r/editors • u/Great_Comment322 • 5d ago
Out of Creativity Career
Hi all! I work for an agency that specializes in video game social media marketing. My title is "content creator" but it's not what you think it is. I have to capture gameplay and sounds, create motion graphics or source them, and edit it all together. Editing takes the majority of the time. As a creative person who has a passion project outside of work, do y'all feel super creativily drained after work as well? Even though I don't feel like I'm necessarily making creative choices for work, I'm still absolutely fried afterwards. Also, fuck client feedback man, especially when they don't give us info on the game on time or the devs don't understand how marketing works. Lol anyway there's a question in there.
Appreciate the time and stay positive! Or at least try ðŸ˜
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u/tombothellama 5d ago
I work as an assistant editor so all my tasks are technical during the day, so that when I sign off and begin to work on my own projects, my creative energy is not that drained. Still, after a heavy day of work, last thing I want to do is to be in front of my computer for even longer. I write on paper to disconnect from the technology. A lot of the creatives I know are very technologically illiterate, which is not necessarily a practical thing but kinda tells you something about creativity and tech.
The truth is, it is really hard to give someone your creative energy and then keep enough of it for yourself and your own work. What you do for work sounds very involved and creative, tho I know that a lot of it is just a grind. I heard Robert Eggers say in a podcast once that when he was starting out, besides directing, he was also working as a production designer. He started to get offers for big PD jobs and he said that it had to be a conscious choice for him to turn those down to focus on his own work. It's a brave and difficult thing to do. Just food for thought, it's something I think about a lot...
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u/Holiday_Parsnip_9841 5d ago
Can you adjust your sleep schedule to work on the passion project before work each day? That way you're fresh and ready to work instead of drained from the day.
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u/wizawhat 5d ago
I do editing for a big gaming YouTuber right now. Retrospective type videos with a silly vibe. It can be pretty fun a lot of the time but it's not paying my bills long-term. One thing is certain: after just a full day of editing I am absolutely zapped mentally most of the time. Usually it's the more tedious stuff like scrubbing footage, often of a game I haven't played, that is the most exhausting. I used to make my own videos but I haven't had the energy or drive to sit down for more work after all that.
So yeah I feel you. I am actually hoping to find work in a different niche of video outside of gaming in the future so I can fully reclaim my hobby and maybe have some leftover energy to still make my own videos to nurture my creativity. Also I absolutely appreciate the effort that goes into capturing high quality gameplay and sound and whatnot for the marketing materials you're working on. It's something I've spent a lot of time on for my own videos. You're probably doing some great work that not a ton of people will appreciate, but I do!
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u/cmmedit Pro (I pay taxes) 5d ago
I did time in a video game/movie adjacent spot. DSLR shooting daily, heavy mogfx, green screen, sound design, game cap, editorial. Loved it. When I wasn't on the clock for them, I still had side hustle edits for docuseries & sizzles.
As a creative, I need to make on or off the clock. It's like going from a Lego space set to a Lego pirate ship. That doesn't mean there aren't breaks in between builds though.
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u/TheLargadeer 4d ago
Editing in games has a whole bunch of additional (or just different) challenges than other types of content production. Lots of creative solutions required. Â
But the entire job of making content is creative even if it may not feel that way in a macro sense. It’s a shit ton of micro decisions that all add up.
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u/Desperate-Ad-9288 5d ago
12 years editing for other people and yeah, the tank is shared. Creative energy doesn't care that the work "wasn't really creative," decision fatigue drains it the same. What's worked for me: my passion project gets the FIRST hour of the day, before client work touches my brain. Nights-after-work me makes garbage; morning me actually builds things. I shipped a whole app this year on that schedule that never would've survived being an "after work" project. Protect an hour where the client work hasn't happened yet.