Neglify
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I decided to write this thread after seeing some new editors having trouble getting their first fanedit approved. This is general advice just from my own point of view on how to make a smooth entrance to the community.
This is somewhat of a supplemental thread to The Rules of Fanediting by Jorge.
1) Be a member of the community, not just an editor.
Here two examples, both based off real members (who won't be named).
Member A had been a member of this site since 2008. He contributed a lot to forums over the years and made a lot of friends here. In 2011 he released an edit he had been working on for a while. The edit was approved a day after being released.
Member B had also been a member here for a long time, but never contributed much to forums. He mainly discussed his own edits he was making. None of his edits were ever approved. Then one day he got fed up with nobody paying attention to him and blamed the site for not caring about his edits.
I'm not saying that being an active forum member will automatically get your edit approved. And reversely, I'm not saying that if you're not an active member, your edits will never be approved. But, being a good member of the community can help you along the way.
Summarized more succintly by geminigod:
Contribute to the site as a student first in order to become a better faneditor later.
2) Watch as many fanedits as you can.
(Of course, you need to own the original films to watch a fanedit.)
What makes a good fanedit? What makes a fanedit different from the original movie? What types of fanedits are really popular? What types of fanedits do people not pay much attention to? Has ______ idea already been done?
All these questions can be answered by watching fanedits already available and seeing how well people have responded to them.
Plus, if you've never seen a fanedit, or only saw 1 or 2, trying to make your own fanedit will be a rough road.
3) Read up on the technical forums.
The technical side of fanediting isn't the easiest thing. It can be very difficult at times. It doesn't have to be, though.
If you're having a technical problem with your edit, do not immediately start a new thread about it. Read through the existing threads in the Technical Forum. Your question may already be answered there.
4) Be open to suggestions and criticism.
Not everybody is going to love your edit. Some may give suggestions on how to make it better. Some may criticize it. Be willing for this happen.
5) Get your edit previewed before you submit it.
Getting your edit viewed by someone else is essential. A fresh pair of eyes can catch errors you may not have noticed. It's better to spend a lot of time tweaking the edit before it's submitted. You don't want the edit disapproved because of errors that could have been easily fixed.
6) Create interest in your edit, but don't bash us over the head.
Make a trailer for your edit. Make some cover art. But if nobody responds as enthusiastically as you'd want, don't worry about it.
7) Submit the edit properly.
The Submission Form is the proper way to submit it.
8) Be patient.
Your edit may not get watched right away. Don't get discouraged or upset about it.
-Added by Gatos:
Fanediting is a time consuming process. Once you get the hang of your editing software and all the steps involved you can eventually get projects completed at quite a quick pace BUT slow and steady is always better in my opinion.
Speaking for myself, when I first got started in fanediting I was super enthusiastic. I was lucky enough to recruit a forum member as my mentor and along the way garnered knowledge and advice from other members as well. But I had an idea and I was anxious for the world to see it! I couldn't wait. But a wise man once said "Aim for perfection." So it was a struggle (and still is) to take my time, take a step back, and not settle.
You only release your edit once (unless its not initially approved). So there is no point in rushing only to put out a fanedit that in retrospect has you saying "ah I wish I had done this, or left out that etc." There is no point in being lazy. For as many kind and generous critics on here we have plenty of harsh critics. And while you can't please everyone you can certainly avoid getting chewed out for subpar technical quality of your edit by not settling and being patient.
I have been a victim of this myself. There are at least one of two things in each one of my edits which make me cringe and stand out as instances of "shoulda, woulda, coulda".
Learn from my mistakes!
9) If at first you don't succeed, learn from your mistakes. Don't keep making the same mistakes.
Did your first edit have a lot of technical errors? Read up on the Technical Forums and learn how to perfect your skills.
Did the edit's plot not make sense? Work on telling a story without confusing the audience.
Making the same mistakes might make one think you're a lazy editor. We don't want that. While we don't expect every fanedit to be 100% perfection, we want good quality edits, both technically and story-wise.
(From Sunarep)
10) Be content with what you have made.
Remember fanedits are not for commercial gain, they are a way to express yourself. So never worry if some people might not like the changes you are doing - there have been a lot of times when drastic changes have actually been greeted with enthusiasm (even though they might not have been if the editor just announced his decisions).
Bottom line is that you are first and foremost working on something you should like. So if there is something that has always bugged you, you are in the position to remove it.
Will it upset people? Maybe, but who cares? Who knows maybe people opposed to your changes are actually just a minority and the other large part will appreciate a bold cut.
