EditMentor: from Prototype to Beta Test
The first beta test of a new product is a surreal experience for any company founder. I spent years in its pursuit. I came up with the idea for EditMentor back when Adobe Flash was the dominant multimedia platform on the internet. At that time, my partners at Flux Technology researched the viability of building EditMentor, an online platform designed to teach the craft of video editing, with something other than Flash. Flux’s report said, “It is highly advisable to wait.” They were right.
Five years later, web-browsers have improved dramatically, and Adobe no longer supports Flash. I’m standing on the campus of Mount Saint Mary’s University with a functioning version of EditMentor that is ready to be tested in a classroom full of students for the first time. It is thrilling.
Why EditMentor
For two decades, video editing has been my passion. I’ve been a student, a certified instructor, and a professional editor. I’ve worked on projects that cost millions of dollars to produce and aired on major networks. The first company I built, EditStock, supplies practice footage to just about every top film school out there. As part of EditStock’s services, I’ve provided feedback on cuts to hundreds of budding editors. I’ve also served as a judge for film festivals large and small. After so much time thinking about editing, I came to believe two absolute truths — The craft of editing has rules, and those rules can be taught and practiced. They are the fundamental concept behind EditMentor.
Prototyping
How does one turn a concept like the craft of editing has rules, into a product? It starts with a prototype. In the case of software, a prototype is a clickable wireframe made of images created in Photoshop that a person assembles with a tool like InVision, to provide a user with the impression that they are working with the application for real. Prototyping is fun and exciting because the process moves fast and is nearly cost-free.
To validate the market for EditMentor, I scheduled lengthy feedback calls with dozens of EditStock customers, who clicked through the wireframe and made suggestions. What they loved was the interactivity. EditMentor isn’t a tutorial video that you sit on the couch and watch passively. During the prototype period, my goal was to visualize what the app would look like when it became a fully realized product.
Presentation Version
At some point, the rubber meets the road, and software development starts. At first, entrepreneurs and engineers dream up a laundry list of features that they believe are important to the product. It’s easy to get off track, bloat the software, and to lose focus on the core idea — the “absolute truths.” It is critical to focus your time and resources because your new product isn’t generating revenue. The list of todo items for even the most basic development is staggering. Programmers need to write tens of thousands of lines of code. There is a constant tug-of-war between building something now and building a broader architecture for the future.
Little by little enough of the product gets built that it’s possible to present it to the public. If I had to put a number on it, I would say that 1% of the total functionality that you prototyped gets coded. We are still miles away from real users having the opportunity to try it for themselves, but we are far enough along in the process that users can once again provide their input.
In September, I publicly presented EditMentor to a crowded room at the Los Angeles Creative Pro User’s group.
Our presentation-ready version looked pretty good but couldn’t playback more than a few cuts without stuttering.
First Beta Test
Finally, we’ve arrived at the beta test.
On the gorgeous Sunset Gower studio lot in Hollywood, California, you will find the campus of Mount Saint Mary’s Film and Television MFA program. The roof of the parking structure has a million-dollar view of the Hollywood sign. Their classrooms are walking distance to the stages where shows like Dexter and Saved by the Bell were filmed. There is no better place for this test to happen. I owe the moment to early adopters and good friends, Charles Bunce, Department Chair of the School of Film, Media & Communication, and professor Kelby Thwaits who have generously allotted class time for the test.
A beta test feels a lot like screening the rough cut of a movie to an audience for the first time. You want to start by apologizing to them, asking forgiveness for all of the project’s shortcomings, and offering to hold their hand through it, but you can’t. Nothing can replace the importance of real users trying your product in the real environment you expect them to use it in, especially when they make mistakes. This is the moment when we will finally understand how users interact with the platform.
The test did reveal some user interface confusion, which we have since addressed. Several technical challenges that arose will take a month to fix. Mostly, students commented on the lesson content, which means they weren’t too distracted by the software. What they valued above all else was the curriculum — in other words, learning the absolute truths.
EditMentor provides a fun and interactive way to practice editing. What we spent the last year prototyping, and developing should blend into the background, and become as invisible as the art of editing itself.
Road to Launch
The public launch date for EditMentor is getting close. The next step is beta testing with two high schools in Los Angeles County. A broader 15 school beta program will start in approximately two weeks. By mid-March, we will be ready for a public beta, meaning anyone can signup and try EditMentor for themselves. We will publically launch when we’re confident that our beta users are getting value out of EditMentor. We’ve added a development roadmap for the public to see, and started a news and notes blog as well. The website will debut some time near the end of February.
EditMentor is a complicated tool to build. Not only is it technically challenging, but there is no example to follow. Nothing else quite like it exists. The road between coming up with an idea and manifesting it involves thousands of decisions, and unforeseen obstacles, that alone would be impossible to achieve. Without a fantastic team like Flux Technology, and early adopters like Charles and Kelby from Mount Saint Mary’s — who believed in EditMentor enough to use it knowing that it didn’t work — none of this is possible.
