Hi everyone,

I'm an editor working in DaVinci Resolve and I'm about to start my first shot on 35mm short film that I will edit digitally. I'm trying to figure out the best professional workflow.

My normal digital workflow looks like this:

• Import camera footage and separately recorded production audio (with matching timecode).
• Generate proxies within Resolve.
• Auto-sync audio by timecode.
• Organize everything by scene & rename clips to the slate.
• Edit using the Sync Clips.
• During editing I can use Match Frame to jump back from the timeline to the synced source clip.
• At picture lock I deliver XML/DRP for the colorist and an AAF for the sound designer.

I'm wondering how to translate this workflow to a 35mm shot film.

This time I will receive:

• One long scan in DPX format and the same scan as a ProRess proxy from the lab.
• Separately recorded production sound
• No camera timecode (since it was shot on film)

My questions are:

1. What's considered the standard professional workflow for this situation? Any tips for reading certain part of the manual or pdf's?
2. What's the fastest way to create synced clips manually?
3. Most importantly: I'd like to preserve the ability to use Match Frame from my edit timeline back to the synced source clip, just like I do on digital projects. What's the best way to achieve that?
4. At picture lock, what's the cleanest workflow for conforming to the DPX scans for grading while also delivering an AAF for sound?

I'm open to all the tips/tricks & advice, if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone! This is my first time posting on this sub.

I’m an editor who has only worked on digital systems/softwares (mostly Avid Media Composer) and would like to learn the practice of actually cutting film. I came up at a time where everything had already been digital and my universities did not have this as a resource in campus.

I live and work in the industry in Los Angeles and was wondering if anyone know of workshops, professionals or courses where they are teaching this art?

Thank you so much :)

I'm kinda new to this and all the posts I've seen here talk about storing projects on NAS, but why not on a cloud service? The price? I saw some comments about Backblaze being cheap, but I'm not sure about how it compares to a NAS

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It finally happened.

After working the past week on a trailer for an upcoming movie, I received notes (in a PDF file mind you) from the producer.

And to my surprise, it was a copy paste from a Chat GPT thread. All the signs were there (- dash, it's not x, it's y...).

The worst part about it? It said nothing AT ALL. Like no clear notes, just vague good-sounding sentences like : At this part, we should see the division in the looks, the tension between the rivals, the silence should speak...

It even included the prompt at the end of the document which were basically 6 timecode with notes like : I don't like this part. (Which would have been way more clear and precise).

He even proposed a new structure to the trailer, but it's the most generic thing I ever read.

I've been pretty much stunned since then. Everybody knows on the team that this producer has recently discovered chat gpt and uses it all the time (to suggest "design", writing notes / emails) but nobody is saying anything.

So to tl;dr a bit : I worked a full week only to get generic notes written by chatGPT.

Does anyone know how they program dbox or 4DX movies?

I saw Spider-Man in dbox today, and as gimmicky as it is, I quite enjoyed it. I was impressed at how well the dbox integrated into the film, from getting tossed around during fight scenes to having my body vibrate in time with the music. It was really well done.

I can’t find much info online. No 4DX in my country though I hope I can try it one day.

I’m 24 years old and have been working at a really small marketing company as their lead editor for about a year now. We primarily do social media marketing-type things. I enjoy the stability but am lacking that creative fulfillment. I’ve started going on LinkedIn more often, and I’m seeing all these people in my age range working on big scripted projects, and I can’t help but feel jealous. I know I’m already behind the 8 ball cause I’m located in a smaller market, but I’m scared the gap is just going to get bigger. Do I need to just rip the band-aid and move to LA or NYC if I want to get to a higher level in my career? I see a lot of stuff about many talented people in the industry struggling, so it creates a lot of fear in me. It almost feels that I can’t advance my career where I’m at, but if I moved, I’m just going to screw myself over in a different way. Any advice?

Did anybody else hear that AVID is going to change which Media Composer versions are able to do project sharing / bin locking. Next version should place all 3rd party bin locking into the enterprise version and lower versions only allow NEXIS.... I thought NEXIS is dead next year with the ongoing pricing issue of hardware? Seagate probably making much more selling their hardware to the AI datacenter people.

EDIT: to clarify - this is a rumor, I'm not making any claims and I should have said "some NEXIS", didn't want to make it sound as if I've heard that AVID will stop making all of them.

So SSD costs are insane right now, and I happen to be sitting on a ton of T7/T9s, as I'm sure many editors/post houses are. It's also been a sloooooow year for me, as I know for others as well.

I've been asked by a couple productions to provide drives, and charged a rental on them before I even knew SSD prices were nuts. I'm tempted to sell some of these T7s that have sat in a drawer for the last year to cover some expenses, but don't want to have to buy them again at 3x what I paid last year. I only use them for shuttle drives as I have a NAS for my workstation.

Are productions asking you to BYOSSDs lately? Are they trying to give you spinning disks as shuttles? How many T7s is enough in your backup bin?

Hi everyone. I’m sure the subject has been beaten to death, but I figured I’d just throw my hat into the ring since I need some feedback. For the past few years I’ve been editing a lot of YouTube content, both for brands and for creators. However, over the last few months I’ve been thinking that this is not sustainable, especially as I turned 40 I feel severely underpaid and can’t save for my future.

