April 28, 2008
Hunter Via: Editing The Shield, Arrested Development
Film grad is intimately involved with filmmaking process from start to finish
Hunter Via
The action may occur on the set, but anyone in the film industry will tell you that the place where the real magic occurs – where a production truly comes together – is in the editing process. It’s a work environment that demands both a creative mind and technical proficiency. It’s also a job that Hunter Via knows quite well. Since graduating from Full Sail’s Film degree program, Hunter has worked in Hollywood as an editor for a variety of projects in both film and television, including three seasons of FX’s The Shield, the pilot for Fox’s Arrested Development, and the adaptation of Stephen King’s The Mist.“I’m on a project from the moment that the cameras roll all the way through the end of post-production where they color-correct and print the film,” Hunter explains. “As an editor, sometimes you can see what’s best for the picture, better than the writer or director can. I have a semi-objective perspective because I’m not as personally attached to the footage, so sometimes I’m able to see the big picture before they do.”
At its best, the editing process often becomes an intimate and involved procedure handled by both Hunter and the director of the project. “My director on The Mist was [three-time Oscar nominee] Frank Darabont,” Hunter says. “I was a little bit nervous going into it, but I learned that I have the most amount of fun when the director is in the editing room. He was very open sharing ideas and having ideas thrown at him, which was awesome.
“Whereas the director on my current film, The Lena Baker Story, is a first-time director, so I was able to walk him through a lot of the process. It was a lot of fun to show him how these things work. You get into a very intimate relationship with your director, because they’re trusting you to see the project through to completion.”
With the recent HD boom in the industry, Hunter has found the equipment and technology that he utilizes constantly evolving, and it’s that type of fast pace that keeps his job interesting.
“Full Sail taught me how to be extremely versatile and open; it’s not just about learning how to use one or two pieces of equipment. You get exposure to so many things that when you get out into the field it all makes sense. I graduated eight years ago, and I still find myself ahead of the curve compared to a lot of the people I find myself working side by side with,” he laughs. “Full Sail is so far ahead of things in terms of the latest and greatest in technology, it can take a long time for the real world to catch up!”