To all you new editors, I wish you luck and I hope this has helped.
This is somewhat of a supplemental thread to The Rules of Fanediting by Jorge.
1) Be a member of the community, not just an editor.
Here two examples, both based off real members (who won't be named).
Member A had been a member of this site since 2008. He contributed a lot to forums over the years and made a lot of friends here. In 2011 he released an edit he had been working on for a while. The edit was approved a day after being released.
Member B had also been a member here for a long time, but never contributed much to forums. He mainly discussed his own edits he was making. None of his edits were ever approved. Then one day he got fed up with nobody paying attention to him and blamed the site for not caring about his edits.
I'm not saying that being an active forum member will automatically get your edit approved. And reversely, I'm not saying that if you're not an active member, your edits will never be approved. But, being a good member of the community can help you along the way.
Summarized more succintly by geminigod:
Contribute to the site as a student first in order to become a better faneditor later.
2) Watch as many fanedits as you can.
(Of course, you need to own the original films to watch a fanedit.)
What makes a good fanedit? What makes a fanedit different from the original movie? What types of fanedits are really popular? What types of fanedits do people not pay much attention to? Has ______ idea already been done?
All these questions can be answered by watching fanedits already available and seeing how well people have responded to them.
Plus, if you've never seen a fanedit, or only saw 1 or 2, trying to make your own fanedit will be a rough road.
3) Read up on the technical forums.
The technical side of fanediting isn't the easiest thing. It can be very difficult at times. It doesn't have to be, though.
If you're having a technical problem with your edit, do not immediately start a new thread about it. Read through the existing threads in the Technical Forum. Your question may already be answered there.
4) Be open to suggestions and criticism.
Not everybody is going to love your edit. Some may give suggestions on how to make it better. Some may criticize it. Be willing for this happen.
5) Get your edit previewed before you submit it.
Getting your edit viewed by someone else is essential. A fresh pair of eyes can catch errors you may not have noticed. It's better to spend a lot of time tweaking the edit before it's submitted. You don't want the edit disapproved because of errors that could have been easily fixed.
6) Create interest in your edit, but don't bash us over the head.
Make a trailer for your edit. Make some cover art. But if nobody responds as enthusiastically as you'd want, don't worry about it.
7) Submit the edit properly.
The Submission Form is the proper way to submit it.
8) Be patient.
Your edit may not get watched right away. Don't get discouraged or upset about it.
-Added by Gatos:
Fanediting is a time consuming process. Once you get the hang of your editing software and all the steps involved you can eventually get projects completed at quite a quick pace BUT slow and steady is always better in my opinion.
Speaking for myself, when I first got started in fanediting I was super enthusiastic. I was lucky enough to recruit a forum member as my mentor and along the way garnered knowledge and advice from other members as well. But I had an idea and I was anxious for the world to see it! I couldn't wait. But a wise man once said "Aim for perfection." So it was a struggle (and still is) to take my time, take a step back, and not settle.
You only release your edit once (unless its not initially approved). So there is no point in rushing only to put out a fanedit that in retrospect has you saying "ah I wish I had done this, or left out that etc." There is no point in being lazy. For as many kind and generous critics on here we have plenty of harsh critics. And while you can't please everyone you can certainly avoid getting chewed out for subpar technical quality of your edit by not settling and being patient.
I have been a victim of this myself. There are at least one of two things in each one of my edits which make me cringe and stand out as instances of "shoulda, woulda, coulda".
Learn from my mistakes!
9) If at first you don't succeed, learn from your mistakes. Don't keep making the same mistakes.
Did your first edit have a lot of technical errors? Read up on the Technical Forums and learn how to perfect your skills.
Did the edit's plot not make sense? Work on telling a story without confusing the audience.
Making the same mistakes might make one think you're a lazy editor. We don't want that. While we don't expect every fanedit to be 100% perfection, we want good quality edits, both technically and story-wise.
(From Sunarep)
10) Be content with what you have made.
Remember fanedits are not for commercial gain, they are a way to express yourself. So never worry if some people might not like the changes you are doing - there have been a lot of times when drastic changes have actually been greeted with enthusiasm (even though they might not have been if the editor just announced his decisions).
Bottom line is that you are first and foremost working on something you should like. So if there is something that has always bugged you, you are in the position to remove it.
Will it upset people? Maybe, but who cares? Who knows maybe people opposed to your changes are actually just a minority and the other large part will appreciate a bold cut.
To all you new editors, I wish you luck and I hope this has helped.
