• LAVA Moderator: Mysterier

Interested in a Video Production / Effects job.

~kira~

Bluelighter
Joined
Mar 27, 2017
Messages
162
So yeah, I tried Adobe After Effects for a few months, in the first month I learned quite a bit and was able to very amateurishly use a green screen. I didn't want to spend a ton of money on a video camera or a better laptop until I was sure I wanted to make a career out of it. Which is why I am posting this.


Is it possible to make a career out of video editing / effects? Looking for anyone with experience in this. Is free lancing better than working for one individual company? I'm leaning a bit toward free lance work so I can pick my jobs.

At the moment all I have learned is from YOUTUBE. lol. I watched tutorials for hours trying things. Can you learn this stuff without college or any type of schooling? College is completely out of the question for me. But I'm hoping to find maybe an on the job training or even part time schooling to learn what I need.

Any helpful advice will be greatly appreciated, as this is what I would love to do as a career!
 
In the 90's I had a younger friend who wanted to do just this, I was an audio engineer in the recording field. It's a pretty competitive field so it will be an uphill climb, but possible if you really apply yourself.

The main thing is to immerse yourself in the work, using the tools you have at your disposal and get deadly good at what you want to do. You need to live, breathe and bleed your work.

Try getting involved at your local cable company. The all have cable access programs that are semi-pro/amateur productions. Think "Waynes World" type productions. You won't get paid, but get to use pro gear and do actual work. Do as much of this as you can. Try getting on as an apprentice at a production studio. You will probably work for peanuts for a long time in order get established

It's very competitive and there's a lot of talented folks out there and you'll have to stand out somehow. It helps if you are young and can live on nothing for the time it takes, and nothing is guaranteed.

Be prepared to move to wherever opportunity brings you.

Good luck!
 
In the 90's I had a younger friend who wanted to do just this, I was an audio engineer in the recording field. It's a pretty competitive field so it will be an uphill climb, but possible if you really apply yourself.

The main thing is to immerse yourself in the work, using the tools you have at your disposal and get deadly good at what you want to do. You need to live, breathe and bleed your work.

Try getting involved at your local cable company. The all have cable access programs that are semi-pro/amateur productions. Think "Waynes World" type productions. You won't get paid, but get to use pro gear and do actual work. Do as much of this as you can. Try getting on as an apprentice at a production studio. You will probably work for peanuts for a long time in order get established

It's very competitive and there's a lot of talented folks out there and you'll have to stand out somehow. It helps if you are young and can live on nothing for the time it takes, and nothing is guaranteed.

Be prepared to move to wherever opportunity brings you.

Good luck!

Pretty interesting. I guess I can work with low budget equipment for a while. Maybe that could help me in the long run somehow. If I can make quality looking stuff with very low budget equipment and make it look great, imagine what could be made with better equipment.

Thanks for the idea though! I never thought about volunteering at places like that. I will have to check it out for sure!!

I have heard it is pretty hard work and harder to get work as well. Fortunately I am kinda young I guess...haha 25 years old. lol.
I guess I really need to apply my self and get a lot of work done...
 
Another thing to think about is getting involved with some sort of indie-game group. Most modern games need cinematic sections of the game. Unreal Engine is very rich with regards exposing and utilizing the same skills you use in after effects. It's not just games, too. I've been involved in a couple of projects that used Unreal 4 architectural and museum installations such as Virtual Submarine exploration exhibits.

There are meet-up groups in many cities that center around this work. Networking is as important as skills, so get out there and mingle.
 
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