The Second Cut

Week Two at Zoo Media

Week two began with a very honest struggle to wake up on Monday morning. The weekend had been relaxing, and the comfort of that softness made the 10 AM login feel heavier than usual. But the moment I stepped back into the office, the rhythm returned.

This week was less about settling in and more about stepping up.

The first task on Monday was a reshoot for one of our client reels, followed by diving straight into edits for the same account. I completed the first reel and then sat with the team to discuss the graphics and overall direction for the second. What I am beginning to understand is that editing rarely happens in isolation. The graphic designer designs the supers. The animator animates them. Only after everything comes together do I stitch the final version. It is a collaborative chain, and often the final assembly lands on my timeline at the end of the day. That Monday stretched until 8:30 PM, but it also taught me patience.

Technically, the week pushed me forward. I learned how to import and add subtitles using .srt files, how to clean up noisy audio, and how small refinements can elevate a reel quietly but significantly. By Tuesday, the process felt familiar. Supers. Animation. Edit. Feedback. Changes. Repeat. We exported using Command plus M, always in H.264 to preserve quality, and I even learned to use rulers properly to align subtitles. It sounds minor, but alignment changes everything.

Midweek, I realised I needed structure, so I created my own reel checklist for this client. Base sequence. Supers. Music. Transitions. Sound effects. Subtitles. Voice enhancement. Font changes. Aston. I also built a small bank of effects I kept returning to, whooshes, light leaks, right pans, crossfades. Reel three was completed that day, and somewhere between timelines and transitions, my friends and I made Maggi in the canteen microwave. It was a simple moment, but oddly grounding. A small pause in a very edit heavy week.

By Thursday, I had started making daily to do lists before opening Premiere. Create the Aston. Get feedback on reel two and three. Finish reel four. Meeting at 3 PM. The workflow felt more intentional. Feedback came in waves, adjustments followed, and by evening I had picked up work for another client as well. It felt like a quiet shift, more responsibility, more trust. I wrapped up at 7:15 PM that day, aware that the week had been full but steady.

Friday carried that same momentum. We finalised reel two, refined reel three, and I made changes for the new client project. Towards the end of the day, I was handed something I struggled with. It did not go as smoothly as I would have liked, and it was not the most perfect way to close the week. But maybe that was the lesson. Not every timeline flows. Not every task lands easily. Some days stretch you more than others.

Week two was tougher, heavier, more technical. But it was also clarifying. I am no longer just observing the edit. I am inside it, navigating the layers, solving problems, making decisions, and sometimes sitting with discomfort until it makes sense.

If week one was about finding my footing, week two was about finding my rhythm.