EDITMATE UPDATE: 2021

A lot has changed with EditMate since my last official update in 2017…

Way back in 2018, after 1 year of R&D (funded by revenue from our first clients) and then after another 1.5 years of slowly building it, we launched a software platform to complement EditMate’s video editing service.

The EditMate Dashboard (a streamlined project management system) is equipped with tools and features that make it easy to plan projects, upload and crowdsource footage/content, collaborate with a professional Video Editor from the EditMate team, review and comment on drafts, share edited videos and more.

(In short, we built a tech product so now it’s even easier for our clients to create video content.)

Since then, our client list has evolved and the number of videos we’ve created has multiplied so we thought it was about time we gave the EditMate brand a bit of an upgrade, too. (After all, while building EditMate in Bali in 2015 I did slap together a logo on Canva and say “this will do for now”… and we were still using it 5 years later.)

So, this Fall we unveiled EditMate’s whole new look…

We brought on Rachel Talbot Studio to design the new brand identity and website. Rachel was a delight to collaborate with and overall, just a really nice and lovely person to work with.

And I must say, after almost 6 years of designing and managing the website on my own, I was beyond thrilled to hand it over to a qualified professional. I’m over the moon with the result — and particularly proud of our About and Client Testimonials pages.

Watch our new explainer video below and be sure to check out all of our new website over at editmate.com

P.S. See more about EditMate here, too.

EDITMATE UPDATE

EditMate had it's 1st birthday in January.

I use that date loosely because when we "launched" (with a post on Facebook) I didn't know that January isn't the best time to launch a business in New Zealand.

In the USA, January is a time where everyone gets back to work after Christmas vacation. Employees power walk back into the office on January 2nd, fresh from the holiday, motivated with resolutions and new year goals. 

In New Zealand, January is the smack dab in the middle of the summer... therefore Kiwis are stacking up their Christmas days off with their vacation days off (4+ weeks, which as an American is enviable but as a new business owner was infuriating) and everyone is still at their bach, sunburned on the beach, not looking at their email and not scheduling meetings with a new company that wants to talk to them about "user generated video". No one wants to think about that until at least after Valentine's Day. And so, January 2016 was a quiet month. Things really got going in February. 

Nonetheless, EditMate's birthday is in January!

And since then, we've gained clients in 3 markets (New Zealand, Australia and the USA) and edited over 160 videos for 45 brands. Our website has changed (from where it started) and things have evolved. It's been a good year.

For a bit of a recap, here are a few of my favorite recent projects:

More on EditMate's Video Channel too. 

THE SHANNARA CHRONICLES PREMIERE

The TV show The Shannara Chronicles that I worked on in NZ last year just premiered tonight! It was wild to watch the full show, how they combined real New Zealand landscape with CGI for the scenery, the special effects and how everything was cut together.

The behind the scenes content that I worked on is now up on the MTV website here and here is a few of my favorite videos we did, if you'd like to see...

See more of the videos here or here (if you're watching from outside the USA). 

More info on my experience working there here too. 

INTRODUCING: EDITMATE

I'll be back to posting on the regular soon BUT I wanted to tell you that there's been a good reason for the recent radio silence: the launching of EditMate.

The REAL reason why I went to Bali (besides sunshine) was to be able to hunker down and live cheap while Scott and I built an online video editing + post-production service. With his online marketing experience and my video production background, we came up with the concept for EditMate having seen firsthand that growing brands (start-ups, small businesses) have more and more of a need for web and social video but don't have the budgets to hire a traditional production company. That's where EditMate comes in. (You can read the long winded version here.)

In between surfing and eating fried rice we spent 3 months figuring out the workflow, designing the branding, building the website, attempting to translate emails in Japanese from the company that owns editmate.COM (we're settling for the .co in the meantime) and learning lots of other less fun things like SEO, short code and what a dedicated server is. And of course, I edited some videos. 

Bali: Because if you need to stare at computer screen most days you might as well be somewhere that you'll be served dragonfruit chia seed pudding for breakfast...

...and have this as your view during your commute home. All while living on about $1K a month.  

We've officially launched in beta mode here in New Zealand (I'm in New Zealand now! I was also in Australia but more on that later!).  It's an online company, so of course, we can accept a project from anywhere in the world and our Editors are located all over the globe but we're starting to market on the ground here in NZ to test the market. I'm excited. And it's summer here, so that's a plus. 

Check out editmate.co if you're into video or just want to learn how to shoot better video on your phone, DSLR or GoPro. Any spreading of the word will be enormously appreciated. And as it's 2016 (Happy New Year!) we'd adore any likes/follows on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram too. 

I hope your 2016 is off to a marvelous start and expect photos of the rest of Bali, Australia and New Zealand soon. Also thank you (really and truly) for reading my tiny corner of this massive internet. 

BRASS VIDEOS

If you happen to be into dresses, french accents or craft beer -- here are two more videos I did for Brass Clothing: 

SAN FRANCISCO

Making our way through Monterey (where our bright green and purple camper van got caught right in the middle of a very large classic car parade, but we just smiled and waved through it) and Santa Cruz, we arrived in my favorite American city... San Francisco. 

Monterey

"oh hey girl what up"

Santa Cruz.

