FEATURES
A Curriculum in Cutting
AFI Conservatory's Hands-On Editing Program
by Laura Almo
 Members of AFI Conservatory’s Editing faculty, from left, Phil Linson, Brian Chambers, Martin Nicholson, Lynzee Klingman, Howard Smith, Farrel Levy, Donn Cambern and Stan Salfas. Photo by Deverill Weekes |
Scott Jacobs sits in his editing room on the American Film Institute (AFI) campus in Hollywood going over the latest cut of 15-40 with director Christian Bagger. Jacobs and Bagger have been collaborating for several months and they are getting close to locking picture. The film tells the true story of Danish tennis player Kai Hansen, who was caught in a moral conflict during World War II.
15-40 is one of 28 thesis films that will be completed this year at the AFI Conservatory, a two-and-a-half-year Master of Fine Arts program that distinguishes itself from most other graduate programs because students enter in a specific discipline. As far as the faculty, administration and students are aware, this is the only program in the country that offers an MFA in Editing. While the other disciplines have 28 fellows, the editing program has 14, thus giving the editing fellows the opportunity to work on twice as many projects.
The Conservatory style of the program is designed so that fellows learn by doing. (They are called fellows, not students, because AFI is a conservatory, not a school.) It is a hands-on editing program designed to approximate the atmosphere of the professional world.
 Bruce Green. |
This has been part of AFI’s philosophy since its establishment in 1969, when Frank Daniel, the first dean of the conservatory, shared his vision of giving people real-world experience. Daniel’s legacy of learning by doing has produced some of the industry’s most distinguished filmmakers. The editing discipline started in 1991 and since the first MFA in Editing was awarded in 1994, AFI has led the way placing editors in a professional capacity. Editing fellows are consistently nominated for the American Cinema Editors (ACE) Student Editing Award, and have won four of the past seven years.
Fellows come into the AFI Editing program extremely focused; unlike other graduate programs, where students concentrate on many aspects of filmmaking, AFI fellows spend the entire time editing. The conservatory’s approach is in the classic Hollywood tradition and, while some have worked as assistant editors or perhaps editors in sports and trailer houses, all come with the desire to better understand the art of narrative storytelling. Perhaps less anticipated but just as critical to being successful as an editor, they learn the art of working with others. Collaboration and communication are hallmarks of the AFI program.
Experienced Faculty
The strength of the Editing program lies in the expertise and commitment
of the faculty, all of them Editors Guild members as well as preeminent
editors with a wealth of knowledge and experience. Their collective
credits include Easy Rider, GlenGarry Glen Ross,
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Lethal Weapon
III, The Princess Diaries, Blazing Saddles,
Dirty Dancing and the television series Shark. They
are professionals, working during the day and teaching classes at
night.
 David Cook. |
“It is just fabulous that people like Farrel Levy, Howard Smith and David Cook, who are working during the day and come here at night to do these classes,” says Phil Linson, Vice Dean, Production and Post-Production, Director, AFI Sony Digital Arts Center and Senior Filmmaker-in-Residence. “They bring a focus and intensity from the real world. They love interacting with the fellows. It keeps their juices flowing too, so it’s just been a great thing.” Instructors also arrange times when small groups of fellows come down to see them in their film or TV industry cutting rooms.
During their two and a half intensive years at AFI, editing fellows work on eight films. Fellows have described the program as having a “deadline mentality” where they’re editing all the time. By the same token, fellows recognize that this gets them in shape for the real world––where long hours, pressure to finish cuts on deadline and exhaustion are de rigueur for an editor.
Year One
The first year is based on the Cycle Projects, four-day shoots for
which fellows from each of the six disciplines [Directing, Producing,
Screenwriting, Cinematography, Production Design and Editing] team
up to make a film. Each editing fellow will cut six of these Cycle
Project films his or her first year. They will also participate in
screenings and discussions for all the other films. At the end of
their first year, the editing fellows will have screened, analyzed
and critiqued 84 projects.
The second-year editing fellows will cut two thesis projects, spending more time with the team in pre-production. They also meet one-on-one with an editing mentor throughout the process, learn the job of the assistant editor, and are introduced to the wider world of post-production: dealing with film labs, telecine houses, sound houses and color-correction facilities.
Technical mastery and the expansion of post-production knowledge is a fundamental part of the AFI program, so before the editing fellows begin the Cycle Projects, they must become fluid on the Avid. To this end, they go through Avid Bootcamp, a month-long intensive Avid training, with senior lecturer and technical guru David Cook.
