every time i go out and shoot i come back with like 40-60 clips and then i spend the next three days trying to make something out of it. by the time im done im so sick of the footage i cant even tell if its good anymore. there has to be a better way to do this.

right now i dump everything into premiere, watch all of it, try to pick the best stuff, and then just kind of... arrange things until it feels ok. no real system. i know some people talk about editing to music first and then filling in the clips but i tried that once and it felt forced. whats your actual workflow? do you plan shots before you fly or just shoot a ton and figure it out later? i feel like the planning thing would help but when im actually out there i always go off script anyway so maybe its pointless

the planning vs shooting a ton debate is real but honestly i think the answer is somewhere in the middle. i started keeping a rough shot list ? like three or four types of shots i know i want (wide establishing, a reveal, a low fast one, maybe an orbit) and then anything else i get is bonus. that way when i sit down to edit i already have a mental structure and im not staring at 60 random clips trying to invent a story from scratch.

also and this is the one that saved me the most time ? i rate my clips in the field log or right when i import them. like immediately after a flight while i still remember what felt good. if i wait a day i have no idea which take was the clean one and i end up rewatching everything. boring but it cuts my edit time in half easy

the music first thing works for me but you have to pick the track before you even fly, not after. like i'll listen to stuff and find something that fits the vibe of wherever im going, then i kind of have the pacing in my head while im out there. the clips i come home with naturally fit better. sounds weird but it actually works, at least for shorter stuff. for longer documentary type things no idea, i struggle with those too