewed for that role to become a video editor or something.

Starting point is 00:37:53 And I didn't get that role. Unfortunately, that made me a bit sad because I was already wanting it. I'm doing a lot of work in my current role as well to make it happen or do deserve it. It didn't happen. 2020 came around. So new year, new opportunities. And then at the beginning of the year, obviously, COVID hit. So I was put off a furlough at Samsung, but I didn't work for a few months. And then they let me go in the summertime, I think in June. So I was like in the heart swing, you know, I didn't have a job in the industry. I didn't have a job at all. It was like after

Starting point is 00:38:26 COVID. So, you know, I felt a bit desperate. Samsung was advertising another position for e-promoter. So promoting phones on the Samsung website, which applied for that and got it. So I got a job at least so I can sustain myself. In the meantime, I was also like searching for jobs that I could do in the industry, like post-production runner mainly. Fair to say no one would hire around that time. It was out of my control. I couldn't really change the fact that they wouldn't hire.

Starting point is 00:38:57 And I didn't really want to get into the production side of things. Even there, people wouldn't hire. I wasn't like dedicated to the production side so I didn't want to do something I didn't really like. So yeah, I was continuing to do my Samsung job and by the same time I was starting to have few projects there and then like film that I did the color of then there was like this podcast I worked for PressPose Network.

Starting point is 00:39:21 They got a podcast called Donge Offended so I've edited for that few episodes which was fun just to keep myself going and just to be able to something in the meantime. But yeah, there were points where I was doing the something job, especially over the second lockdown that made me very depressed and I go like some skin problems like on my arms because of the stress. So I had to like see doctors and GPS use creams and medicines to recover. But you know, with the help of my partner at the time, which was very helpful to find me a job in the industry. She was looking for jobs at the same time as me. And I

Starting point is 00:40:01 got to a point where I applied for post-production runner jobs after the second lockdown, as well as one job that definitely made me go into the industry. So one day I was at the gym. While I was resting after my sets, I was on LinkedIn and I saw this post-production company called Clearcut Productions. They advertise a job for edit assistant, junior editor assistant. I had no idea what the title was about. I just It was like, you need to know this, this and that. And fair to say, I didn't know anything. I said, ah, let me apply. What's the word?

Starting point is 00:40:38 I think a week later, I go call out. You only come to an interview with us. I was like, yeah, let's do it. So I went to the interview, and in the interview, they asked me all these questions that I had no idea about. And either had to lie and say something that I didn't know, or had to be honest and say, look, I don't really know why you're talking about. So I chose the honesty way.

Starting point is 00:41:00 And I was honest, I didn't know what this meant, this meant. I made some research about production itself. I knew what year they were established. I knew what projects they were doing stuff like this, you know. But when it came to the more technical side of the job, they really didn't know anything. But I think they really liked me because I was honest. I think that's what got me the job in the first place.

Starting point is 00:41:23 And I think they liked the fact that although I didn't know the technical answers to their questions, I made my research about the company, and that's really important for someone that's applying in the industry to do your research. If you don't know something about a company, then how are you going to expect to get into that company? Those companies want you to kiss them in a sense, you know? They want you to flatter them, you know? That's what kind of done, like I've told them what they wanted to hear. The technical side can always be learned, you know? So, like, after that, I finished interview, went home, was a bit anxious for the next few days.

Starting point is 00:41:59 And then I go another call saying, can you come to like the second part in the interview? I was like, yeah, that is cool. I'll come. The second part was them showing me the place, like the building, which was already a good sign. Like, why would you be showing me the place? You know, you don't have a plan with me. And then the last bit was like they gave me like questions on the paper, two weeks. So I passed it.

