Motion Picture Editing CTCS 335: Class Review
by Kayla Bowens ‘25
CTCS 335-Motion Picture Editing is the first class I took for my upper division Cinematic Arts minor credits, and it did not disappoint. While I had no particular interest in editing before the class, I left it with a deep knowledge of Avid Media Composer, the production process for films, and truly gained an appreciation for the number of people involved in bringing a film to life. This was a very fulfilling course that showed me a different perspective on the film industry.
Professor Yvette Amirian led this once a week, evening, three hour course. This seemed like an unnecessarily long period of time, which was daunting at first, but I quickly began to look forward to this class every week. It’s very hands-on, which was challenging but rewarding. The aim of this course was to learn how to use dialogue, music, sound, images, and special effects to tell a story. This class is about the “hows” (using the Avid, editing techniques, the grammar and language of editing) and the “whys” (editing aesthetics, basic theory and concepts behind film editing). We didn’t need too much extra equipment for this class beyond an SCA-approved hard drive and a set of headphones (I used my Airpods).
Professor Amirian’s teaching style was very much about practicing as you learn and asking for help. This worked well for me as a visual and kinaesthetic learner. Editing is difficult to teach because it varies so much based on personal style, and Professor Amirian made a point of encouraging everyone to use the foundation of the Avid techniques we learned to explore and develop our own user settings.
The first few weeks of the course were dedicated to observational and discussion-based work. We also had a great guest speaker, Jonah Feingold, who shared his experience becoming a director, and we viewed a movie he worked on with Professor Amirian. Afterwards, our professor showed us some of the alternative scenes that were not in the final cut, which emphasized how editing can significantly change the perception of a story. After every movie showing and discussion, it became more and more obvious to me that editors are so important when it comes to filmmaking, and having an understanding of editing is important even if your dream is to be a producer, director, cinematographer, or another role in the industry. Editors work hand in hand with producers and directors to get a feel for the vision of a project and make the story come to life through visual and audio effects, so understanding the language of editing is important for effective communication.
After the introductory weeks learning the basis, we spent the rest of the semester using Avid Media Composer to create our own stories using clips from 500 Days of Summer. We had complete creative freedom in terms of cutting, sound effects, and music choices. On the last day of class, we showed our final products. It was very interesting to see how each student was able to create a different story out of the same set of clips.
If you want to gain basic editing skills or have a fascination with the film industry, I highly recommend taking this class. D-clearance is required for non minors/majors, but you can contact your academic advisor for assistance or visit the USC Cinematic Arts website for D-clearance procedures.
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