Cutting Class

*More Bonus content from the Non-Editors Talking About Editing series* Zak Stoltz is the brilliant VFX supervisor known for his work on Everything Everywhere All at Once and an all-around excellent motion graphics artist and director. Zak introduced me to Paul Rogers, the Oscar-winning editor of Everything Everywhere and former Cutting Class guest, and I thought it would be interesting to hear a little bit from his side about working on that film. Plus he’s worked with The Daniels for ages including on the Turn Down For What music video so there’s a bit more crossover. Great convo, Great guy. Enjoy.

Bonus Round Interviews, non-editors talking about editing:

Jeff Kling is the Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Das Favorite. He has previously been CCO of Lightning Orchard, CCO of Fallon Worldwide, and ECD of Wieden Kennedy among many other roles in his storied history. Jeff is responsible for the universally beloved Dos Equis’ Most Interesting Man in the World campaign, the Miller High Life Errol Morris campaign, the Arby’s “We Have the Meats” campaign, he’s responsible for that hilarious Loctite Super Bowl commercial from 2014 and in his own words he “rubber stamped” the Nike “Write the Future” commercial. And this is just the surface of all of the insane spots he’s worked on or created.

A good post-producer is hard to find. They have such a difficult job of managing budgets and clients, scheduling, finding talent for jobs and keeping everyone involved happy, fed, on track to finish and doing their best work. And to us editors they can and should be our main line of defense against clients overreaching, to deliver more than they agreed to or work more hours or whatever it may be. 

My guest, Kate Aspel,l is one of these great producers who has the ability to stay on top of a project and clients while also protecting those of us in post. I’ve had the pleasure of working with her a number of times before when she was at Artclass; she’s currently Executive Producer at Scholar, and before both she was a commercial sales rep. She’s also able to talk at length about 90s New Jersey pop punk, which is equally as important as her illustrious career, to me at least. 

She’d mentioned in passing to me a few things she wished editors knew and so I thought what a great opportunity for freelance editors to hear from the person that does the hiring- some tips and tricks for getting work.

Hey everybody, welcome to the Bonus Round of Season 1 of Cutting Class. As I mentioned at the end of Jen Dean’s episode I’m doing something a little different with these bonus episodes and I’m hoping it proves to be interesting and of value to you: I’m speaking with non-editors about editing. People who work closely with editors and likely have never really expressed out loud some of their feelings about editing and editors.

And first up is really top notch:

Crystal Moselle is the celebrated director of The Wolfpack, Sophia, The Skate Kitchen and HBO’s Betty. And though she is a director she does have some editing experience. Also since we talk a good amount about it, a little refresher: The Wolfpack is the 2015 documentary about the Angulo family, whose seven children were confined to their lower east side apartment by their overbearing father. They learned about the outside world through watching films. On one of their few breakaways from they home Crystal ran into them and struck up a friendship then began filming them for many years. The result was Crystal’s debut film which ended up winning the Grand Jury prize at Sundance and was bought by Magnolia Pictures and the rest is history. 

Stay tuned for more of these bonus episodes.

HMU @cuttingclassediting on IG

Jen Dean is a NY-based commercial editor and mother with a sharp eye, a quick wit and a love for Texan psych rock. After studying under Stan Brakhage she got her start at Lost Planet as Hank Corwin’s assistant, eventually moving on to cut her own award-winning projects from fashion to comedy to docu style and everything in between. She’s an editor’s editor and has been in this edit world for long enough to be known and respected by anyone and everyone who’s also been around long enough to know anything. 

When I began this podcast and the accompanying instagram I reposted an image of Thelma Schoonmaker on the IG and multiple people, including former guest Kimmy Dubé, quickly responded that the woman Thelma was with was also a legend herself, Jen Dean. So I swiftly got Jen’s contact and tried and failed to land an interview for many months and then the conversation drifted away; so Jen was my white whale for this season and I couldn’t close it out without her. And I’m so glad she was finally able to make time for me because we had a great chat. 

For more information and supplemental video clips visit cuttingclass.fm Connect with us on IG @cuttingclassediting

Questions, Comments, Criticism: [email protected]

Cutting Class is produced, hosted & edited by John McSwain

Andre “Dre” Jones is a Los Angeles-based editor with a flair for dynamic, stylish music videos, commercials and films. Notably among these is “Pop Star” by DJ Khaled ft. Drake (which was nominated for a VMA video of the year), Rosalia’s “A Palé,” Rosalia and The Weekend’s “La Fama,” Ariana Grande’s “34+35,” Summer Walker, Cardi B and SZA’s “No Love,’ and Bella Poarch’s viral video for “Build a B.”

There’s more actually. Like Beam - “Planet Beam”, Nicky Minaj ft. Lil Baby - “Do We Have a Problem?”, Orville Peck - “No Glory in the Wild,” Megan Thee Stallion ft. Norman - “Diamonds,” Rick Ross ft. Young Jeezy - “War Ready,” Swizz Beats ft. Asap Rocky - “Street Knock,” Pusha T - “Feeling Myself,” Wale’s “Lotus Flower Bomb” and many many others. We get into those last three a bit in this episode.

Also in this episode:

-Cutting for Cool

-Basketball and Editing

-Directors who know their VFX

-Letting Cuts Breathe

For more information and supplemental video clips visit cuttingclass.fm .

Connect with us on IG @cuttingclassediting

Questions, Comments, Criticism: [email protected]

To Support this podcast visit anchor.fm/cuttingclass/support

Cutting Class is produced, hosted & edited by John McSwain

Eileen Meyer and Aaron Wickenden are two outstanding editors who have collaborated on three major documentaries: Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, Television Event and Best of Enemies: Buckley vs. Vidal. They’re also prolific individually: Eileen previously co-edited the Oscar-nominated/Sundance Audience award winning doc, Crip Camp, and cut on the Netflix doc series The Devil Next Door; while Aaron has also cut or collaborated on such very notable docs as Becoming, Feels Good Man, They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead, Finding Vivian Maier and a personal favorite of mine: Won’t You Be My Neighbor. Together, they’ve been nominated for this year’s CinemaEye Honors award for best editing.

In this episode we discuss:

-Collaboration and ownership

-Layering emotion and humor

-Doc narrative structure

-Utilizing silence

Evan Schrodek is a Los Angeles-based TV, film and documentary editor best known for his work on the zombie-apocalypse smash hit The Walking Dead. After assisting on season four he moved up to editor on season five and continued cutting for seasons six, eight and nine.  He also recently edited the thriller series Panic and he’s soon to be known even more for his work on the upcoming Resident Evil series on Netflix.

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On this episode we get into:

- The Pleasure of Horror and cutting for the audience

- Horror sound design

- Alienating the viewer aka brutally murdering a lead character

- Our mutual love for Hereditary

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For more information and supplemental video clips visit cuttingclass.fm

Connect with us on IG @cuttingclassediting

Find Evan on IG at @evanschrodek

Questions, Comments, Criticism: [email protected]

To Support this podcast visit anchor.fm/cuttingclass/support

Cutting Class is produced, hosted & edited by John McSwain