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You do get faster as you gain experiance, theres a bit less trial and error , and you may have built up a library of stock moves to use .

true

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13 seconds is 390 frames so a few hours sounds ok. 

that depends on your frame rate. 15 fps isnt bad if you dont have much quick movement in your scene.

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Learn to use the preview render option to test it rather than render ot out .

good point. preview movies are very important........which is why Im boned right now =(