• Most new users don't bother reading our rules. Here's the one that is ignored almost immediately upon signup: DO NOT ASK FOR FANEDIT LINKS PUBLICLY. First, read the FAQ. Seriously. What you want is there. You can also send a message to the editor. If that doesn't work THEN post in the Trade & Request forum. Anywhere else and it will be deleted and an infraction will be issued.
  • If this is your first time here please read our FAQ and Rules pages. They have some useful information that will get us all off on the right foot, especially our Own the Source rule. If you do not understand any of these rules send a private message to one of our staff for further details.
  • Please read our Rules & Guidelines

Length of time to do an edit.

tremault

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
1,161
Reaction score
1,327
Trophy Points
123
This is something that is really hard to quantify for me. When I am less depressed and find myself able to work, I can spend 10 hours a day on whatever I'm doing at the time. When I really got to working on my Captain Marvel edit, It took me about a month to do the majority of the work on it. I was pretty enthusiastic about it so it could have taken up to 300 hours, or a more conservative 200 hours? It's a very rough estimate. Of course, I did a lot of work after that to adjust various things based on feedback, and getting it submitted to the fanedit database. That could take it up towards 300-400 hours?

With my other projects that I've taken on, I've been less able to get focused on work so it's been much more drawn out. Star Wars, I've spent maybe 50-100 hours colour grading and maybe 50 hours on edit so far, up to the dinner time scene, where I stalled.

I've spent maybe 15 hours on Lord of the rings and I've done maybe 20 hours work on various Harry Potter experiments.

-----------------------------------------

edit: just in case anyone feels worried, my depression is something I am able to cope with fine, it just makes it tough to focus on work. Lots of procrastination and brain fog and the like, but I am generally pretty upbeat so don't be concerned. ;)
 
Last edited:

Flint7

Member
Messages
5
Reaction score
1
Trophy Points
3
I would say my first pass on a film is usually finished within a month. Then, I sit on it for a while and go back a week or two later. Usually, I then see a few extra things I want to tighten up. So, all told, maybe two months tops. However, for films where I really want perfection, it can go on for a year or longer as I go back and make tweaks as I realize I need to make them. My "Return of the Jedi" edit is a perfect example. I made the major changes to it a couple years ago. However, I've gone back over the last two years and added music, made additional trims, and even swapped out footage as better resolution files became available. It ultimately comes down to how much I care to continue to make improvements.
 

The Warlord

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
355
Reaction score
69
Trophy Points
43
It varies for me. If I'm working on a specific project - rather than simply at an "ideas" stage, I usually dive into a good number of evenings in the week. Sometimes one small thing can take up a whole session. One of my edits had so many different audio layers to it, and then converting to widescreen, that it took about 6 months from conception to completion; probably my longest. I rarely focus on more than one at a time.
 

Gieferg

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
1,489
Reaction score
1,009
Trophy Points
133
Some basic edits like extended editions is a matter of few days (usually 1-3). Grindhouse edits with re-scoring and ton of changes - something around 4-6 weeks if I'm not taking breaks from it (which happens). Not counting hours, so I can't say how much time it takes exactly.
 

TM2YC

Take Me To Your Cinema
Staff member
Donor
Faneditor
Messages
14,871
Reaction score
2,384
Trophy Points
228
Just coming up to 14-months on my current/main project (about 60% complete) but that's been on and off. 2-years on another one, 1.5 years on another, 1-year etc. However I do have one project nearly finished that I only started in January so I can work a little faster sometimes ;) .
 

The Scribbling Man

Tenant of the Tower of Flints
Staff member
Donor
Faneditor
Messages
4,644
Reaction score
2,416
Trophy Points
148
Just coming up to 14-months on my current/main project (about 60% complete) but that's been on and off. 2-years on another one, 1.5 years on another, 1-year etc.

I think I've always averaged 1-2 a year, but I think that might change this year. Not because I'm able to give more time to it (far from it) but because I think I've got a lot of projects building up that I've been dipping into over time that are collectively nearing an end point...

However I do have one project nearly finished that I only started in January so I can work a little faster sometimes ;) .

Which project is this?

I watched Aliens this evening and was reminded that you were working on a cut at one point. That still on the cards? Looking forward to it, if so.
 

DigModiFicaTion

DᴉმWoqᴉԷᴉcɑꓕᴉou
Staff member
Faneditor
Messages
8,609
Reaction score
3,509
Trophy Points
168
It all depends. I've had some that are 1-2 weeks all the way to active projects (actively is an extremely loose interpretation) that are nearly 2.5 years in the making.
 

TM2YC

Take Me To Your Cinema
Staff member
Donor
Faneditor
Messages
14,871
Reaction score
2,384
Trophy Points
228
I watched Aliens this evening and was reminded that you were working on a cut at one point. That still on the cards? Looking forward to it, if so.
Not actively working on that at the moment but I will. I'm trying to get some other stuff completed first.
 

lapis molari

Better edits through feedback.
Staff member
Donor
Faneditor
Messages
1,779
Reaction score
1,271
Trophy Points
143
Time spent on an edit varies wildly: from less than a week to 2+ years. My median is probably 2-3 months. with the fast edits changing so little that I don't list them on FE.
I spend more time on audio editing than video editing, not because I want to but because it's more laborious.
Making the subtitles, which doubles as a final viewing before release, usually takes 2 days.
 

addiesin

Well-known member
Messages
5,896
Reaction score
1,508
Trophy Points
163
You can do an edit quickly.

