Inside the AFI Conservatory Editing Program for Working Professionals

From the HD Pro Guide Magazine archive: this Q&A first appeared in HD Pro Guide Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 2 (2014).

Ahead of the 2014 Cine Gear Expo, HD Pro Guide Magazine talked with Phil Linson, AFI Conservatory Senior Filmmaker-in-Residence for Editing, and Karin Tucker, Director of Admissions, about the Conservatory’s editing program. Fellows learn to work as editors, assistant editors and post-production producers, studying the technical, aesthetic and collaborative sides of post with a primary focus on storytelling. The Conservatory accepts 14 Editing Fellows a year.

“AFI let me learn from the best in the field and put me alongside gifted peers with an incredible work ethic.” Affonso Gonçalves (AFI Class of 1993), editor of Beasts of the Southern Wild

As head of the Editing discipline, Phil Linson teaches and develops the curriculum with the other editing faculty. His career spans film, documentary and television. He worked early on with documentary directors Agnès Varda and Haskell Wexler, and edited Wexler’s feature Latino. His theatrical credits include Deadfall, After Midnight and Sean Penn’s The Indian Runner; his sound editing credits include Hot Shots!, Tombstone and Allison Anders’s Gas Food Lodging. He also helped produce the Finnish film Leningrad Cowboys Go America.

What sets AFI Conservatory’s editing program apart?

Phil Linson: The AFI Conservatory is the only place in the U.S. to get an MFA in Editing. You spend two and a half years working as an editor, learning the technical, aesthetic and collaborative aspects of post-production with a primary focus on visual storytelling. You work with directors and producers to edit original short films that are screened and critiqued in front of your peers. And then you go and do it again!

Who teaches in the program?

Linson: We have many working faculty with decades of experience, including Donn Cambern, A.C.E. (Easy Rider, The Last Picture Show, Romancing the Stone), Martin Nicholson, A.C.E. (Game of Thrones, Revenge, Crisis), Farrell Levy, A.C.E. (Nashville, Damages, Criminal Minds) and Lynzee Klingman, A.C.E. (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ali, A River Runs Through It).

What are the key benefits for professional editors?

Linson: You get constructive criticism of your work, you critique others’ work, and you learn from your own and others’ successes and mistakes. The other benefit is networking, not only with fellow editors but with directors, producers, cinematographers, screenwriters and production designers.

What does the curriculum cover?

Linson: It’s well rounded. It approaches editing from every angle, including the technical, artistic and collaborative challenges.

Karin Tucker: Fellows develop the skills to be editors, assistant editors and post-production producers while collaborating with other team members. First-year editors work on six narrative digital projects, with instruction in picture and effects editing and in the aesthetics of sound design, creating and mixing sound on Pro Tools workstations. Second-year Editing Fellows collaborate on two film or digital projects, taking them through a complete post-production process that replicates a studio production and builds professional relationships with outside vendors.

Are there prerequisites?

Tucker: You can enter with a bachelor’s degree in film or a related field and earn a master’s degree, or enter without a degree and earn a Certificate of Completion. The program is the same either way. Most candidates have some film editing experience, as well as the life experience to tell stories. Avid is our teaching tool, so we ask candidates to have some Avid experience; if not, we require a basic class before they start.

Which editing systems and software do students use?

Linson: Avid, Pro Tools, Adobe Photoshop and After Effects, plus Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve for color correction. Final Cut and Premiere can be used for outside projects.

What hands-on projects do students complete?

Tucker: The core of the first-year curriculum is the “Cycle” projects: three narrative exercises shot on digital media, developed and produced in a collaborative process that mirrors the professional world. Each production team has one member from each discipline, and 28 teams make three short films a year. The films screen weekly for the whole first-year class in Narrative Workshop, with a faculty moderator, where Fellows get feedback from every discipline. In the second year, Fellows make their thesis films while attending classes, seminars and screenings and doing internships. AFI thesis films have been recognized at festivals around the world and with honors such as Student Academy Awards.

What are some alumni success stories?

Tucker: Recently, the AFI thesis film Interstate, edited by Franzis Muller (AFI Class of 2013), won at the Academy’s 41st Student Academy Awards, and Young Americans, edited by Lilly Urban (AFI Class of 2013), took second place at the 35th College Television Awards.

Linson: Our graduates work as editors, assistant editors and post-production supervisors. Outstanding alumni include Affonso Gonçalves (Class of 1993), Beasts of the Southern Wild; Christopher Gay (Class of 2006), Mad Men; Kayla Emter (Class of 2008), The Immigrant; and Steve Rasch (Class of 1988), Modern Family and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

More from HD Pro Guide: see more post-production coverage, and get new stories every week with the free HD Pro Guide newsletter.