We love reconnecting with some of our favorite editors in the field. And just so it happens to be International Women’s Day, we were even more excited to catch up with Premiere Gal!
Tell us what you are doing these days? How are you keeping yourself creative?
I make weekly tutorials on cool editing fx and video production tips I discover as I create for my YouTube channel. To keep creative, I take notes on creative fx as they come to mind and try to do as many normal activities as possible. I find when you clear your head of work and get proper rest, that’s when the ideas come. Patience is a virtue in the creative process!
What’s the biggest surprise you’ve had in the last few months and why?
I haven’t had one BIG surprise. But I guess my biggest surprise is when I wake up every day and say, “Is this really my job?” How have I managed to grow my video editing business on YouTube in the last year with Pandemia and all? I guess we surprise ourselves with what we can do. I’m a big believer that if you put your mind to it, and you say “I’m going to achieve this.” You will.
Last time, we discussed how you got to start your career. Now we want to ask, what’s one thing you wish you had known when you began your career?
Get to know lighting and 1 camera really well and it will take you far. Also be you! People will always love to see your passion. Never hide your passion or try to force anything. Follow your interests and other people who share your passion will see it and love it.
What advice would you give someone wanting to pursue a career similar to yours? Even during a time like this.
Don’t doubt yourself. Trust your instincts. And be prepared to work your butt off. Have patience. You won’t become a sensation overnight. Slow and steady wins the race. Your creativity is always evolving, so don’t compare yourself to a success you had in the past, think forward.
What are the best resources that have helped you along the way?
I learned a lot by talking and connecting with other creators.
Also, the stuff other creators produce is a constant resource. I started finding effects I see on TikTok or IG and I recreate those effects and show my viewers how to produce the effect. I give a shout-out to the creator for the inspiration and it’s a great way to build connections.
I think YouTube can be a very lonely job, not a bad one, but it’s important to find ways to connect with others.
I recently jumped on Clubhouse, the new audio-drop in, social app where you can have rooms and conversations with other people. It’s the first time I’ve gone on social and felt like a real human connection in a long time. I’m hosting video editing Q&A rooms on Wednesdays at 9am PT, it’s a cool way to see what other creatives are up to and ask questions.
And when did you come across Motion Array?
I used Motion Array back in 2016-7 and I think they have so many awesome templates to choose from. I currently am not using Motion Array as I develop a lot of my own templates and custom branding now for my channel.
But if someone is looking for lower thirds, logo openers, slideshows, they have a lot to choose from. And I see Motion Array still allows you to make template requests, which is super cool of them.
How do you continue to learn in order to stay on top of trends and industry changes?
A lot of testing and research. I’m a part of Adobe’s Beta testing and pre-release group so I’m able to see what is coming. But oftentimes, I’ll research how to do an effect and I’ll have to learn a bunch of new effects in After Effects for example.
The most work in my videos is the pre-production, which is discovering the effect, testing to see if it works, and then writing a clear procedure of how to teach it to the audience. The filming and the editing of my YouTube video tutorials is the easy part. But overall, with each video editing tutorial I produce, I learn something new. I believe other tutorialists on YouTube would say the same thing: you learn more through teaching. Teaching is a powerful thing!
What do you feel are going to be the biggest trends in design/video editing this year?
I think FPV drones, augmented reality/cyberpunk HUD effects, and videos, where the camera is moving a lot from the first-person POV, are all going to be trendy! Mainly because of the virtual-ness of our world today. Virtual-ness is not a word, but it’s how I would describe it right now.
What are some of the things you’re researching the most right now?
Right now I’m researching the most effective ways to connect with my audience and other creators. I mentioned Clubhouse above, but I’m also trying to start a TikTok channel and figure out how to connect my YouTube with it. I’m not on TikTok yet. But I’m a viewer of them! Just need to carve out some time to come up with some ideas 🙂
What is one project you are really proud of?
Since Pandemia hit, a lot of remote collaborations started to happen and there weren’t a lot of custom split screen templates that made it easy for editors to create fast edits with their multiple videos. So I designed split screen templates that would be useful to fellow editors so all they have to do is a drag in their videos into a variety of split placeholders and it will place it for them.
I really loved how it turned out and the response has been very positive. Since then, I also designed a new film split screen pack that provides more interesting style options for split variations.
As we are focusing on Women’s day, who are the three female graphics designers or editors who have been the most influential to you?
Gosh, there are so many awesome creators. But currently, I love the work from Becki Peckham (Becki and Chris), Cache Bunny, and Kitty of AtolaVisuals.
What is the one common myth about your profession or field that you want to debunk?
I don’t think I’ve heard many people tell me about myths about my job as more people are respecting YouTube as an actual career now. But I think one thing that’s important to note is that YouTube does give me freedom to create what I want, when I want. But it’s also a 24/7 job, you’re working all the time. I see my YouTube subscribers as extended family and friends and I want to help them out!
It’s so important to try your best to treat it like any other job, set times in the day where you work and where you shut off. Or it can takeover! For me, there are times where I have to work 12 hour days just to meet my deadline on a project. It’s hard to set time limits on creative projects, but sometimes it’s better done than completely perfect.
Most importantly, take time for yourself!
What are some of your favorite templates or designs on Motion Array or Artlist?
Actually, I recently used Artgrid in my latest tutorial for the opening sequence on How to Create Paper Transitions and textures:
Where can people find you on the web?
- Website: http://premieregal.com
- Clubhouse: Kelsey Brannan @premieregal
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/Premiere_Gal
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/PremiereGal
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/Premiere_Gal
- YouTube: http://youtube.com/PremiereGal
