Editing made easier

Posted by:  Cathy

Len and I have been enjoying working with our editor, Rita Meher, for the last few weeks to assemble a first rough cut of the film.  It’s exciting watching the disparate threads of the film footage come together into a story — the story of Surayia, her art and her vision, and the women who worked to help her make that vision a reality.

As much as we like working with Rita, we don’t like the 100 mile/160km round trip drive that it takes for us to go to her or for her to come to us.  It’s several hours of the day lost while driving, and it’s also more fuel burned and pollutants put into the air.  Combined with recent snow and freezing rain in Western Washington, the logistics of doing our editing could be frustrating, even though the editing itself was always enjoyable.

Recently Rita suggested using something called Join.me which allows her to share, from her workspace, her editing screen with us on our computer at our workspace.  Combined with a video chat program (we use GMail’s but others would work as well) we can now work in real time with Rita reviewing and arranging footage, but without having to drive an hour or more to get together.  Our productivity has improved and there’s one fewer car adding to the congestion on Seattle-area roads.  It’s a win all around.  Many thanks to the folks at Join.me.