Making eggs in Golden Gate Park.

In front of a blurry Alcatraz.

Walking all round, the hills and colors of San Francisco were delightful as ever and we met up with my homegirl (current SF resident) Lisa, for a bbq dinner.  We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge as Scott butchered the Full House theme song and I had my best surf yet in Ocean Beach.

After turning in our camper van at the JUCY office, we had a full day of exploring left so we got a rental car for the day to store our things and make our way around. I was absolutely thrilled about our successful road trip... until we walked back to the car after grabbing a quick coffee at the Ferry Building. Our rental car window had been smashed and half our things stolen. 

Right about when I was taking this photo, our car was getting broken into. 11 AM on a Friday morning!

THAT SUCKED.  I've mentioned this before, but the universe really does have a pesky way of keeping you in check when everything is going a little too well.

Long story short (ish): I was a mix of relieved and insulted to find that the thieves dumped most of my things since they didn't find them to be of any value. Scott however, wasn't as fortunate.  Like any good former Cramer producer, I had all my contact information listed on my external hard drive... and like any lazy person, I didn't have a password on my laptop... so the good citizen who found my backpack called my cell and opened my laptop to post on my Facebook wall. This led to an influx of friends calling and messaging because the post sounded suspiciously like I had been kidnapped. This was really a fine example of humans looking out for each other and was a nice bright spot in an otherwise giant hassle of day. The rest of the day was spent sorting out paperwork at the police station and rental car agency, driving hours to retrieve my backpack and then it was a mad rush to the airport where Scott sweet talked security in order to board the flight without his (now stolen) passport. Lessons to take away from this: the $11 extra car insurance is worth it and travel insurance is always a good idea. 

But, all in all, no real harm done. Everyone was still alive, with just less baggage to check. So, I still love you, San Francisco. You beautiful, apparently crime riddled city. AND since we did get my external hard drive back I was able to edit the video that this whole road trip for! We shot it all with a GoPro and here it is, if you'd like to see:

It was a great California Road Trip, even if the end was a bit more of an adventure than we had planned.

JARED NICHOLSON

Last month I did a photo shoot with Jared Nicholson, a friend of mine from high school who is currently running for School Committee in the city of Lynn. His adorable supporters came out on a perfect summer night for a quick shoot around the neighborhood. Vote Jared!

BRASS VIDEO WITH BRIDGET HUNT

This summer, I've been doing a bit of freelance work including directing and editing a series of videos for the gals of Brass. Here's the first, featuring their perfect Tank Maxi Dress and the lovely Bridget Hunt. 

BAY OF ISLANDS (+ MTV!)

My NZ Work + Holiday Visa was put to good use again when I got a gig working with MTV! A new show called The Shannara Chronicles was being filmed in Auckland and I got a 6 week contract as a Production Manager working on behind the scenes footage. While the 12-16 hour days were completely exhausting, I learned an incredible amount. In-between fangirling over John Rhys-Davies and James Remar, I was in absolute awe of the sheer size of the production and felt super lucky to get this kind of job while traveling (especially since I was seriously considering selling strawberries at farmers markets when I first arrived in NZ). 

Denise and I after a hike in Russell. 

Denise (a Producer from NYC) flew over and we teamed up to create the behind the scenes content, hiring an Assistant Editor and local ENG crews to shadow the main unit and set up our own shoots .

Denise is an absolute force of life whose perfectionist work ethic is only rivaled by her insatiable energy. Despite being polar opposites in many ways, we made quite a good team and I learned so much from her just through osmosis.

Highlights of the job include:

-John Rhys Davies calling our audio guy a "little shit" in the most endearing, grandfatherly way

-Me being completely unphased by the young hunky actors working out but getting so star struck that I walked into the shot when James Remar entered the gym

-Denise tearing up Auckland every weekend and coming in Monday morning with the juiciest gossip

-the catering. All those "oh my god the craft services table makes me fat" interviews with actresses is the actual honest truth.

-working with the same crews that worked on The Hobbit + Lord of the Rings (still haven't seen it, but you know)

-James Remar referring to me as "Boston" after learning where I'm from (he's from Newton!) and having to use every ounce of restraint in my body to refrain from asking him to say "dark passenger" in his Dexter voice 

It KILLS me that I can't share the photos I took on set (pesky non-disclosure agreements) but after we wrapped, Denise and I headed up to the Bay of Islands for a celebratory road-trip. Here's a few photos if you'd like to see...

BRASS CLOTHING SHOOT

Shooting the Brass preview collection made for a lovely Saturday in the South End. The darling Brass dresses were styled with killer accessories Jay and Katie (owners of Brass) picked up to show how each dress can be a staple in any closet. Our model Irene was a dream to shoot and the South End brick stoops and green parks were the perfect backdrop for Brass's polished and classic line of dresses. 

+ Keep clicking the last photo above to see more.

BRASS CLOTHING: Sneak Peek

Last week I had the pleasure of shooting the preview collection for Brass, a women's clothing line launching this summer. We styled the gorgeous Irene in day to night looks, showing the versatility of the Brass's classic designs. It was a stellar summer day for shooting in Boston's lovely South End. More to come soon, but for now here's a behind the scenes sneak peek.