Starting point is 00:42:22 And then at the end, they put me in front of an avid machine, like a computer. And it was like, they showed me, like, they showed me, like, they were doing and they wanted me to repeat what they were doing so they were if i can't remember but i've done it or you know remembered he was an unjust job ingest refers to like when you want to put media into the project you know transcode them to like a low resolution so i've done that they didn't say anything they obviously had to wait for a bit they send me home so thank you for coming next day i got a call i was actually doing my driving lessons i was driving so it's like a stressful period

Starting point is 00:42:59 Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was driving with my teacher and I said to him before the lessons told, I might expect a call from the job interview. Can I pick it? Can you take over the steering wheel if I received the call? So I was actually driving at the time when I could hear my phone ring and I was like, can you please take the steering wheel? I need to answer. So my instructor took the steering wheel. We parked me when I was on the phone. Founding quite funny. But yeah, I got the call. The guy was like, hello, hi, Andre. We really like to re-intervie. news and we like to ask you if you want to join the company. I obviously said yes and I hold my excitement on the phone like I didn't want to say yes yes I got the job I said oh thank you very much like you know and then when I go up the phone I was so excited and stuff and the instructor and driving instructed and see me out yeah that's how I go into the industry and then when I actually got into the job itself there was a lot of intense training about how to do a lot of stuff that I've never done before, especially that we had to use avid. Until that point, I've never used avid.

Starting point is 00:44:04 Was it working on a location or did you work from whom? At first, he was a mixed, so obviously for the training, he was on location, but it was still at that time where people were a bit afraid to come in to work on stuff. So it was me, this other guy that we trained together and our trainer were different trainers because we have different people. They train us in different aspects of what a junior edit assistant thus, like the basics, like the bread and butter of assistance, like ingesting the media, doing exports to different specifications that the clients would give you, doing the finishings to give to the audio department, whatever. Those are like the basic tasks that we kind of learn. We trained for a month and I remember I was doing a lot of mistakes and it felt like I didn't really get it.

Starting point is 00:44:54 It was so hard for me to get the graphs of things. And I kind of, you know, too depressed, but I saw like, I'm not good enough, although that wasn't the case. It just, I think I was expecting maybe too much of myself, but I was actually doing located. You know, there's people that can be worse. But me being me, I wanted to be perfect, which is not really possible at the beginning. By the time in that company went. So I go more experienced, I actually go selected to work on this project for Channel 4, called content season 6.

Starting point is 00:45:26 I was an editor-sixth and I gave me more. Basically helped me improve on my skills. Like I did ingest better, I did exports better, I did finishing better without any mistakes whatsoever. I could do multitasking better as well. You know, as an editor system,

Starting point is 00:45:43 you have to multitask. You have to do this and have to do that. Sometimes you feel like you're going to do four tasks at the same time with me to prioritize. Doing that project, you know, that helped me improve. Because I improved, that got me to my second job,

Starting point is 00:45:57 which is a big post-production company. Now I work for Picture Shop, also known as the Farm Group before, but they rebranded. And how it started doing, I was still working on clear-cutt. And a guide from the company, Messaged Mal LinkedIn,

Starting point is 00:46:11 he was the head of operations. So he asked me, how do you want to join the company because I came across a profile and you seemed like a good fit for us. So I researched about a company. It's like top three post-production houses. in London. I had the interview with them. I applied for a job, but I interviewed with them.

Starting point is 00:46:27 Obviously felt anxious like any interview. But the interview itself this time wasn't very very technical. It was more about personal when they were in the issues. Because I was expecting for them to ask me how do you do this, how do you do this, how do you do that? But they had no questions about it. They asked me about me, my hobbies, how do I do at work while I like, but I don't like stuff like this. And I eventually got the joke and I felt very happy. I just felt very happy. I'm also sad for leaving Clearcut because it was my first post-production company and they will always have a special place in my heart, but giving me the chance. Because before I was like even rejected for running position, Clearcut gave me an assistant

Starting point is 00:47:08 job, which is a ball over running. So, you know, I was sad in that aspect. But I was happy in the aspect that I can go to a bigger post-production house that has better workflows, as bigger clients. And in fact, we do have high profile shows that you're selling to. TV or online. I'm very, very happy for that. And how long you spent in that first company in the clear? In the clear cut, I spent around nine months.

