Editing A Documentary - Workflow Organisation & Project Setup in Davinci Resolve

Learning to edit a long-form documentary is something that doesn't come overnight, but a clear workflow and great asset management will help you organise your source footage in a way that leaves your brain free from clutter, so it can focus entirely on the creative side of editing. In this video I show you how I structure my project within Davinci Resolve for long-form documentary style films.

View the final documentary here:

Free Video Editing Assets:

Chapters:
0:00 - Documentary Editing Workflow Intro
1:04 - Documentary Teaser (Ora King - Our Story)
1:40 - Dailies Management - Media Pool Folders
4:40 - B-Roll Stringouts
6:17 - B-Roll Selects
7:22 - B-Roll Themed Breakdowns
9:55 - A-Roll Stringouts (Interview Sync)
11:30 - Transcribe Interviews As Markers (Using Edit Index)
14:26 - A-Roll Selects (Interview Selects)
15:15 - A-Roll Sync Pulls (Themed Interview Selects)
16:40 - Recap & Summary
18:45 - Creative Editing & First Draft
19:41 - Wrap Up - Thanks!

Simon Says Transcription Software Mentioned:

⏩ Let's connect on LinkedIn:

⏩ & on Instagram:

========== Equipment ==========

I use this software for all of our Production Quotes and Estimates:

I use Rev for all the transcriptions and captions in my videos:

I get all my music for films and videos here:

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[CleverProgrammer]

DUDE. You are a legend. Thank you. I am currently working on doing a documentary style video and I feel so overwhelmed. I have 140 hours of content and it's been a nightmare to tell a story! Thank you!!!

[martiiroma]

This is probably one of the best workflow breakdowns I have ever watched and definitely a must-watch for every assistant editor out there. I have enjoyed it and learnt so much from you. Joshua, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much.

[eraism]

This video is forever pinned in my brain, to remind myself that every project, big or small, needs to be this thoroughly organized. Thank you for everything you provide the community.

[MercateerGeo]

This "tedious" stuff dealing with data management/organization is so valuable, thank you for making the effort to share your workflow!

[cknopik]

This is a great breakdown - a lot of work at the start but certainly worth it down the line

[uualid]

Fantastic video... just blown away by how in-depth this goes. The marker/transcription tip is a gamechanger 🤯

[codyandvictoria]

Amazing video here. A bit more in-depth than what we need, but super helpful and picked up a bunch of tips. Would love to see that part 2

[cirea]

amazing. it took me two years of experience and research to get where you just presented in 20minutes. so good.

[calebkingi]

Brother, just made the switch from PP to Resolve and was going mad on how to have a nice workflow. Your vid came up, wow man you've saved me a ton of time. Coffee on me when I'm down your ways or when you're up here. Much love

[robert_hanna]

This was literally one of the best tutorials I've ever seen on YouTube. About to dive in to editing my first long-form doc and will be using this as my guideline. Thank you!

[GymNationOfficial]

It's so overwhelming, i hope they pay well for this long hard work

[kahying_]

I don't even do documentaries, but really enjoyed learning your workflow and your way of talking through things clearly. Thank you for sharing so all of us can learn!

[jamesstephenroberts]

This video deserves 10x the views, incredibly valuable 🙏🏼

[ItsMeChickpea]

This was incredibly helpful. I've been stuck trying to start my documentary on thru hike of the Pacific Crest Trail (6 months worth of content) for almost a year! This is a very insightful video to help organize my workflow and start creating a story. Thank you!

[nicolaspodesta]

Hey mate. I think this is the most valuable video I've ever watched about video editing workflow. Thank you so much. I'm taking that "transcribe technique with me. Cheers!

[julers]

This video is AWESOME! I just found out about Simon Says doing Transcription in DaVinci Resolve, which I am just learning, so went searching for a video on how it works, You've shown us how to use it, along with the whole documentary organization and workflow. Exactly what I needed to know! THANK YOU!!

[tanyadolinari]

Organising everything is the tedious, boring part of the process but you have helped me so much with this lesson.Thank you very much, Joshua. Tanya.

[knuckleball]

OH MY I am overwhelmed just by seeing your Da Vinci Resolve Timeline. Let alone the Raw data you have.

[JeyakanthanNitharsan]

Hi Joshua Kirk. I just start watching this video, I’m in the beginning. Before finish I decide to leave my comments because. This one I search for long time. You gave us a great lesson us. Thanks. Well done.

[felixbub]

oh wow you just saved my life with this one. I just came back from an 3 months expedition to Greenland beeing totally overwhelmed by the amount of footage we took. I was searching for something like this for soooo long and couldn't ind any useful tips