Meet the Artist: Marika Shatova
Marika Shatova has been editing since she was a kid. After a few years of making editing video purely for fun, she started to take things more professionally, set herself up as a freelancer and regularly edited music videos and events.
She's now a full-time editor at Smoke and Mirrors London. Her pace of work has increased and the quality of her work and tools has changed over the years but has picked up invaluable experience and skills down the line
We manged to sit down with Marika for five minutes to get her to tell us more about being an editor, recent projects that she's loved, her favourite parts of the job and her advice for budding editors.
LBB> How did you get into editing?
Marika Shatova> I started creating short video montages of my friends and me when I was still in school. I first got introduced to Final Cut Pro during my A-levels. I spent a few years volunteering and creating youth group promos and later started freelancing, editing music videos and events.
LBB> What’s your favourite part of your job?
MS> My favourite part of the job is creating a project from scratch and finding a way around problems - there is never a straightforward edit. I always enjoy working with different creative directors. It's great to work with people who respect the artistic contribution of the editor.
LBB>Which recent project did you love being a part of and why?
MS> I really enjoyed working on the last social media spots for Toyota 's 'Feel The Energy' campaign. I like working with different formats and this one focused on having different footage running across three screen splits. It was challenging but I think the final look was aesthetically pleasing and demonstrated a different approach to showing cars.
LBB>What advice would you give to someone starting out in editing?
MS> Editing is more than just learning the software. Adapting a personal preference and style is crucial. I like exploring and learning about other software tools that could help enhance my workflow. I am fully converted to Premiere, and I find it super intuitive and user-friendly. Moving images do not just flow naturally, there is always a story and flow that engages the viewer. It can be as artistic as you want it to be.
LBB>What’s your favourite anecdote or quote that you've heard uttered from a client/colleague?
MS> I love it when someone tells me how to do my job! I recently had a client say "Well you'll just cut here...move it there...shouldn't take you too long."
