I am completing what I sincerely hope is my last virtual choir video editing project. (It’s one more recording from Shades of Blue, to be premiered soon!)
What’s been pleasing is how much more quickly this one has come together. I was able to come up with a vision for how it would look before I ever sat down at the computer, and I was able to execute that vision more quickly with skills that are more resilient, one year into an unexpected diversion into part-time video editor.
The second part we know about – practice yields competence and faster work.
But the first part – the vision – is more interesting. My ability to envision a video without seeing it on the screen was basically nonexistent a year ago. But this time, I had a complete plan when I sat down.
The only thing that changed is experience. I have swum around in the pool of creative video design, at least enough to know its dimensions and know what works for me. Because of that, I am able to rule out a lot of impossible or ineffective ideas before I try them. It’s the first step of gaining a sort of instinct about the work. (And I’m first to acknowledge that my instincts are woefully weak compared to true professionals.)
I can remember the same thing coming as I became a more skilled composer and arranger. I was able to picture a piece and work out more and more of it in my head, as much by knowing what wouldn’t work as by knowing what would.
It seems to me that the ability to visualize any creative work, before you sit down and begin to create, is a skill reliant almost entirely on experience. It’s only in the doing that we build that skill.