Gordon Thorne, a long standing member of the Toronto Avid User Group, gave his take on the user group meeting on November 27th.
Toronto User Group’s Secrets of Doc Editing panel - “Best Meeting Ever”
How do you top some amazing meetings the Toronto user group has put on? You assemble some of the best, most passionate, most celebrated, documentary editors in town and let them talk about their craft. The November meeting at the Royal Theatre saw a panel discussion entitled, “Secrets of Documentary editing” and the response from the over 100 members who attended was that it was the “best meeting ever”.
Veteran editor Gordon Thorne moderated a five member panel that included: Cathy Gulkin (“The Four Seasons Mosaic”), Craig Webster (“Just Watch Me: Trudeau and the 70's Generation”), Gerry Banning ("For Rent"), Lorenzo Massa ("Mayday") and Michele Hozer (“Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire”). Each editor presented a short clip from their work and then talked about the unique challenges of each. The range was incredible; from arts docs to reality TV to docudramas to feature length “personal journey” and issue docs. The panelists were all incredibly generous with their knowledge and passionate about their work.
Some of the subjects included: tips on structuring in the different genres; advice on the challenges of taking over from another editor; overcoming the dreaded first act; maintaining emotional intensity; and when not to overcut. The panelists even gave their favourite “AVID” tips; using the interface to create and organize. A personal favourite was the “conjoiner bin” in which you place harvested ands, thens and of courses that are used to bridge two dialogue thoughts that might not have been joined. The panelists also stressed the importance of organizing material in the documentary edit and gave examples of how each achieved that.
Thanks again to the staff at the Royal Theatre in downtown Toronto for providing a wonderful venue and projection quality that certainly has to be the best in the city for video playback.
One audience member commented the next day: “I came away from it so inspired. I stayed up half the night thinking (about it).” One of the panel members commented, “It was such a pleasure…that the only thing that would have improved it for me was if it went longer!” It seems that the Toronto Avid Community loves to share their craft.