The Eighth Cut

Week Eight at Zoo Media

By the start of this week, it already felt like the calm before something much busier. Monday itself was surprisingly relaxed, but everyone seemed to know the next few days were going to be packed. There was that familiar feeling in the office where timelines were about to multiply, footage was waiting to be sorted, and edits were slowly beginning to pile up.

That shift properly began on Tuesday. A new round of content for Client 2 had just been shot, which meant the editing process was starting all over again. Most of my day was spent sifting through footage, but this time the volume felt much larger because content for two different months had been shot together. To make sense of it all, I created colour coded lists for each reel and matched footage according to the colours I had assigned. It sounded organised in theory, but in reality, several concepts looked extremely similar and parts of the scripts had been improvised during the shoot, which made everything blur together after a point. By the end of the day, my brain felt completely overloaded with clips, colours, and reel concepts. I left exhausted but also determined to untangle the confusion the next morning.

Wednesday turned out to be one of my favourite workdays so far. I created two lineups for Client 2 reels from the new shoot, and I realised how much I genuinely enjoy this part of the process. There is something satisfying about shaping raw footage into the skeleton of a story before the actual edit even begins. It still feels new to me, but in a way that is exciting rather than intimidating. Later in the day, I shifted gears and worked on selecting music for some animated sections of the reels, which gave the day a completely different rhythm.

Thursday carried a mix of old and new projects at the same time. I worked on the final reel from the very first batch of content I had started near the beginning of my internship for Client 2, which felt oddly full circle. At the same time, I also continued working on a new reel for Client 4. Somewhere after lunch, I wandered up to one of the quieter office spaces filled with cushions and sunlight streaming through the windows. It was peaceful, cool, and honestly the perfect place to accidentally become sleepy after eating. After sitting there for a bit trying to fight the post lunch sleepiness, I eventually gave up and went back downstairs to continue editing.

Friday followed a similar pace. I continued working across the same timelines and focused on completing the first cut for the Client 4 reel. By the end of the day, I finally exported and submitted it, which felt like a satisfying way to close the week.

This week felt like the beginning of another cycle. New footage, new timelines, fresh confusion, colour coded organisation systems, and edits slowly taking shape again. Somewhere between sorting clips and building lineups, I realised how much more natural the process feels now compared to when I first started.

The timelines are still chaotic sometimes, but I am beginning to understand how to move through the chaos a little better.