Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1521956
22 C I N E M O N T A G E U N I O N M A D E By David Timoner I wasn't born with Hollywood dreams in my head. I grew up in Miami, Fla., and while I liked movies and was the editor of my school newspaper, upon graduation I was considering a career in journalism or law. That all changed in college. I went to Yale where my sister Ondi was already a junior. My first semester I took Introduction to Film Studies. I enjoyed it, but it frustrated me that it was all analysis and no "hands- on" creation. Halfway through that year, my sister received a camcorder for her birthday just as a public access television station opened in town. The station allowed anyone to edit as long as the finished products were STRICTLY BALLROOM A SIDE PROJECT AT YALE LED TO A REWARDING CAREER IN UNSCRIPTED ENTERTAINMENT available for air. We took an intro class on linear tape to tape editing and started thinking about what we'd make. We gathered weekly with friends in Ondi's apartment to watch "Beverly Hills 90210." One night we hatched a plan to make our own show. We all played different characters, including the camera who roved around like Richard Linklater's camera in "Slacker." We brainstormed and shot each episode after our weekly viewings. The result was "High Street 06511." There was not much of a plot, the sound was terrible, the acting worse, but we cranked out six episodes and learned by doing. Ondi started making more student films and asked me to edit them. After college, I moved to Los Angeles where Ondi was already working as an as- sistant by day and documenting rock bands by night. We decided to start a rock docu- mentary that we called "The Cut," but no one was interested in a film about unknown bands, so we did it on our own, part-time. I worked day jobs as a PA and later as an assistant. The hours were convenient to our nightly schedule of shooting in rock clubs. We decided to make a sizzle reel, but neither of us knew non-linear editing, so we hired a music video editor friend and got a special night rate at a post house. I was amazed by the Avid and watched our editor closely to pick up whatever I David Timoner. SEE PAGE 52