Starting point is 00:47:33 So in nine months from zero to where I got, I think I did all very good progress. Then after nine months, now I'm in a picture shop for about a year and two months. And after working in Clearcut, did you have editing experience that you still didn't feel too confident or comfortable when you came to the second company? When he came to my second company, first of all, I had to adjust to the new workflows because different post-production houses have different ways of dealing with stuff. That was a challenge at first because although I knew how to do the basic stuff, I had to adopt the new way of doing, which was the tricky part.

Starting point is 00:48:09 Forget what I was doing before until we learn how to do it now. And although it's the same, it's also quite different. And I have taught me about four months to get used to it and to be like confident. You know, I don't need to ask for help. Because usually you can ask for help. There's people that expect you want to know everything. That's completely fine. You know, robots.

Starting point is 00:48:32 I was still asking questions. But after four months of past, I felt that I was okay at picture shop when I knew how to do stuff. And now, because I'm one year and two months into picture shop, I go to more of like a senior position. So right now, Mr. Dove, obviously I'm still asking for help when I don't know something involved. I go into that position.

Starting point is 00:48:52 where I take the leadership and I try to help people that have less experience. I try to be there for them. I try to be as hopeful as I can, really. I try to coordinate my team if I believe I'm the more senior person in the way and there's people that are less experience or try to manage the people as best as I can to make the workflow, basically. And do you use the same software in the both companies? Yeah, yeah, pretty much.

Starting point is 00:49:20 like every post-production component, I believe, pretty much the bread and butter would be avid media controller, the which result. Adobe encoder, you can convert clips, you know, there's maybe certain cases where you might want to convert clips. We barely use

Starting point is 00:49:36 Premier Pro for after a minute. Why is that? I thought it may be coincident, but it seems like that it's something that it's being used in industry, like in general. Yeah, like it tends to be avid, and I think that's because some it was like the main software that was used for mainstream TV and film and you know like if you have like old editors that I've been using one software for like years and years they wouldn't

Starting point is 00:49:59 want to go to Premier Pro yeah it may have yeah plus Premier Pro has this name attached to it indirectly that it's more for like you know YouTube on social media and stuff for all the films and TV shows where it's obviously can be done there's like I think that cool was editing in Premier Pro, you know. So, you know, there's some fields that are main in Premier Thrones stuff and even up here because I think we had a project that was made in Previd Pro, like 90% of the time it's avid that this cross-production companies would use and I think it's important. If the university gives you the opportunity to learn of it, I think you should take it. Don't be like me and then I want you to learn over.

Starting point is 00:50:42 Yeah, I used to wonder what software would like these big companies or studios that are working on these Hollywood projects work on and I think I read one somewhere that I would say Gonger from David Fincher that was edited on Premiere Pro but besides that I didn't really know so I know now yeah I just think it's because you know if you're used to something you're going to want to stick without something and that's like a tendency in human age and you want to stick to why you know obviously for me it's not the case because I'm not as old as other people in the industry so I have to adapt to the environment So yeah, you know, Avid is a standard.

Starting point is 00:51:20 And I don't think that's going to change any time soon. I think that's going to keep on growing. And Avid, the company itself, it's making the software better and better every year. Yeah, and I think also, like, these days you've got so many resources online, like when it comes to YouTube tutorials or some courses that you can basically learn anything. It's just about you. Exactly. Even on YouTube, like, there's not as many stuff on YouTube, but there's still our thoughts.

Starting point is 00:51:46 Like even Avid themselves, how their channel will meet you where they give you tips and tricks on how to you navigate through Media Composer. So that in itself, it's a good starting point. Obviously, if you want to go there out on buying a course, it's even better because you think how structure. But, you know, the software can always be learned. Ivo free courses out of the actual work like you're doing. And how's your level now with Avid? Do you feel like a pro? Yeah, so at the moment my level with Avid is more technical where I wouldn't create. That's why for my YouTube channel I want to edit more of it.

