ALYVIDS: Sarah (@wraithsosolar) and Rei (@sacreifice), from my understanding this is not either of your first rodeo after Lollapalooza and other personal projects since then. How was this in terms of editing for a festival again? Was workflow better? If so, what did you change?

WRAITHSOSOLAR: It was actually much easier than other festivals I’ve worked on! I found out a week in advance who I was assigned to edit which made the entire thing easier for me. For festivals (when I can) I like to create the bases a week prior to the actual project. It saves me a lot of time and makes the days of the actual project stress free. I was able to make about 3 bases by the time Rolling Loud day 1 came around, but to complete each edit it took me about 2-3 hours. It made workflow a lot better planning ahead.

SACREIFICE: This time it felt like a breeze! I remember when Lolla came around I felt like it was my one shot that would make or break my career so I felt a lot more pressure. Plus, having no experience with editing for festivals I think I had to adapt and learn the ropes a bit. With Rolling Loud, I felt like I knew exactly how I wanted to execute it. For Lollapalooza I was super stressed, I was worried I would fail at making turnaround times because I’ve never worked so fast in my life, forgetting to eat, drink, lack of sleep; all my own fault, but it was tough. With all of that said I truly believe Rolling Loud weekend was one of the greatest experiences in my career so far! I really focused on making sure I was organized and ready to go before starting the edit. Along with being fed, hydrated, etc. I wanted to show up for myself and make edits I am proud of.

ALYVIDS: Grace (@gracesgalleri), this is your first big project—and you tackled a blend of mixed multi media every edit. What would you say the hardest challenge for you was, and your biggest takeaway of working on such a huge festival like Rolling Loud?

GRACESGALLERI: The hardest challenge for me was choosing the right clips for different parts, as I’d never edited rap performances before. Though, the amazing videography crew helped a lot with that, they’re so good! My biggest takeaway was to not overthink anything, I tried not to think too much when doing the mixed media and just go with the flow—it ended up working out, in my opinion. Also, being prepared for feedback and approval and potentially having to change anything about the edit in a short period of time was a first for me. I was worried my style wouldn’t fit with this genre, but it ended up going way better than I thought.

ALYVIDS: Alex (@x0tkin), you utilize fonts/text as a huge part of your personal edits. How was it to find the balance of when to add text for a festival edits like this? Additionally, you were able to maintain hype while using so much footage and your turn around time was pretty quick. Is there a tactic you use when it comes to sifting through footage quickly?

X0TKIN: When I was first messaged about doing edits for this year's rolling loud, Greg mentioned he thought my quick flashy style would fit the energy of the festival really well. He also mentioned the text overlays I often use in the edits on my page, so I wanted to include the same style for the Rolling Loud videos. I experimented with where and when to put the text in each edit, and found that a flickering plain white Helvetica typeface with a mosaic filter and optic compensation effect applied worked very well with each artist, and I kept the same styleacross all edits to maintain consistency. Quick flashes and masks both before and after the text, along with carefully selected SFX makes each text segment flow with the edit and fill up some frames of the video that may feel slightly empty. The quick turnaround was a new challenge for me, as I usually don’t have a specific deadline for my personal edits, but I was able to plan ahead based on the artists I was assigned and come up with ideas prior to the performances. Of course I could not have done it without the quick turnaround from the on-site videographers as well, who were amazing at getting clips, photos, and livestream sources into our shared dropboxes. There was so much great footage to use but I mostly used ~1-3 sec segments of videos with high movement from the artist and the set's activity as well such as parts where flames are shooting out or lights and lasers are flashing constantly.

ALYVIDS: What was the turnaround time for each edit? These edits were going up less than a day after the artists performed—I know how hard that can be! Were any of the ideas planned before the festival?

GRACESGALLERI: For me, I woke up around 5:30 am and finished around 12-1pm every day. So, I took around six and a half-seven hours per edit, although I finished the Slayr edit in four or five hours. I also only did one edit per day, whereas Yana and Sarah did two per day. I didn’t have any ideas before the festival—I don’t listen to or know anything about rap or any of the artists I edited for. So I went in completely blind—I prepared the audios a few days beforehand, though, after finding out which artists I was editing for.

