A few weeks ago, Robert Ryang’s remixed Shining trailer exploded onto the internet with surprising force. Six days after it first appeared, it remained the single most popular link among bloggers. Two other trailers from the same contest, West Side Story and Titanic, also reached the top ten.

All three of these trailers were assembled for a contest sponsored by The Association of Independent Creative Editors. According to its website, members of AICE “edit over 85% of all television commercials post-produced in the U.S. and thus play a significant part in the $5 billion television commercial industry.” The success of the Shining trailer has helped raised the profile of AICE in particular, and video editors in general.

Soon after the video emerged, I sent Robert a short list of interview questions. He was kind enough to take time away from a sudden rush of calls from Hollywood executives in order to answer them. In the following interview, he sheds light on his creative process, his experience as a video editor, and the prize he received for winning the Trailer Park contest.

What do you do for a living?

My day job is as an assistant to a commercial editor at PS 260 in NY. It’s the first and only real job I’ve ever had since graduating college.

What do you want to do for a living?

I’ve always held artistic and professional ambitions to create feature films and video work that are entirely my own. I enjoy all aspects of filmmaking so I can’t really say I only want to specialize in one craft and only that.

How did you come up with the idea for this trailer? Did you have a eureka moment of inspiration?

I originally edited the Shining trailer for an annual contest open to assistant editors, thrown by the New York AICE.

Immediately, I had the Peter Gabriel song and the image of Jack Nicholson together in my mind, and it just made me crack up. However, when I watched the movie, there were so few touching scenes (Danny never smiles once and Jack’s smiles are deranged), I thought a good re-edit would be impossible for me to pull off.

I then started to turn my attention to the John Wayne classic Red River, intending to fully exploit the protagonist’s masculinity, and recut the film as a homosexual romance.

My initial Shining idea kept making me laugh though so I became determined to watch it again, which is when I saw more potential.

How long did it take you to put it together?

I watched the movie twice. Once I had my ideas, actually assembling it only took a weekend and a couple of weeknights.

You won a contest with this video . . . what did you win?

I won Avid Express Pro HD which is like the Avid version of Final Cut. I also got a cool trophy which is a little mini trailer that I get to keep for a year, like the Stanley Cup.

Did you expect this video to attract as much attention as quickly as it has? What is the best piece of feedback you have gotten?

I only posted it on a backdoor site on the PS 260 server so that two friends could see it. My buddy Dustin Stephens tossed the link on his blog so I can only assume that he was the host monkey. Most e-mails I’ve been getting just tell me that I made their day or that I made them spit coffee all over their computer monitors, which is simply amazing to me. Supposedly Jack Black really likes it, which is incredible, because he’s hilarious as hell.

Have you heard about any concerns about copyright issues in regards to these kinds of recut trailers?

I was told to consider the trailer “fan art” by the AICE and an entertainment lawyer. As long as no one’s making any money, I think we’re cool.

How closely have you been following all of the postings about Shining?

I haven’t personally been following the postings, but my friends and co-workers let me know whenever something unique happens. On CNN Money, the PS 260 website was the “Fun Site” of the week, and one of the veteran anchors remarked that some people have too much time
on their hands.

What kind of training or experience in editing do you have?

I’ve been an assistant editor for over two years now. I taught myself Final Cut in college and Avid when I started at PS. Over the past five years, I’ve edited several of my own as well as some friends’ short films. I’ve also cut together a couple of television spots and music videos.

Many people have noted that your trailer demonstrates the importance of the editing process to video and film making. What misconceptions do people have about the role of an editor?

Well, the extent of the editor’s role depends on the specific project and the collaborators involved. Sometimes a director will just drop a mile of footage in your lap and say, do your thing. Other times, he or she will sit shotgun at the editing station and play the backseat driver.

What filmmakers, and/or video editors, do you admire? What is your favorite film?

As much as I’d hate to single out any era of film that I admire the most, I’d probably have to say American movies from the 70’s. I love The Conversation, Chinatown, Ordinary People, Badlands, etc, and I wish they still made movies that good regularly.

Otherwise, I think that Boogie Nights is the greatest film ever made.

How and when did your interest in video editing begin?

I’ve been interested in film my whole life. I spent my childhood summers making comedic shorts with my friends with a family camcorder. When I was in college, I got a job on a boat racing show for Speedvision (racing 24/7), and I stole one of their old copies of Adobe Premiere. I used that to teach myself basic non-linear editing, so when Final Cut and Avid came along, they were easy to learn. I pursued editing after college, because the craft enables you to have a lot of creative control even at an assistant’s level. When I PA’d on sets in college, the only decisions I got to make were over what kind of coffee to buy. I also sucked at driving the cube truck and probably knocked off a bunch of side view mirrors.

What’s the most unintentionally funny movie trailer you’ve ever seen?

I’m not sure, but the most unintentionally funny movie I’ve ever seen is Deep Blue Sea, hands down. Actually, I’m sure a lot of the irony was intentional.

How has your life changed since this trailer came out? Are you going to leave your job? What kinds of offers have you gotten from Hollywood studios?

Some studio execs and producers have asked me to send them scripts and shorts so I’m currently trying to find representation to act as an intermediary. I was told that I have some “heat” right now– who knows if it will last, but at least it’s giving me the opportunity to have some power players take a look at my stuff.

I’ve gotten a couple of potential editing offers, one from a major studio, but most people are interested in my ideas rather than my editing skills.

Where can we find more of your work?

To check out some other short QT’s, you can go to http://www.ps260.com/molly

You can also see some coworkers’ trailers from the blog section of ps260.com.

Thanks to Robert for answering these questions. You can find out more about him in this New York Times story and in the updates to my original post on Shining.

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