Week 3:
On Editing

June 14, 2020

 Jonah Storr (’21) and I staring at Cedar River.

I do not know how to edit a film. 

My relationship to film isn’t nonexistent or anything – I did go to art school and have made a few short films with my friends. My first block at Cornell was film studies with Professor Mouton, and I am subscribed to at least a dozen film analysis YouTube channels. But editing is hard. Really, really hard. Attempting to convey emotion through cuts and splices and audio is difficult; I’m not trained in this, and the software can be confusing. I don’t understand how music licensing works or if ‘creative commons’ means I can use “Until We Get There (Acoustic)” by Lucius during the credits. 

The life of clients and staff at Willis Dady is chaotic, so lately I’ve focused on creating that spur-of-the-moment and always-problem-solving atmosphere through the editing process. There are awkward pauses in the film, un-seen noises, and quick cuts from one place to another. I’m trying to borrow techniques from some of the best, and some of the underrated best – watching short documentaries with similar themes on Vimeo. I am only at the film’s title sequence and it’s been a couple days worth of learning how to edit. This will be a long 4-5 weeks. I’m glad to have started now. 

Mostly though, I’m struggling with the power that comes with curation. Editing this film is a reminder of the ways all the media I consume is edited; from posts on Facebook to ethnographies I read in class. It is a humbling and difficult thing to construct a narrative from the lives of others. The stories of the un-housed in Cedar Rapids are important. I am not taking editing lightly. This is a responsibility.

Beyond editing, I’ve been collecting some B-roll footage when I can and protesting the murder of George Floyd. It has been a busy week outside of work and I am, like everyone seems to be this summer, emotionally and physically drained. 

I do love living in an apartment, though. Cedar Rapids is an interesting town; it’s got Iowa character. My life here exists solely on the southeast side – an experience I’m sure shared by other low-income residents of the city. There’s a wonderful community of people in Wellington Heights and through following around Willis Dady staff I’ve gotten to meet many of them. Through protesting I’ve gotten to meet many more. 

I wish I had more to write here! Editing is probably not the most exciting part of my fellowship experience. I’ll get back to you next week with more editing under my belt and, most likely, having filmed a few more interviews with Willis Dady staff.

Thanks for reading.

Peace out!

Feed Iowa First’s Community Garden on the South East side of Cedar Rapids.