The past two weeks have found me sifting through mountains of political ads and movie Western clips to try and find some semblance of a common thread. This week is the American Association of Political Consultants Pollie Awards fiesta. The Pollies award good campaigns and RedEye has been charged with showcasing the video spots in an amusing way. The theme of this years Pollies is Western, so we are montaging clips from the political ads with clips from classic movies like High Planes Drifter, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, less classic westerns like O Brother Where Art Thou and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and even less classic Westerns like Blazing Saddles and even Back to the Future Part III.
When I began this project, it was with zeal and excitement, and 2 weeks later, the video has become a labor, albeit a labor of love. It has taught me that editing is never a complete process, and it is sometimes very indecisive. I have changed and changed back and changed again. I have watched this 3 minute video so often that the parts that are supposed to be funny make me want to take an ice pick to the computer. But it was all worth it – the final product, with input from numerous people came leaps and bounds from the first mess I hobbled together by myself with no direction. It has led me to imagine the importance and difficulty of editing comedy shows and movies. Given how naturally hilarious I am, I have always known that timing is one of the most important elements of comedy, but I never thought before how editors must maintain that cadence when splicing together some of our favorite comedies. Now that I’ve thought about it, this seems obvious, but there it is – I am once again exposed to the inner workings of creative endeavors I’ve taken for granted for years.
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Emily Magida was a Spring and Summer 2012 RedEye Intern
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