Jo Smyth - TV and Film editor (TALK)

Out of all of the people set in to do a talk, this was the one I was most looking forward to as it was someone who is working in the field I find most interesting and entertaining. This talk covered what it is like to be an editor, what could help you in getting yourself there and some insightful anecdotes of struggles during, not just the pandemic but, day to day working life.

One thing I took from this was something I heard the year prior in my Industry Projects module, this was that Premiere pro is great to know, but industry standard more often than not is Avid - especially in drama. This is important to know as if this a career path I wish to pursue than this should be something I look to do. Luckily enough there not completely different, the basics of editing are all the same! I also found it intriguing to hear the comments about the disputes she sometimes got into with the director, as I can imagine there are many differing opinions. But as I expected more often than not you would have to swallow the pill as the director has the final say. This is somewhat disheartening as it could prevent you from expressing your creative side, but by the sounds of it, it' possible to do other work for your own projects while being an editor.

The main thing to take form all of this was how you could find your way into working in this field. What I expected to hear was said, this being the need to network! The most reassuring thing said was that this field of work is not as exclusive as it is made out to be, which again is very reassuring. If you can get some work done, network and show you could be an asset to a team you could very much be called upon (from the networking) as you would be deemed a trusted editor to get the job envisioned done. 

Overall this was very beneficial more so due to it being very reassuring. She mentioned how you can change your mind with your career path, nothing has to be concrete and that even when you secure a few jobs it is very normal to have an impostor syndrome as if you are not meant to be there. I'll make sure to remember that if I ever do successfully venture down this career path!

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