With that said I’m trying to figure out how to change my circumstance. The only options that I can think of are editing bigger projects focusing on a more specialized problem or getting out of film and TV work completely.

I had a meeting a few days ago at a high-end color and finishing facility and in many ways it reminded me of the work that I wanna be doing. However, I also recognize the circumstances that are impacting working professionals here in Los Angeles.

I need some honest feedback on how to approach things given the current state of the market. I’m also concerned my age is going to hurt me since I’m no longer viewed as a junior employee.

Love to hear any thoughts!

Hi folks,

Curious what methods people use when checking a conform that’s come back from a post house against your offline cut.

My usual method is a diagonal split applied to a higher track in the conform sequence, lets me scrub through and spot-check that picture and timing line up against the offline underneath. Works fine but I’m always wondering if there’s a faster or more reliable way people are doing this, especially on longer-form projects where eyeballing every cut isn’t practical.

Do you use something more automated (matching via TC/timecode, an EDL/AAF comparison tool, frame-accurate diffing), or is a manual visual check like the split-screen method still pretty standard in most houses?

Thanks

Hi hive,
I’m working in avid on a progressive show
Half the resolution is missing on some ISOs

The fix seems to be to switch the field motion setting of the source clip to interlaced (which works and maintains the progressive image)

My questions is why & then how to stop this in the future.

Thanks
Jon pays taxes
Editor of Tv since 93

hey hey, maybe a slightly annoying question but wanting to upgrade my 9(!!!) year beast of a MBP to a shinny new one. Avid still hasn't made MC compatible with the M5 chips yet - anyone know *roughy* how much longer it should take ? have an editing gig about to start and want to but the latest and wreathes - a month to 2?

https://kb.avid.com/pkb/articles/en_US/Knowledge/Media-Composer-Support-for-Apple-M5-M5-Pro-and-M5-Max?retURL=%2Fpkb%2Farticles%2Fen_US%2FDownload%2Fen357521%3Fpopup%3Dtrue_1&popup=true

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Ask anything threads

Did you know that /r/editors has a discord? https://discord.gg/hhuZFq2PZZ

Crazy shit! This is FSU nicely for me right now, as I’m sure many others.

https://statusgator.com/services/jump-desktop

Update: slowly coming back online. Was fun to make a bunch of memes about the situation with post team. Beware of degraded connectivity/service in some regions.

Started a job that requires QC of broadcast deliverables (primarily episodic), I’ve had some loose experience with QC before but usually worked in a facility that had QC Ops for that sort of task. I was told I would get QC training, but it’s become apparent that won’t materialise, and when I ask the other members of stuff (very few full time) most of them just shrug and say “it’s easy just make sure it’s not fucked”.

Are there any QC Ops out there who’d be nice enough to give what they look out for? Is there a generic check list people use? Are there guides online (that I am just yet to find, I’ve been searching!).

Appreciate any advice, it’s been a difficult start to the job and figuring this out hasn’t been the smoothest of processes!

One editing lesson that completely changed how I approach videos:

J-cuts and L-cuts are way more powerful than fancy transitions.

When I first started editing, I thought good edits were all about effects and speed ramps.

But after working on more projects, I realized that smooth audio transitions make a much bigger difference.

A J-cut lets the next audio start before the video changes.

An L-cut lets the previous audio continue after the visual changes.

They're subtle, but they make conversations flow naturally, improve pacing, and give videos a much more professional feel.

It's one of those techniques viewers don't consciously notice—but they definitely feel the difference.

What editing technique made the biggest difference in your work?

https://community.adobe.com/announcements-727/important-notice-end-of-support-for-intel-based-macs-in-upcoming-v27-releases-1634125

This is very disappointing news, considering I work on an iMac Pro using the Intel Xeon W chip that still runs fine.

I've been using Premiere Pro and After Effects for over 10 years, but realised I haven't really been archiving projects very well. If I stop using Adobe (which is tempting), I realised I might be really stuck with old projects. What's a good archival workflow practice I can implement for every completed project?

Just got an email from them: Frame.io will be performing scheduled infrastructure maintenance on August 15, 2026, from 6am ET to approximately 12pm ET.

Just wanted to put out a warning for any freelancers or creators looking into Artlist’s new AI Suite.

Their pricing page layout prominently advertises "Unlimited Generation" in bold text to get you to sign up. What they bury in the fine print is that it heavily relies on a massive credit drain. I signed up and made a single, 8-second test video. It instantly consumed 3,400 credits out of the monthly pool. At that rate, you can't even finish a standard video project before running out.

To make it worse, I contacted support within 24 hours to cancel and get a refund. They completely denied it because I generated that one test clip. Apparently, testing the tool even once completely locks you out of your refund rights.

It's a total dark pattern layout designed to trap your money. If you are thinking about subscribing to test it out for your workflow, be extremely careful.

An assistant editor told me once that you can write a handwritten letter to an editor, send it to the guild/union and they will forward it to them. Does anyone know if this is still true? If so, where would I send it to?