I don't, but you can.
 

ThrowgnCpr

awol
Staff member
Messages
15,090
Reaction score
36
Trophy Points
133
You can do an edit quickly.

Lies No GIF



I'm at >6 years for an edit that I think might actually get finished someday.
 

Ninja-Trix

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
185
Reaction score
138
Trophy Points
53
I can usually complete an edit within 8 hours, minus rendering time, but that 8 hours gets split up over the course of days to weeks. I also like to get peer reviews prior to releasing an edit which complicates and slows the process but the editing itself is about 8 hours. The biggest factor is scope. Are you only cutting bad scenes? It'll be about 8 hours. If you're removing items from within a scene that'll take three times as long and new VFX is multiplied on another level entirely. The more you're doing and the more complicated WHAT you're doing, the longer the edit will take.
 

Jrzag42

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
4,002
Reaction score
1,021
Trophy Points
138
I once spent a night editing Reservoir Dogs in chronological order, I wanna say I spent 6 hours or less, but I don't condone putting so little time into an edit. I just did that one for fun as an experiment and I have no interest in properly releasing it.



Of my two released edits, Buckaroo Banzai took me about a month, no idea how many hours but I definitely spent several days working on it for hours at a time.

John Dies at the End I spend about 6 days on, give or take, and I don't think I actually worked on it for all of those 6 days. I don't think I spent more than an hour each day, but I can't remember exactly. I'd say I spent anywhere from 5 to 12 hours on it total, which isn't very much of course, but there wasn't really a ton of work to be done, it was mostly a simple extended edition, with some slight restructuring, some light trims to make scenes fit, and some color work to get the scenes to match.

Honesty next time a start a new edit I think I'll try to keep track of the time, because I'd like to have a more accurate picture of how long these things take.
 

JosephDQuinn

Well-known member
Donor
Faneditor
Messages
182
Reaction score
202
Trophy Points
63
AS almost everyone else has said, some edits go quicker than others. It just depends on what you're trying to do and how complex of an edit it might be. Sometimes I know exactly what I want to do, as was the case with my Iron Man 2 and X-Men 3 edits, which both took me about a week. But then I spent about 2.5 years on a Star Wars prequel edit.

I'm currently working on an Incredible Hulk edit that's hit close to 6 months since I started it. The biggest reason it's taking so long is that I just don't enjoy watching that movie nearly as much as others that I've worked on. So I'm not consistently coming back to it and will let myself start new projects in the meantime.
Another edit I'm not rushing is a "proper" Terminator 3. Some time ago I decided I wanted to make a totally new 3rd Terminator movie that would combine elements from all of the movies that came after T2 (Rise of the Machines, Salvation, Genisys, Dark Fate). But all I've done so far is use the Dark Fate opening and have it cut to John Conner waking up from a bad dream in Rise of the Machines. I still have no idea what the narrative through line would be, so I haven't done much else. But someday when I get in the mood I will go back to it!


I've found that giving myself a healthy break from certain edits before going back to them helps me see what's working and what needs trimming / adjusting. Especially with audio edits!
 

Last Impressions

Well-known member
Donor
Faneditor
Messages
792
Reaction score
383
Trophy Points
83
I've been working for two years on my Mandy edit but realistically i've probably only spent about 3 weeks combined editing. The rest has been learning titling sequences, finding suitable music, finding suitable additional scenes. I really recommend sitting on edits for a while. i have come up with so many additional ideas that i would never have incorporated if i released it 18 months ago..i suppose i could have done a version 2 but it would have been a drastically different edit back then.

I already have ideas for a new Ad Astra edit. ..i am not sure it will be a version 2 but more of an additional edit. I am looking to incorporate a few of the voiceovers and more Liv Tyler and man i would be in heaven if i could just get Brad Pitt on the rocket to Neptune without hijacking it (such a stupid scene)
....we'll have to see how it pan's out.
 

PanteraSteel

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
422
Reaction score
439
Trophy Points
73
I was just curious to hear how many hours,days,weeks,months some faneditors have spent on their projects. Obviously projects like Adywan's Star Wars revisits take a huge amount of time. What's the shortest and longest time spent roughly on some of your edits

I'm kind of a rookie. I started last January but my focus has been all on fan fixes which is mostly adding in deleted scenes and simple things like that. So far I have one 4 hour film I've been working on for a year. Another cool fan edit I did took one weekend (deleted scenes simply reinserted). So I guess it depends on what someone is doing.
 

The Scribbling Man

Tenant of the Tower of Flints
Staff member
Donor
Faneditor
Messages
4,644
Reaction score
2,416
Trophy Points
148
Edits take [insert amount of time] to complete. <<< this is objectively true.
 

Bodrick

Member
Faneditor
Messages
14
Reaction score
11
Trophy Points
23
I was just curious to hear how many hours,days,weeks,months some faneditors have spent on their projects. Obviously projects like Adywan's Star Wars revisits take a huge amount of time. What's the shortest and longest time spent roughly on some of your edits
I've been working on my edit for about 2 and a half years now. Although it's been on and off, sometimes I take a break from it for a couple weeks or so.

Although probably the last year has been the "almost done and just polishing" phase
 
Top Bottom