Editing Video From Real Estate Classes (Davinci Resolve)

A U.S.-based real estate investor organization has a backlog of video footage of educational meetings, home tours and workshops that needs to be turned into polished videos ready for posting on our website. Because we’re using the DaVinci Resolve video editor, we’d like you to use it too and send us back both exported videos as well as Resolve project files, in case we need to go in to make further edits.

NOTE: We anticipate that clearing the backlog will take one to two months of full-time work. After that, editing the 3 to 4 events we shoot video for each month would provide a part-time work opportunity. I edited this post to classify this job as “gig” because the time demands will change. Until the backlog is cleared, I’d love to hire someone for 5 to 8 hours of work a day.

You do not need to possess Hollywood-level editing skills: We’re not looking for whiz-bang effects or social media pizazz. This is long-form, fairly standard video, not professionally shot. (Although we think it’s interesting!) Some meetings can last up to 3 hours, and so that’s about how long the video needs to be. Workshop videos can be up to 6 hours long (though we split it into parts). But you will need to have a good working knowledge of DaVinci Resolve, plenty of experience using it, and competent editing skills.

You will need an understanding of English to hear and take action, for example, if an instructor were to look at the camera and say, “Please cut this next part out.” You should also have an interest in business and investing so that you won’t be bored out of your mind by listening to hours and hours of business discussion.

You will need to have attention to detail.

You need to agree to keep confidential all the project media, and not share or post it anywhere else.

You should also have a robust Internet connection in order to download and upload gigabytes of data.

We’re looking for a video editor who has completed at least two jobs for an employer here on this platform.

We shoot most events with multiple cameras, so you will need to know how to do multicam syncing and editing.

Here are examples of some of the things this job will involve:

– Downloading project files from where we’ve placed them online (probably DropBox or WeTransfer)

– Syncing the multiple video files along with separate audio (we have a sound board for some meetings) in DaVinci Resolve.

– Creating lower thirds as speakers take the microphone or are introduced. (We will provide a document showing photos of the people we would like identified with lower thirds, along with names and info that you can copy and paste.)

– Listening for speakers to mention phone numbers and websites, then overlaying text. (And in the case of websites, verifying that the URLs are valid and accurate.)

– Trimming out dead space, such as when there’s a stretch of time before the next person comes to the microphone.

– Switching among the camera angles for best effect. For example, if the subject moves out of frame from one angle, switch to another. Or switch at random intervals to keep things interesting and dynamic. Or to hide cuts made to cover dead space.

– For speakers who incorporate slideshows into their presentations, you will need to overlay slide images, which we will provide you, where appropriate.

– Fixing audio weirdness. For example, if someone from the audience asks a question without using a microphone, you’ll need to boost the audio level so it can be heard (and perhaps you’ll also need to clean it up).

– Sandwiching your edit with our intro and outro files.

– Creating video thumbnails using templates we provide. (Having Photoshop is a plus. But it’s OK if you don’t. We can also work on thumbnails on our end.)

– Exporting the final edit to MP4 and maybe compressing it (using Handbrake or similar).

– Exporting the project file

– Uploading the final edit and project file to a shared folder we’ve set up for you.

– Being willing to meet on Zoom occasionally for discussion and screen-sharing demonstrations.

That’s the gist. In our experience, 1 hour of finished video takes about 3 hours of work to produce.

Thank you for your consideration.