How Alix Diaconis creates video for The Verge

Along with news, features, opinions and technological reviews, video has become a major part of The edgecontent. But to be great, with videos, you need to have staff who have the expertise to create the video, along with the tools that allow the staff members to increase their imagination.

Alix Diaconis is one of the directors helping to create video magic for The edge. We talked to Alix about what she does and what tools she uses.

Alix, what are you doing for? The edge?

I’m one of the video directors for The edge. I start every day with my three co-workers (but really friends) to create the videos The edgeYouTube channel. Sometimes deadlines quickly Because technology and news are fast, but our team has been working together for years, even live events feel seamless and fun. We shoot everyone, take photos and edit; then the video is treated by our audio and graphic wizards. Then bam, to the next one!

What hardware and software tools are needed to produce a video for a website? The edge?

It really varies from video to video. For some videos we will stop everything while we have to do it quickly and lightly. Heck, I think we shot videos with just a GoPro.

When we go to a press event, we keep it very light with a monopod, lavalier microphone and a camera with which we feel most comfortable. And then I’ll edit it on my MacBook Pro.

But mostly we take a bigger kit with an HD monitor, a slider (which helps you track shots), maybe a drone, when we shoot on the spot. And when we do the big things, like a flagship phone review, we want to bring everything to the fore, including a probe lens like the Venus Optics Laowa to make intro shots like this.

As we upload videos for our work, the internet uploads fast very easier. We also have a shared server, so we have access to our terabytes and terabytes at all times.

Oh, and also teamwork. Lots of teamwork.

What specific hardware tools do you use for your work?

For the recording, I prefer to use the Canon EOS C200 – I think it looks very cinematic – and my lens is the Canon EF 70-200mm (at least for B-roll). Sometimes I use the Sony A7S II or III, which looks extra bright, but I’m not a big fan of Sony menus. For sound, I usually use a Sennheiser G3 lavalier or a Zoom H6 recorder. For photos I use the Canon 50D.

For post-production in The edge offices, I would edit on a 27-inch iMac, which should be expected for an upgrade. At home, however, I have a more powerful editing computer that my producer built for me. It has an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 8-core processor, 2 TB NVMe drive, a Radeon RX 580 series video card, 32 GB RAM and an Asus 28-inch 4K screen. Of course, there are always technical issues – this is part of the editing – but the computer is the best editing machine I have personally owned. (Thanks Phil!) I miss the beautiful iMac screen though.

Since video takes up a lot of space, I sometimes use an extra SSD for projects. And when it comes to headphones, I use the Sony MDR-7506, which is the only headphone I can wear comfortably all day.

And then there’s the fun, random gear: a GoPro Hero 8, an Insta360 panoramic camcorder (which we recently used for this e-bike video), a Zhiyun Crane, a DJI Mavic Pro drone … and whatever we can get. our hands up.

What software tools do you use for your work?

Everything Adobe everything. Premiere Pro for editing, After Effects for basic graphics and Photoshop for the video thumbnails. You can do a lot in Premiere, but it has its flaws and it’s not always suitable for Apple’s hardware.

What tools do you use for your own projects?

I taught myself DaVinci Resolve to use color footage. I still barely understand the program, but it makes the footage look 100x better than coloring it in Premiere. And just for fun, I shoot a 35mm film on my dad’s old Minolta camera.

What hardware and software tools would you recommend for someone just getting started?

Premiere is very common for editing. But if you want to try something for free and you have an iPhone or iPad, there is the Splice app. It’s really intuitive, but you’re limited to the extracts you have on your device. There is also DaVinci Resolve, which is free and as advanced as most paid editing software.

As for cameras, just get one that you can use comfortably! And for a computer, invest in a good one if you see yourself editing for a long time; iMacs and Windows computers are both good, and the specifications just depend on how big your projects will be. I have not yet had the chance to use Apple’s new M1 MacBook Air or Pro, but both seem like good choices if you prefer a laptop.