by Viktorija Nikoloska
Videos, video editing programs, video editing apps, video marketing tools… Videos are everywhere we look around us. We live in an era when people prefer video content much more over the old-fashioned written content. Watching videos is far more interesting and funnier than reading long articles. People’s average attention span is 8 seconds, which means that you have only 8 seconds to get the reader’s attention. And this is more achievable through video content because people will more likely continue watching an interesting video rather than read an article that might seem long as an eternity.
The video editing industry is surely taking over and the processes of arrangement and manipulation of video shots are the latest trend that gets the reader’s attention better than anything else. For that reason, we decided to interview our Video Editor Svetozar Petrovic, who works at our office in Belgrade, Serbia, to tell us more about his experience with video editing for our client Rumble. Apart from being directly involved in the world of video editing, Svetozar has experience as a producer and director, too. To find out more about Svetozar’s career journey and the importance of video editing, continue reading the entire interview below.
1. Could you tell us how your Cosmic journey began? How would you describe the years as part of the Cosmic family?
I’ve been working for Cosmic since 2015. Before that, I used to work for a Serbian advertising agency. I loved that job too, but compared to Cosmic it was much more stressful. What I appreciate the most about Cosmic is that assignments are clear and reasonable, deadlines are not tight, and one’s skills and creativity are respected.
2. What was the biggest challenge when you started working in Cosmic Development?
Cosmic Development’s office in Belgrade was huge back then. I was coming from a small agency with a family-like atmosphere. The biggest challenge for me when I started working for Cosmic was getting used to a large number of colleagues and to the noisy environment that comes with large collectives and open space offices. But very soon I made good friends in Cosmic and I got a smaller office where I could work from and everything became family-like again.
3. Could you describe a situation when you encountered a technical challenge in your career? How did you overcome it?
Technical challenges happen all the time. I like to learn new things and my first impulse is to try to get to know more about the problem and solve it myself or go around it. That way you can get two things done at the same time – overcome the challenge and learn a new skill. But then again, we cannot be experts in everything, sometimes it’s more efficient if you reach out and outsource an expert on the subject to help you.
Find out how video content brought success to Rumble by clicking here
4. As a video editor, could you tell us whose work do you admire the most? What do you like to watch in your free time?
At the moment I work as a video editor for most of the time, but I am also interested in filmmaking and production, and people I professionally admire are mostly movie directors. I like to watch anything that’s good, regardless of the genre. I guess my personal favorites would be movies that work on multiple levels, that are both entertaining and deeply meaningful at the same time. It would be hard for me to make a coherent list, but names that first come to mind are Coen brothers, Sorrentino, Ruben Ostlund…
5. How do you stay updated on the latest tools and trends in the video editing industry? What video editing software have you used so far?
That is not too hard today when so much information is only a click away. There are many great tutorials, specialized news portals and forums out there with tons of useful new info every day. The hardest part is to keep pace with all the stuff because everything is constantly speeding up. But most importantly, you need to know how to differentiate between quality content and click baits that will waste your time.
I used Final Cut Pro some time ago but I am an ‘Adobe guy’ and Adobe products are my tools of preference because they offer a huge amount of options and yet they are easy to understand. There are lots of ‘Apple fanatics’ in creative industries that would look at you with disdain if you mentioned Adobe Premiere (Adobe’s primary editing software), but in my opinion, Macs are more style than substance. I am glad that Adobe Premiere has become an industry-standard now, even for high budget projects.
6. Apart from being a successful Video Editor for Rumble, do you have other experience you would like to share with us?
Fortunately enough, besides editing, with Rumble, I got a chance to do other exciting stuff such as promo videos I did from scratch – screenwriting, shooting, editing, special effects, post-production… It was a huge experience to go through all the stages of the process by myself.
7. As we can witness, your passion for video editing goes far beyond editing videos. Could you tell us more about your experience as a producer and director? How did it happen? What were your responsibilities on that project?
I got a request from Rumble to make a pilot episode for a TV show that would be based on funny viral videos. I set up a team and did the production work as well as co-writing and codirecting. The whole team, from hosts and actors to tech people, was from Serbia and we did everything here from castings to postproduction. We had a crew of around 15 people, all of whom were experienced professionals. It was a very time and energy-consuming task but at the same time, it was fun and adrenaline-filled for each and every second. Definitely the best months of my career up till now.
8. If you were to give a piece of advice to your less-experienced colleagues who are video editors like yourself, what would it be?
Listen to your client/director. The best editing job is the one that fits their needs as closely as possible. And while doing that, if you manage to squeeze in your artistic imprint – good for you. But that’s only a bonus, not the purpose of your work.
9. What do you see as your most significant professional accomplishment so far? What is your most cherished personal achievement outside of work?
That would be the aforementioned TV show pilot and a documentary short about ex-Yugoslavian workers living in Slovenia and their rights. I hope I will soon be able to fulfill my dream and make a non-documentary short movie.
Regarding personal achievements outside of work, I guess that would be some charity work I have been doing during the past few years and learning how to sail.
10. What do you like to do for fun?
To have endless coffees and discussions with my friends, to go out clubbing, and to go sailing. I dreamed of going sailing since I was at college but it seemed impossible back then. With time, sailing became more popular and available for the general public. And around the time I got to Cosmic, I was able to take a few courses and become a skipper. So I could say that Cosmic and sailing share a special connection in my life. 🙂
You can also discover how Rumble’s content editor Nick Naumoff chooses the best ideas for their website. If you need experts like Svetozar and Nick on your team, do not hesitate to contact us and schedule a free IT consultation. We will build a team for your brand!
