I was fortunate to have the opportunity to take the editing workshop with Deco Dawson while he was the artist-in-residence at the CSIF. This wasn’t your basic learn-this-editing-software type of editing course; it was far more conceptual than that. This workshop was more about understanding what is possible and giving us sufficient tools to figure out how to make it a reality. The first day was spent at the computer in Final Cut Pro, but don’t confuse it with a course in how to use Final Cut Pro. Yes, Deco was showing us how to use certain elements of Final Cut Pro, but the whole time he was comparing the digital editing that he was showing us with traditional editing techniques of in-camera effects and optical printing.

One concept that Deco discussed that was new to me to was to think of film in terms of single frames (it’s quite possible that I’ve been told that before, but this was the first time it sunk in). For example, if you wanted to slow a film down using traditional editing, you would use the optical printer and duplicate single frames for step printing. Or, if you wanted to speed it up, you would leave out single frames for skip printing. Both of these techniques can also be used in Final Cut Pro, as well, giving you a different look than if you simply changed the speed using the normal Final Cut method. Another important idea that Deco shared and that was a light bulb moment for me was the use of layers in Final Cut Pro. I was certainly aware of the existence of layers, but hadn’t ever really made use of them. But when he compared it to layers in Photoshop, all of a sudden it made sense because I’ve certainly Photoshopped more images than I can count.

The second day was spent with the optical printer. Deco showed us how to load both the printer’s projector and camera, as well the basics of how to operate it. All of which was pretty straightforward, not that I was under any illusions that those basics were what made the optical printer intimidating. Then he went through the editing effects that we’d seen on the computer the previous day and asked us how to accomplish the same effects on the optical printer. While some of the effects took more thought than others, he certainly made his point that if you can conceptualize it then you can make it happen on the optical printer. It just takes time and patience. Or, conversely, if there’s a traditional technique that you want to apply digitally, again you just need to be able to conceptualize it and you can make it happen on the computer.

All in all, I left the workshop feeling quite a bit more confident in my editing abilities and, even more importantly, I left it inspired and excited to get back to editing the three short films that I currently have in post-production. No small feat!