Well the Toronto User Group did it again. April was their largest user group meeting yet.Maybe the largest Avid user group meeting ever. They had 426 people register and a whopping 300 attended. Is this community passionate about what they do or what? I know Peter Hordylan is for sure. Peter loves what he does and loves talking about it as well. Another job well done. The meeting was held at the Royal Theatre in downtown Toronto. They managed to get the venue, security, and projector at no charge and the Theatre made their money selling concession food. Peter also wisely enlisted the help of students from Sheridan College.
The evening started off with Avid Community Evangelist, Adam Kranitz who drove from New York to unveil Avid’s new Community web ite. The new website is all about you! A new place dedicated to Avid editors and professionals. The new community page allows you to upload and share your videos and create a personalized home page to present your work and profile. This is also where you will find blogs, forums, tips and tutorials and more. Coming soon is the new User Group page dedicated to the growing user group community where we will feature user groups and their members.
Next was a presentation by the Canadian Cinema Editor honor society, an alliance of editors who wish to promote and advance the craft of editing. The C.C.E. led by Paul Day, Paul Winestock and Rogert Mattiussi is a new organization similar to A.C.E. in the United States. The mission of the C.C.E. is to foster an understanding of the process of editing in all formats from theatrical filmmaking to new media. It also means to be a place where editors can share their experiences, encourage each other in the pursuit of excellence and recognize those in the editing community who exemplify the very best of their craft. Peter hopes to work closely with them on future meetings and events.
And finally it was time for the comedy panel. Moderated by Eric Abboud, panelists Ava Green (Red Green), Al Manson (Comedy Now! & Comedy Inc.), Mark Sanders (Boyfriend Latte) and Don Cassidy (Rent-a-Goalie) spent about an hour and a half discussion comedy editing. During their discussion they showed work from Mark, Al and Ava, which were met with laughs and cheers from the audience.
As in past ATUG meeting the Panel discussions on editing are always been a big hit!