“We want operating the Avid to be an afterthought,” explains Cook, who covers every aspect of the nonlinear editing system from logging tapes and batch digitizing to RGB, color correction, and different workflow scenarios. “We want them to understand not only what buttons to push but why they are pushing them.” “And we want them to know how to troubleshoot––because the fact is, they will run into problems out in the real world, and we want them to be prepared to fix them,” he says.
Cook teaches the Avid from top to bottom. When the first round of Cycle Projects begins, the editing fellows are ready to work on story rather than struggle with the system. “It would be like many, many hours of practice on a piano––or any musical instrument,” says first-year lecturer Martin Nicholson, ACE. “But then, we’re going to play music, which is of course editing. The instrument they use to play is the Avid––and they’re not conscious of the instrument; they’re conscious of their editing work.”
First Cut
The fellows’ first cuts are shown in class the day after the
teams are done shooting. “Right off the bat, we start talking
about what the intent of the piece is, how it succeeds and how it
lacks,” reveals Howard Smith, ACE, a first-year senior lecturer
who, along with Farrel Levy, ACE, was instrumental in shaping the
Cycle Project program and elevating the caliber of work produced by
the fellows. “We try to talk about the film in terms of the
storytelling, the character arc and the performance. We take a look
at the overall gestalt of the piece and talk about what is working
really well, what’s not working so well and what can be done
from an editorial standpoint to strengthen the piece.”
Instructors teach by example, talking about films in the way they want fellows to discuss them and pushing their students to think about what will make a successful story. Five minutes of story stretched out to 20 minutes is a common problem. “You don’t want the audience to get ahead of you,” explains Smith. “Audiences know–– either consciously or unconsciously–– when the next basic development in the story is going to take place.
“You might have what is called ‘shoe leather’––endless walking across rooms or landscapes,” Smith continues. “There might be some nice music playing, but the audience is awaiting the next beat. For example, the soldier pops out from behind the tree and confronts the peasant woman––all that walking is just keeping us from the next expected beat.”
Analysis
The fellows are required to have something constructive to say about
each film. This sharpens their analytical skills and prepares them
for the professional workplace, where editors need to be able to look
at a cut and analyze why it does or does not work, and how it can
be fixed.
Furthermore, analyzing films benefits everyone––the person showing the piece as well as all of the editors. Since there is usually at least one person from the Cycle Project Team sitting in on the session, this motivates the fellows to speak their minds in a truthful yet tactful way. “Professionally, these editors will have to have dialogue with their directors and producers to say what they need to say in as diplomatic way as possible, says Levy, a first-year senior lecturer. “So this becomes practice for the interpersonal aspect of the job of editing.”
This analysis has visible results. The cumulative process of looking at these Cycle Project exercises over and over again––and requiring fellows to contribute to the discussion––gives them a better grasp of how to tell a story. They learn how to find the POV and the tone, how to utilize cutaways and how to use subtext––some of the essential properties of story development.
“By the end of the year, the students all say they are so much stronger in their ability to tell a story,” claims Levy. “Their understanding of the underpinnings of ‘the invisible art’ becomes that much more refined.”
Fellows have a lot thrown at them the first year so that they are prepared for the second year. “We expect that they’ve developed a certain kind of vocabulary and sensitivity of how to collaborate with people, and that they have evolved and have a sense of themselves and their abilities as editors,” says first-year lecturer Stan Salfas, ACE.
Year Two
During the second year, editing fellows spend more time in pre-production
with the entire production team, going over the script and working
out potential problems. In addition to editing, they will also be
the post-production supervisors.
“These fellows are so good at discussing scripts and films and commenting on the holes––if there’s something wrong with the character development, if the transitions aren’t good, if there’s no logic involved,” says second-year lecturer Danford Greene. “Sometimes I feel like I’m in a script conference at Warner Bros. with the senior officials and filmmakers! I think they’re that good, and I tell them that.”
Editing fellow Jacobs says that he talked to the director and cinematographer of 15-40 as much as possible during pre-production. For him, one of the most challenging problems was cutting the tennis scene with its weak performances; he had to make actors who can’t play tennis look like they can.
“Defining your problems; that’s what editing is all about,” says Donn Cambern, ACE, senior mentor and Senior Filmmaker-in-Residence. Fellows appreciate the insight and little gems of wisdom Cambern imparts. “Don’t bore and don’t confuse,” he adds. “The audience has a knapsack where little glitches accumulate. Confusion comes when too many glitches accumulate and the audience says, ‘I’ve had it.’”
