Cutting Class

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

Jake Burghart is a prolific editor, cinematographer and director known for his work at VICE media over the past 15 years. As one of the company’s first video hires during its transition from free magazine to behemoth news and entertainment network, Jake set the look and tone of the videos as both camera person and editor.

He got his first big break in the early 2000s shooting and editing the Against Me! documentary, "We're Never Going Home," then after joining Vice cut The Vice Guide to Travel DVD, True Norwegian Black Metal, The Vice Guide to Congo, and his own surfing shows High Shredability and School of Surf. He spent many years as Cinematographer for the Emmy Award-Winning show VICE on HBO. Our interview took place in Fall of 2020 after he’d recently completed directing, shooting and co-editing The Vice Guide to Iran and was working on a new mid-pandemic news show, Shelter in Place, with Shane Smith.

Stephanie Filo is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning editor best known for her work on HBO’s A Black Lady Sketch Show and Supervillain: The Making of Tekashi 69, among many many others. Now based in Los Angeles but having grown up in Colorado and Sierra Leone, Stephanie also cuts many social impact docs, including her own PSA “End Ebola Now” which was viewed widely, spawning dance videos from celebrities to bring awareness, and helped lead to the eradication of Ebola in Sierra Leone. She’s also cut specials like Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project, following Kim K as she works to help incarcerated people be released from prison, and finally, Separated, a short doc for which she won an Emmy, about ICE deportations and their effects on families.

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On this episode we get into:

-Getting the editing bug from watching the Se7en intro titles

-Dancing's relationship to Editing

-The imposter syndrome

-Reality vs Documentary

-Keeping your career diverse and keeping diversity in Post

-Cutting from the heart (and winning awards for it)

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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

Jason Goldwatch is a Los Angeles-based Director and Editor best known for his music videos for some of hip hop’s finest rappers. A brief collection would include Nas, Jay-Z, Kid Kudi, Common, Schoolboy Q, Pusha T, Alchemist, Evidence, Conway the Machine, Atmosphere, The Roots, Action Bronson and Kool Keith.  In this episode we trace his career, from making Beastie Boys tribute videos in high school to being the youngest signee to Spike Jonze’s production company to starting his own company and record label to now returning to being a one-man show, culminating in his recent album length video for Atmosphere, The Day Before Halloween.

A few topics covered in this episode:

For more information and supplemental video clips visit cuttingclass.fm

Find Goldwatch online @goldwatch or goldwatching.com

Connect with CC 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

Mikkel E.G. Nielsen is the Oscar-nominated [edit: Oscar WINNING!] editor of Sound of Metal and a recent BAFTA and Critics Choice Awards winner for Best Editing. He’s a Copenhagen-based feature and commercial editor, previously known for his work on Beasts of No Nation, Madame Bovary and A Royal Affair. 

In this episode we discuss:

-how he approached the edit in Sound of Metal

-creating empathy for an aggressive character

-maintaining a toolkit of skills for use on any project

-the joy of collaboration

-Why there are never mistakes in the editing room

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

Colby Parker Jr. Pt 2. The editor of Ant-Man, Friday Night Lights, Patriot’s Day, Deepwater Horizon, Hancock and the pilots for The Leftovers and Ballers talks more music, Marvel, Pete Berg and cutting action with heart. 

In part two we cover:

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.

Visit vctns.com or @vacationsonline for more info

Colby Parker Jr is a Los Angeles-based feature editor known for his high adrenaline action cutting for films like Ant-Man, Friday Night Lights, Patriot’s Day, Deepwater Horizon, Hancock and the pilots for The Leftovers and Ballers.

Some of the topics covered in part one:

For more information and supplemental video clips visit cuttingclass.fm

Connect with CC 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

Visit vctns.com or @vacationsonline for more info