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.

START OF THE CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIP

In August, Scott and I met in LA to team up with JUCY Rentals.  We did 2 week road trip along California's Pacific Coast Highway to make  a little video to show off their camper van, The Champ. 

The Champ, loud and proud. 

After picking The Champ, we headed south for a night in Huntington Beach which was (in Scott's words) "absolute carnage" due to the Vans US Open of Surf being on and taking over the main strip. 

California RV sites can get pretty pricey during the summer, so we took the frugal route and opted to park/sleep at any quiet side-of-the-road we could find. Luckily, despite having a very obviously bright green and purple camper van, we didn't encounter much trouble with this method. Only one Park Ranger came knocking at 3 AM in SF Golden Gate Park... but Scott charmed him with his accent and I stayed quiet to seem like an innocent foreigner. AND we were able to put that saved money towards more important things, like fish tacos. They became a staple food group on the road, starting at George's Grill in Huntington and continuing on for the next 14 days straight. 

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. 

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.