Joey Leong - Video Editor

Chapter 1: "What Brings You Here Today?"

My professional career began as a humble Video Editor.

I joined Edge Media Consultancy Pte Ltd fresh out of my mandatory two-year NSF term. You may have wondered why a diploma graduate in the Arts and Theatre would choose a career in media.

To put it (perhaps, over-)simplistically: I needed to put food on the table, and graduates in the arts and theatre usually don't have the luxury of a steady income within sensible working hours.

I also love film and video.

A pivot is, therefore, required - One that I can use in a corporate sense, yet still allows me to exercise some form of creativity.

I still remember the interview with Edge Media's Creative Director:-

"What brings you here today?"

"I have no experience. I just need money, and I would like to pursue a career as a video editor. Let me edit videos for you."

"I don't know if I can trust you, but I'm betting on your promise to grow. Don't disappoint."

Probably not the most optimal or sensible way to answer interview questions, but I'm glad someone took that bet on me.

Being at Edge Media Pte Ltd was not easy. My days were filled with the chastisement of lacking ' the fundamental eye of creative design', and spending hours learning the tools of the trade, like Googling and meddling with the Adobe suite.

I also learnt the basics of corporate storytelling, including how to write video scripts and juxtapose sound bites to present the different narratives our client desired.

Walk with me through the beginning of my professional journey.

---

What is Edge Media Consultancy Pte Ltd?

Edge Media Consultancy Pte. Ltd. is a media firm that creates engaging content through visual storytelling. It has collaborated with companies such as L'Oréal, Microsoft, and AIA.

During my employment, Edge Media served as DBS's acting vendor, producing corporate videos as the bank undertook a company-wide drive to digitise its operations and train staff to focus on digitisation.

How was I Involved?

Digital Content Specialist - AKA Video Editor
Jul 2017 - Sept 2018

I edited videos for clients such as DBS Bank, supporting their digitisation drive and campaigns, and apprenticed under the Creative Director, developing skills in corporate video editing, storyboarding and storytelling, website development, and vector graphic design.

More About DBS Bank

DBS Bank is a multinational banking corporation headquartered in Singapore. It operates in many markets, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, India, and Indonesia.

In my opinion, they were trailblazers in digitisation, bringing their consumers and staff online before COVID.

---

My First Completed Video

Much is considered when creating videos. The very first task for my first video was to conceptualise the visual presentation of the title, which I failed terribly (I did not manage to document the mock-up, but it was an ugly rendition of a giant rectangular memo pad in purple and an oversized pencil with the words "KIDS AT DAX" layered between the visuals).

"...Good, um, attempt" was my Creative Director's reaction before he delegated my task to thinking about how the video should begin instead.

This became my first foray into 'telling the story'.

I had all of these files, these snippets of kids giving their two cents about what "innovation" and "technology" mean. About what they think they're "going to do today".

I learnt that every video starts with a 'hook'; the first three seconds are important to:-

a) set the context or scene for what the video should be,

and b) entice the viewer to watch on.

I haven't even gotten around to thinking about what the video should 'say', i.e., what the captions should be. But I definitely started something along the lines of: "Kids gathered at DAX to create makeshift robots with their family. It was a fun and fulfilling day".

"That won't do. Lacks story."

I did not possess the experience - the acumen - to suggest sneaking in the snippets/responses in the beginning for the viewer to wonder, "What was the question?", which was later ultimately advised by my Creative Director.

So, what did I achieve personally with this video? Nothing much except for the subtitles. Most of the other aspects of this video, even the transitions, how the captions are animated in, and even the visual representation of the title, were finalised and made by my Creative Director. He had to step in to finish what he'd assigned me.

I thought I was going to get fired on my first day, but I left for home with a reminder that I've got a long way to go.

Creating your first video is clumsy work, yet the 'clumsy' must be accomplished. You must finish the first ugly draft, even if it's shoddy.

---

What is DigiFY?

DigiFY is an internal, company-wide initiative designed to train and prepare DBS employees for digital transformation. The initiative includes 7 individual "pillars" focused on digital skills, from an Agile way of working to compliance and big data handling, empowering employees to create new digital solutions that improve every DBS customer's experience.