Starting point is 00:52:19 But in terms of technicality with COVID, I think I'm in a point where I kind of know of it to a good, excellent degree. One out to navigate it. If something goes wrong with it, I know what to look out for. There's some of it works like something wouldn't work because maybe this application is open. You know, I just have to close that and make it work again. There's little bits and pieces like that that I run for experience. and me having me two years in the industry gave me that opportunity to have the experience

Starting point is 00:52:49 and all the experience in the room. You know what to look out for. I was stuck. Because that's my job, I have to deal with the clients, which always call us because their route might be slow. So, you know, we want to do some stops to make it faster.

Starting point is 00:53:02 I also have to work myself on it. Ingest, right now I'm doing some syncing and gripping of the footage. I'm also doing a bit of conform there and then. And, you know, to do those stuff, You need to be competent in Avid, its technicality mainly. But, you know, like learning, gripping and syncing and conforming

Starting point is 00:53:22 has kind of helped me use more of the editing tools of it all because, you know, when you get to use the cutting tool, you get to use the insert tool, you get to use the insert tool, those sorts of tools I use for editing. That was really helpful, yeah. I think we'll need a little introduction of the terms that we are mentioned in case there is someone who doesn't know this. Sure. I mean, you know, ingesting, like I said before, it's when you basically put media into avids. You link them in. It's not like Premier Pro. In Preypro, you link the media and you can start editing with them. Whereas I've got it, you link in the media,

Starting point is 00:54:02 right? But the media itself, let's say, it's a very high resolution and the computer itself might not be able to run no resolutions. So you basically want to create, what's called proxies, and we want to transcode the clips, and bring them to like a low resolution, like to a codec. Codec is like, it's hard to explain, but it's something in the middle of the clip that makes the software look at it and say that's easy to play, basically. So we transcode to something good that's playable by the software. Yeah, and then you have the other things. The exports, like self-explanatory, you basically do exports for the productions to see,

Starting point is 00:54:41 and you might be given a spec list. You need to do this frame size, this resolution, this Vitray. It's very technical, but something that can be very much. But vain, not hard at all. Whereas with finishing, it's a lot more complex where you have to create more elements. It has to be, depending on the company, six, seven elements you typically give to the audio department or local department to do their stuff to color or to do the audio, to fix the audio. audio and stuff. Grouping and syncing that's also quite self-rex contrary. You just basically

Starting point is 00:55:16 take the video source and the audio source and match them together. So you can obviously have the good sound of the boom mic synchronized with the actual video. And the quiniforming bit is in the more advanced task that someone would do about basically getting the low resolution sequence that the editor has been working on and basically bringing that back up to the high resolution so that image that you see interview that's basically the call from stage in a way you know it's a high picture there's more to it but that's yeah that's enough fun someone who doesn't know it's like yeah yeah like obviously when you get if people want to get into like net assist job is like you're going to start slowly slowly like you're going to do mailing you on task

Starting point is 00:56:02 and then as you go along and you have two three five years in the mainstream you feel comfortable doing everything and then you can multitask, you can do three or five tasks on the same time. It's always about the experience and the industry knows this, that you're sure at the junior level or training level, they don't expect you to know everything and I expect you to do everything well. So, at least it's that understandable. I was going to say because there are two minutes left before this call finishes, I would suggest if you agreed to finish for today and do second part at some point,

Starting point is 00:56:34 I feel like there is still stuff to talk about I still have questions and discuss more with editing your career and YouTube and other stuff Yeah for sure If you feel like you have something to talk about next Yeah definitely

Starting point is 00:56:49 Yeah for sure yeah There's a lot more about To have us experience like share with people that want to learn a lot Yeah sure sounds good Well it sounds good man I really enjoyed it Cool good thank you And thank you

Starting point is 00:57:01 And thank you man Thank you Bye bye-bye. Thank you for listening to Produce By. Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast app, leave a review or send us your feedback. For more information about the host, links from the episode and ways to connect with us, visit the show notes. If you know someone who would be an ideal guest for our podcast, please get in touch. Thank you and see you soon.

Produced By - #10 - Andrei Botez Chitic: Achieving Mastery in Editing From a Young Age

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