I finally finished editing a video!

So, I finally finished editing a video!

While this may sound like a fairly silly and inconsequential statement, in my world at the moment it is a pretty big deal. Filming and editing videos is something I have dabbled in and wanted to do for at least the last 12 months, probably longer. During this time, I have filmed numerous events, spent countless hours watching YouTube videos, even taking Udemy courses trying to understand the basics of video editing and visual storytelling. Filming footage has not been difficult, I probably have hours of footage I have shot laying around on a hard drive in my drawer. The most difficult part has been feeling satisfied with the final product I try and create.

Many videos have been started and subsequently abandoned a few days, if not weeks later. Countless hours spent on the editing process only to feel dissatisfied with the project and scrap it all together. I usually cite some reason like “the footage I shot just isn’t good enough” or “I don’t enjoy watching this, why would anybody else”. This that I have just mentioned is probably the main reason why finishing this video feels like such a triumph. It is the moment where you break through that vulnerability barrier, instead of shielding your project from the world by abandoning it yet again, I have decided to share it. Opening myself up, creating something and being vulnerable enough to put it out into the world.

I don’t think it was ever really the quality of the footage that was the issue, instead using that as an excuse to not want to share what I created. Once you “finish” a project the hope is to share it with others, shielding myself from that “pressure” I would rather shy away from it and abandon all the work I had put in. Rather than face the unpleasant thought that the video I just created is probably not on par with the standard of video I have become accustomed to watching on YouTube.

Spoiler alert! The video I created, is most certainly not on par with the best sports content you will see on YouTube, I don’t even know if it is 20% of the way there. Is it a “good” video? I don’t know, I guess it depends on who you ask. Will people think this is the best Triathlon race video I have ever seen? Most definitely not! Do I like it though? Yes! Do I think I did a good job, given my glaring lack of experience in the world of videography? Most definitely.

Now that ladies and gentlemen, is why I am so excited at the fact that I finished this video. Not because I have created some masterpiece, but rather that I have gotten the proverbial monkey off my back. I finished this video about 2 weeks ago, and since then I have been more motivated than ever when it comes to shooting and editing video. Having finished 2 other videos from my time at the South African Ironman, with 1 more to come. I also have another 2 or 3 planned in the weeks to come.

Are these videos going to be great? Probably not, I am still brand new to this. But the pressure I was putting on myself is gone. This isn’t a story of a resounding success, I am not coming to you telling you of the success of my videos. Rather it is a story of acceptance. Accepting that to be good at something, first you need to start off being pretty crap at it and that it is okay. Posting that video was my accepting that this is the best I can do and that as long as you have tried your best and continue working hard, that things can only get better from here.