Ergonomics for film editors

Taking note of your ergonomic habits is essential for preserving your health for a life long career, especially if you are frequently sitting in a chair, at a desk 8 hours a day. Check out these resources on good posture, pen tablets, regular break reminders and standing desks to get the most out of your working day…

Dpbestflow has some very practical and no-nonsense tips on good ergonomics such as ”the height of your desk should be about level with your belly button” or ”your monitor should be at about arms length”. Their advice is well worth heeding…

I’ve previously blogged about the importance of ergonomics and suggested using a Wacom Tablet like the Intuos 4 (version 5 has recently been released) to stop you getting RSI in your wrist and as I’ve personally found, to help speed up your editing workflow as you spend less time scrolling and clicking and just whizz around the screen with ease.

Sitting is killing you…

I’ve also recently been thinking about how much time I spend continuously sat on my butt and found this article from Lifehacker pretty motivating to make sure I take regular breaks (also to protect my eyes from ‘the plasma stare’) and get my body moving.

To help me to be reminded to get up from my desk I’ve installed this free widget called Tea Timer and set it to growl at me every 30 minutes. A quick stretch and walk about helps get the blood flowing to the brain again. Heck you could even do some sit ups and press ups if you’re not with a client!

Standing Desks

Wirecutter have a detailed overview of the options available in terms of standing desks concluding that the Kangaroo Pro, which is a portable stand that quickly transforms any desk into a standing desk (and back again) is the best option for the comparatively affordable price. If I can find someone stocking them in the UK I might just give it a go…

It is without a doubt the best addition for your current, well-loved desk so that it can easily convert from standing to sitting, and back again. The Kangaroo Pro Junior comes fully assembled: you just take it out of the box, and plop it down on your desk, and you’re pretty much ready to go. It features a 24″ x 18″ platform that serves as the base (the regular model has a bigger platform, but you probably don’t need it). The base level is for your keyboard. Then there’s a second level, which is for your monitor (the “Pro” actually replaces the top platform with a mount for a monitor, so if you have a monitor that you can mount, go with the Pro. These guys also have models that support larger monitors, as well.