“Creativity is the key to good video editing!” — Sahar Hechme

Sahar is a video editor with over 4 years’ experience. Her clients include SME businesses, influencers, fitness gurus, and many more. With over 1 million views across YouTube and social media, Sahar helps clients to grow their social presence and stand out in a competitive market.

What inspired you to become a video editor?

Since I was at school, I’ve always had a keen interest in watching movies and learning about how they were made, so I knew from early on that I wanted to go to university and major in Audio Visual Studies. Once I left school, I started the course at a university in Lebanon, which was a really interesting few years as it gave me new insight into the world of video editing. Since graduating a few years ago it’s been really nice to be able to put what I’ve learned into practice. Video editing is a job that allows me to constantly learn, as there’s always new technologies and programmes for me to get used to, which keeps it interesting!

What’s your favourite area of video editing?

To me, each aspect is special. To make a good movie or video, you need to incorporate all elements of video editing, because if one element is missing, then the whole project will end up not as it should. It’s really a combination of everything, but I do really love seeing different types of footage on different jobs. Every project I take on allows me to learn something new, and I get to see what different kinds of clients like, so that’s an aspect of the job that I really love.

If you could edit videos for one particularly industry or company, which would it be, and why?

I think events management is a really interesting industry to edit videos for, because every event is different to the next, and so each one requires a different kind of video content. Another thing I love doing is helping people build a YouTube channel, because it’s really great to be able to watch the channel grow over time. It’s a very hard question really, because I love working in all kinds of areas, but I guess right now events is a good one too, because with all the virtual events that are going on, it’s added a whole new dimension to video editing in that industry. So I would probably have to say events management, as it’s the area in which I’m learning the most right now.

What does your 5 year career plan look like?

My number one priority is to help more people with their video editing needs. Hopefully in the next couple of years I’ll be able to hire someone to help me with the projects I take on, but for now I’m just really enjoying the journey. I love to see my growth, and seeing the results that I can give clients is a really rewarding feeling. If my clients grow, I grow in a sense, and as I grow my editing techniques improve, so I just want to keep going with this path and see where it takes me!

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your career, and how did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge I’ve faced was actually right at the start of my career. After I graduated, I worked with a few production companies in Lebanon. When you get out of university, you’re still very much in a university mindset, and starting in a workplace makes you realise that the working world might not be quite what you expected it to be. The challenge for me was that the payment was nowhere near what I had thought it would be, so I felt I was working really hard and not really being rewarded for my efforts. I did a lot of different work on different kinds of productions and series, but I just didn’t feel I was being appropriately paid for my work.

The way I overcame it was by taking the leap to becoming a freelancer. I finally decided I didn’t want to run around and stay up late for companies who weren’t paying me fairly for the amount of work I was doing. As a freelancer, I can choose when I work, and I set my rates, so I never end up disappointed. It was hard at first as I had to build up a client base, but after a while, I knew I’d made the right decision, and I’m really happy with where I’m at currently.

What makes you different to other video editors?

So I always make sure to know everything I can about a project before starting it, that way I don’t have to go through loads of corrections, and everything can be delivered on time. It’s really important to me to understand the client’s vision. I think I also have a unique style, and whatever my client asks for, I make sure to give them a little bit extra, so that I can be sure they’ll love it. Adding a bit of extra creativity, that’s the key!

Find Sahar on LinkedIn here.

Interview by Lola Sherwin. Find Lola on LinkedIn here.