Roisin Tobin Edit Series Power of the Cut 2023

This edit series consists of three pieces of narrative, commercial and documentary editing styles.

Narrative: (Trance) Using footage from the EditFest 2021 collection, the narrative unpacks the emotions of a woman reflecting on the escapades from the previous night and understanding our relationship to memories, grappling with the feelings of fondness as well as loss that they can bring about. (Footage shot by Alex Cook)

Commercial: (Dramatic by AF) Fictitious perfume brand AF is marketing its new line of perfume Dramatic, while also subtly commenting on the excess and intensity of conventional perfume advertising.

Documentary: (Louder than Words) In an interview with Finn Corr and Jakob Schuster, co-writers and co-directors of the play I Said Too Much in a production by the RMIT drama group, the RedActs, they discuss their inspiration for telling this story as well as what it’s like to see their vision come to life.

I really enjoyed this studio, and I feel I got a lot out of it regarding learning about editing styles, my own editing style and filmmaking, and what work I want to do in general. In my initial post, my aspirations for this studio were to learn about the different styles of editing, the impact editing has on media creation and the ability to apply knowledge learned through editing to other visual and/or audio pieces. I believe this studio gave me all of those, allowing me to focus on the technical side as well as the stylistic side of editing and coming out with high quality work to present to potential employers, and adding to a portfolio. It challenged my ideas about editing and has encouraged me to focus on the edit in filmmaking and, even though you’re not supposed to see good editing, reflecting on the significance of the editing in media and considering the choices of the editor. I felt this was a good thing to try out with my narrative piece, as I was working with footage that was already shot, so I could make the work my own through the post-production side of things, which was an exciting and different experience for me. I also believe this studio will help me in future filmmaking, as I think being able to think with the brain of an editor is a valuable tool both for writing, filming, and editing your own stuff as well as working with other people on a production team. I was able to show this through my documentary and commerical piece as the footage was my own, so I was able to make choices in the production from an editing perspective, such as continuity and the ability for different footage to tell a certain story. This studio covers a lot of content, but I think it was all hugely valuable and really inspired you to look beyond the final assignment for the studio. I’ve always found that I learn something new every time I edit, even the smallest things like keyboard shortcuts, and this studio has also taught me the technical side of editing with some valuable lessons to bring forward.