How to Edit Your Project While Driving to Vegas

By Biagio on August 4, 2010 in Featured Post, Hands-On Techniques with 8 Comments

Laptop-Final-Cut-Pro-Driving.jpg

The deadline for one of the first TV pilots Joke and I ever delivered collided with my Dad flying in to Vegas. He wanted to see us, since we were “just” in L.A.

Not wanting to feel like a horrible son, or ruin our budding careers, it was time to improvise.

I decided to finish editing, create all graphics, and prep the timeline for sound mix…you guessed it!…in the car, on the way to Sin City.

Should you one day find yourself with a deadline you can’t push, a G-Raid full of footage, and an aging laptop with shortened battery life, here’s how you, too, can edit your project while driving to Vegas:

  1. You need a driver.

    2. Do not attempt to drive and edit at the same time. That could lead to disastrous results (and your driving wouldn’t be so good, either.) Thank goodness I have a wife and business partner who puts up with my shenanigans. (Love you, Joke!)

  2. A fully charged laptop.

    3. As per number 5 below, part of your editing strategy while heading to Sin City is creative power management. Make sure your laptop is fully juiced before you rev your engines.

  3. One of these bad boys:

    4. Power-Converter-Driving.jpg

    A power-converter thinggee (the technical term.) Available and over-priced at most Best-Buys. Necessary if you’re going to power…

  4. Your Firewire Drive

    5. This is assuming you can’t just fit your raw materials on your laptop internal drive itself (which would make life way easier!) In my case, I had hundreds of gigs of footage. With just one power source (the car’s otherwise useless lighter) you’ll need…

  5. A Creative Power Management Strategy

    6. Here was mine: I started with the fully-charged laptop, plugged the firewire drive into the converter, and edited away. About the time the computer’s battery was ready to call it quits (like 90 minutes later) I ejected the drive, and plugged in the computer.

    What’s that you say? No drive, no media? No problem! Time for some After FX and Cinema 4D title design (or Motion, Photoshop…whatever.) Unleash your creativity as your laptop recharges. Not the easiest thing to do, but with practice, I was able to rotoscope using the trackpad while bouncing down I-15.

    Laptop recharged? Rinse and repeat.

There you have it. Go edit your movie while charging into your own, real-life “Hangover.” Just try not to lose too much at the roulette table.

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About Biagio: Biagio married way out of his league when he bamboozled Joke into saying "I do." Together he and his wife produce television, film, webisodes, and anything else that requires no sleep and a touch of crazy. Find Biagio on Twitter: @jokeandbiagio

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  • Nicofopolous

    Maybe YOU should should actually be a reality series.

    • http://www.jokeandbiagio.com Biagio

      Hah! Only if the show co-starred a Viking-Helmet wearing newlywed named Super Nick.

  • http://www.utahshooter.com Rich Pulham

    You can get an inverter from Newegg.com, Harbor Freight, etc., that puts out about 140 watts for $30-40. Put a powerstrip on it and you can run your laptop, external hard drives and more. We carry one under the passenger seat whenever we travel.

    • http://www.jokeandbiagio.com Biagio

      Awesome! I’ve often wondered about adding a power strip, but was told bad idea. Nice to know we can scratch “Creative Power Management off the list.

  • http://blog.justinwhedges.com Justin W. Hedges

    Screenwriters, take notes on this excellent post from Biagio. I’ve harped about time management and “Taking it with you” many times, and Biagio is talking the time management gospel here. What was that, a five or six hour drive to Vegas? That’s a lot of down time if you’re a writer. Last year I wrote in the car on the drive from Phoenix to LA for the Screenwriters Expo, and again this spring on the family trip to Six Flags. You only need a few things to make it work: a driver willing to do it ALL, a laptop with power source, and the desire to make the best use of idle time.

    • http://www.jokeandbiagio.com Biagio

      Justing,
      So true. As Mr. Butchko, my 11th grade economics teacher said, our most valuable resource is not gold, not money, not oil…it’s time. Used wisely, time can make you successful, rich, and happy. Wasted time = wasted opportunity.

  • http://kingisafink.com Jessica

    Great idea! Looks like we know what we’ll e doing when we head up to Brainerd for TILT filming in September…

    • http://www.jokeandbiagio.com Biagio

      We’ve gotten a lot done in the car over the years. Editing, graphics, even blogging. Not a bad way to get more out of a long car trip at all!