ALYVIDS: Sarah, when it comes to building your personal voice mixed in with a brand like Rolling Loud, are there things you do before hand to make the editing process at 1 am flow easily? Or is it not pre planned and instead crafted in the cut?

WRAITHSOSOLAR: Beforehand I like to do all the typography and graphics I plan on doing for the actual edit along with labeling what I want to do for each part so when actual footage comes in, all I worry about is cutting/putting in clips as well as doing any other effects I already planned in that project.

ALYVIDS: Rei, you have been building a personal style in your own edits for years. You change your style specifically for different artists and the fandoms they cater towards. Was there any challenge in finding that balance for the rappers you edited for?

SACREIFICE: I knew that with certain artists and fandoms that have aesthetics that strike their attention, the aesthetic and attention to detail is usually a big factor when it comes to the branding of the artist. It’s what catches the fans attention along with the music, so i really wanted to focus on making edits that matched the artists aesthetic, using different effects and assets to create something the fan would enjoy and resonate with. It feels more authentic when you match your artists with the edit, adapting to whatever you’re creating and bringing it to life! There were some bumps in the road where I wasn’t sure what to do with the edit towards the end, sometimes there was limited footage to work with since they were actively adding footage onsite so it’s all about experimenting, manipulating the footage you have and having fun with it! Overall it was fun experimenting and testing the bounds of my own creativity and skill.ALYVIDS: Grace, I know you were on a completely different timezone and your style is very specific—it shines in all of the edits you created for Rolling Loud. Was there any preparation on drawings for each artist or was it all done top-of-the-dome freestyle?

GRACESGALLERI: I honestly didn’t have any prep besides, maybe, for Slayr, looking at his recent album art and noting that it’s super colorful, so I tried to include more bold colors in that edit specifically. Otherwise, I completely freestyle it as I went. I did try, however, to do less ‘girly’ doodles that I normally include in my mixed media.

ALYVIDS: My last question is for everyone—what is the main takeaway you have from working on such a big festival, and on going from making fan edits to artists and fans interacting with your work? Do you have any advice for other fan editors wanting to be a part of festival editing like this?

SACREIFICE: The main take away from working on this festival for me was that dreams can come true! It’s very surreal to get to make edits for artists/festivals for other fans to enjoy, resonate & be excited about. Getting to create on a larger scale than just an Instagram or TikTok fanpage while always being passionate about editing & being a fangirl to now getting to work behind the scenes is really something i’ve never imagined i would be able to accomplish because of it being “unconventional” in society’s eyes. But in reality there is space for fan editors in professional settings, & they are just as important as a traditional edit in my opinion. I hope it makes other fan editors feel excited about the possibility that they could do the same & to continue making art and being outward about their interests because it could land you your dream career

X0TKIN: It has been a dream of mine to edit for Rolling Loud since I’d seen the 2018 Miami Aftermovie. I think you have to have an eye for what each artist’s vibe is and what their fans want to see, that is what makes a successful edit and leads to great fan engagement. I would encourage other editors to continue putting their work out there and let it speak for itself as to why you should be given the opportunity to take part in the creative direction for festivals social media’s posts.

GRACESGALLERI: My main takeaway is that fan editing can definitely open doors for professional editing, and to just keep creating and that it is possible to eventually create for such a large scale such as Rolling Loud! I always love seeing behind the scenes of things and being able to see the BTS of the media team for such a big festival has been so cool. I’d tell others to definitely keep posting their work, they never know who’s watching their content & to be aware of what networking with others can do.

WRAITHSOSOLAR: It’s honestly still surreal to me that I had the chance to make edits for my longtime favorite artists, better yet any artist performing at such an iconic festival for that matter. It’s also so cool having one of my favorite artists who I edited over the weekend comment on one of the edits! I’ve had celebrities notice my edits in the past, but, I don’t know, it’s just different with it being on such a bigger platform and created for a different reason. Editing professionally wasn’t really ever a dream career. I’ve always done it solely cuz I like doing it, but it’s awesome to see the professional routes it’s taken me and I’ve enjoyed doing this for more than just cuz it’s my hobby (and, of course, I now hope to do even more with it in the future). I really hope more fan editors get chances like this in the future like not only for festival editing but anything editingcan be used for. Us fan editors have styles that are so versatile and should be used as a way to creatively market or do whatever!