DigiFY Video Sample

Every new video project becomes an exercise in 'How can I make this next one better?' and 'How can I streamline creating this without doing it from scratch?'. With DigiFY as an initiative with different pillars represented by different colours (as you can see in their logo), the concepts of 'Branding' and 'Treatment' come into play.

Soon, I discovered websites like Motion Array, AEScripts, and animation tools like Motion V3 and Mister Horse, where I could browse Premiere Pro and After Effects templates, identify the visual elements I wanted that fit the brand, and apply preset animations instead of painstakingly manipulating keyframes.

This overlay here, a text animation there, this font alongside how a particular transition works, and I learned to 'kitbash' various templates to serve the brand and the corporate storytelling.

By the time the DigiFY Launch n' Learn video is produced, I'm proud to say at least the opening intro and lower thirds were produced on my own without supervision.

At this stage, the Adobe Suite has become my playground. Integrating vector files from Illustrator into After Effects became an everyday task, and hand-remixing music in Audition and Premiere Pro took an hour out of my daily workflow.

I also managed to learn to piece together shots to create a cohesive narrative by drafting simple storyboards before commencing edits, identifying key sound bites to include sensibly in the timeline, and familiarising myself with the key flow of any and every video, in that every video has a Hook, Content, and lastly, Call-to-Action.

As I learn to edit videos, I'm also learning the fundamentals of marketing and communications.

---

What is UNI.CORN?

UNI.CORN is a tech-driven university programme by DBS. It spans 12 weeks, during which students immerse themselves in a tech-savvy environment and solve complex business problems by creating innovative digital solutions. Participants work on projects with mentors from DBS and will 'graduate' by presenting their business solutions to a panel of Singapore's tech leaders.

UNI.CORN Video Sample

While projects from DigiFY served as a training ground for safe corporate video editing, UNI.CORN videos pushed my understanding of how to apply creative concepts and storytelling to their limits.

Because the UNI.CORN initiative involves university students undertaking high-energy, high-concept projects, the videos produced must reflect the essence of its branding while telling the story of each university student's experience over their 12 weeks.

You would notice the lower thirds have this 'wobbly', almost liquid-like feel. I got this by buying plugins from AEScripts and incorporating them into my After Effects workflows.

By the time I completed the UNI.CORN Journey 2018, I could propose how each video flowed alongside its accompanying copy. This was also when the idea of pursuing copywriting full-time began to take root in my career planning.

---

What is Imaginarium?

DBS' Imaginarium is a talk series that encourages innovation among DBS staff. The series invites tech professionals to share ideas and solutions.

Imaginarium Excerpt

I'm sometimes assigned projects like Imaginarium, where I listen to full lecture sessions from Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), write out salient titles/points, and place them on placeholder frames, leaving space for the DBS production team to add their own slides.

These projects, though less interesting, reminded me that we all need some form of mundanity. The brain must rest sometimes.

---

Reflection

Working as a creative professional for the first time, especially for a creative media SME serving a mega bank like DBS, was quite daunting. Nevertheless, it was fulfilling and interesting to see that I was ultimately able to influence the quality of the company's visuals and videos and, in turn, be a cog in the machine driving a company-wide initiative to go digital.

Looking back, I count myself fortunate to witness a bank embrace a world moving towards the pinnacle of technology for the time, and that - thanks to the watchful eyes and mentorship of my Creative Director - my time creating quality, corporate-storytelling-worthy assets and videos had become the bedrock of my career as an effective Communications professional.

As the bank embraces the winds of technological change, so must the humble video editor embrace the idea that the only constant in anyone's life is change, and if my time witnessing DBS' initiatives like DigiFY is any indication, technology is here to stay and should be the primary focus on how to ride the waves of this humble video editor's career. A mental note: I must be comfortable navigating technology and its developments.

Aside from the hard skills, I moved forward in my career knowing that great work comes from taking bets on people. If they believe they can do the work and you give them a chance to prove themselves, you might not only provide a springboard to launch their careers but also create favourable outcomes for the projects and work required.

---

Bet on Me

My Other Works