WHNPA Contest

I learned a lot more at the WHNPA Contest than I actually expected to. I was expecting to sit inside an auditorium with dozens of other people just watching the videos and then finding out which videos won. But having the opportunity to sit with three editors, who discussed the positives and negatives of each video with each other and sometimes even stopped to explain it to us was a great opportunity.

Having very little experience with video production and editing, I didn’t really know what things like dissolves, nats or sequencing were, let alone notice them within the videos. But after hearing the judges comments on each video, I was beginning to understand what the judges liked, didn’t like and most importantly, that “you don’t really notice the editing when it’s seamless,” as one of the judges pointed out.

Overall, I found most of the stories fairly appealing. My favorite though, was a promo for a National Geographic show. It was unbelievably well put together. Not only was the video and editing great, but it really made me want to see the show when it comes out in April.

I definitely learned a lot at the contest and look forward to working with video, but I definitely still have a lot of questions on how exactly the process of editing a feature actually works. I also think that its much easier to see or hear a problem when it is being pointed out to you, and wonder how easily I will be able to pick up on these things with my own work.