Cambern talks of emotional rhythm––rather than pace, subtext and editing––as the skill of cheating. Fellows love Cambern for his knowledge and encouragement. Former editing fellow Michael Sheehan (MFA 06; editor of What’s With That House?) describes a time when he was working with a director on a thesis film and it just wasn’t coming together. “Donn said, ‘I want both of you to take the day off. Go away and relax, and then come back and be brutal. Take everything out that you don’t need,’” he recalls. “This general remark did a lot. Donn was encouraging us to look at the piece with fresh eyes.”
The fellows spend the final semester (the half year) completing thesis projects and meeting with mentors, but not attending classes.
Mentors
Fellows come to the AFI Editing program hungry for feedback and individual
editing attention. Therefore, they also have a mentor with whom they
meet several times throughout the year. Mentors work with the editing
fellows, helping them through the thesis projects. First, they go
over the script before it goes into production, pointing out potential
problems, such as lack of coverage and problematic or missing transitions.
Then they view the cut at various stages in the fellows’ editing
rooms.
“It is such a joy to pass on the tools of the trade,” says Lynzee Klingman, ACE, who joined AFI as a mentor last spring and is now a lecturer. “One thing I have from all of these decades of experience is a developed eye and, when you’ve been editing a long time, you can see things fairly quickly,” she says. “I find there are tricks the fellows don’t know––pacing issues such as dead time––and I love sharing my knowledge.”
Beyond looking over the script and giving fellows feedback on their cuts, mentors are also inclined to talk about collaboration and the politics of the editing room. “A lot of times, I try to remind them that it’s a learning environment” says Brian Chambers, senior lecturer. “It’s not just about making the movie, but about the learning process. And even though they may not be totally thrilled with the film, it doesn’t negate the process.”
Whether it’s how to work with a difficult or abusive director, how to persuade a director to make changes, or how to feel that the editor has a say in the end product, even when the director makes decisions with which the editor doesn’t agree––it’s all part of the learning experience, according to Chambers. “That is a microcosm of what it’s going to be like when they get out of there,” he explains. “I try to tell them not to get sucked into personality conflict.”
Graduates
AFI feels confident sending its graduates out into the editing world
because they now understand how to tell a story and know how to conduct
themselves as editors. “The beauty of the AFI program is that
the problems that come up at AFI are the same complaints that come
from 20-year veterans,” says mentor Bruce Green, ACE. “My
goal is to get them to think in an intelligent, creative way. I’m
not leading them, but gently nudging them in their development as
an editor.”
The week before locking picture, fellow Jacobs invited Cambern and Linson to take a look at 15-40. “They were impressed with the cut and offered a few suggestions emphasizing that if something works, great; if not…then don’t use it,” says Jacobs.
Cambern is known for pushing students to constantly challenge themselves. “Try everything,” he says. “Don’t be satisfied, don’t become complacent. And always ask, ‘Can I do this better?’ I try to help the students to teach themselves.”
Utilizing all that they have learned in AFI’s Editing program, graduates have a strong foundation and can now go out into the world and make the cut!
Laura Almo is a freelance writer and documentary filmmaker. She currently teaches editing at El Camino College and can be reached at lka@alumni.stanford.org
[ return to top ]
Good Fellows
From the Mouths of Grads:
*
“The AFI Editing program gets you a greater versatility out
of the gate. When the Avid breaks down, you’ll be able to fix
it; when you get a job offer, you’ll be able to do it. Your
knowledge won’t be spotty with a lot of holes in it.”
Byron Smith, MFA 02
Editor: Nip/Tuck, Running with Scissors, Big
Love
*
“The instructors and mentors at AFI know, understand and love
storytelling. They make sure you’re equipped not just to do
the technical side, but to tell stories and feel confident to speak
your mind.”
Tom Rundquist, MFA 06
Editor: Resolved
*
“The first year was really intense. You go in head first. I
learned how to cut fast, to rely on instincts, to learn from my mistakes
and not to dwell on anything. There were some very great mentors and
faculty that shared a lot of their personal experience.”
Sarah Broshar, MFA 05
Assistant Editor: The Spiderwick Chronicles
*
“At AFI, I learned the process of putting a production together
and how to tell a story. I learned how to assess films, make critical
comments and how to challenge other people in the group to make a
better piece.”
Josh Noyes, MFA 04
Editor: All the Boys Love Mandy Lane
*
“I came to AFI with a documentary background, so of course I
was thrilled to edit narrative. AFI showed me that story is the bottom
line, regardless of genre. And through the relationships started during
my time there, I have been lucky enough to remain constantly involved
with great projects in both areas.”
Eric Potter, MFA 05
Assistant Editor: Midnight Meat Train
[ return to top ]