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Film Editors

Video Editor Camila Mejía Duque’s Powerful Representation of Queer Films in Media

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In a society that maintains a cultural taboo around queer identity and expression, video editor Camila Mejía Duque has chosen to use her platform as an influential filmmaker to create purposeful stories that accurately portray and represent the LGBTQ+ community. Her main objective when working on a film is to tell stories that convey who these people are beyond their sexual orientation—a detail that filmmakers and audiences alike tend to fixate on.

When editing a film, Mejía Duque’s ability to highlight the subtle undertones of a scene helps her bring the director’s vision to life in a way that feels nuanced and true to life. 

Video editor Camila Mejía Duque – Photography by Daniela Gerdes

Over the years Mejía Duque has worked on several award-winning films, such as the 2017 drama “Fragile,” which won Best Indie Film at the 2018 Los Angeles Film Awards, and “The Fat One,” which was an Official Finalist at the 2017 Los Angeles CineFest. Her outstanding work on 2018’s “’64 Koufax” won the Best Editing and Best Film Awards at the 2018 Milledgeville Film Festival and the Best Short Film Award at the Barcelona Planet Festival in 2018, among numerous other awards. 

Through her current position with content distribution company Digital Media Rights, Mejía Duque was recruited in 2019 as video editor for QTTV; a digital platform offering an array of cinematic perspectives for the LGBTQ+ community. QTTV’s cutting-edge films explore sensual themes and rousing coming-of-age stories, and are available for streaming via Amazon Prime Video, Samsung TV Plus and Yuyu TV. 

“Camila understands what the audience wants and what the team’s goals are very quickly,” says Deli Xu, Director of Digital Media Rights. “Her creativity, enthusiasm, and dedication are qualities hard to find combined in one person, and the value she adds to our team is tremendous.”

With an audience of close to 400,000, QTTV tapped Mejía Duque’s editing expertise to entice their subscribers to stream more of their full-length feature films with seductive previews. Mejía Duque’s tantalizing edits strike a balance between sensual and engaging, showcasing the emotional depth of the films without sacrificing the integrity of the full story. 

“I prioritize message over everything, and in an industry that sometimes focuses more on aesthetics, I feel that separates me from other editors,” says Mejía Duque. “I obviously want things to look good, but I will always sacrifice an aesthetically pleasing shot for a stronger performance, or for something that has more meaning.”

QTTV’s 2020 film “Godless” uncovers the sexual tensions and layered emotions between two step brothers, but due to the filial aspect of their connection, their feelings are less than ideal. Given that Mejía Duque’s target audience is mainly homosexual men, she curated an arousing edit which explores the sensitivity of the topic, while providing a sense of appropriation for her viewers. 

“I always want to make the film attractive and appealing to viewers,” Mejía Duque explains. “I really wanted to showcase the fact that there’s nothing ‘perverted’ about the relationship.”


Mejía Duque’s strength in capturing the emotional and sexual chemistry between the characters, whilst remaining authentic to the script was the foundation that led to the clip garnering over 4.2 million views on YouTube. “Godless” was also an Official Selection at the 2020 Flickes Rhode Island International Film Festival, and was awarded Festival Favorite at Cinema Diverse: The Palm Springs Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in 2020.

Behind the scenes with Camila Mejía Duque – Photography by Daniela Gerdes

The way Mejía Duque manipulates the rhythm within her videos leads viewers to form an emotional attachment with the storyline. Her diligence in filtering through endless hours of raw footage to find those magical character-defining shots helps to perfectly portray authentic personalities in  queer films, which can often be misrepresented by the media. 

The flirtatious Danish film “Speed Walking,” released via QTTV in 2020, explores a young teen’s conflicting impulses towards both men and women. Mejía Duque’s carefully curated edits helped to break down social stigmas against nonconformist relationships, and encouraged open conversation between young teens around the world about their right to express their desires freely. 

“It was very important to me that the film show how genuinely confused these kids were, and how normal it is to explore romantic and sexual feelings in your adolescence,” explains Mejía Duque. 

“Speed Walking,” which has over 3.4 million views on YouTube, reached international acclaim at the Chicago International Film Festival (2020), the Danish Film Awards (2020), and the Bodil Awards in Denmark (2020). 

Camila Mejía Duque’s unwavering success in curating sensual content which blurs the lines between gender and sexuality, much like her work with QTTV, has helped people around the world to identify with their own sexual orientation. Through her comprehensive film edits, she continues to defy taboos around queer identity and draw focus to an authentic representation of LGBTQ+ culture in media. 

Editor, Film Editors

Editor Ran Ro uses fashion as means of storytelling in new video

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Born and raised in South Korea, Ran Ro loves being a film and video editor. She enjoys arranging different shots together to tell a cohesive story, especially when a project largely relies on sound and music. As an editor, she gets to create moments between characters and helps the audience feel and see the world from the perspectives of those characters, and that, for her, is pretty special.

“Editing for me is almost similar to speaking in public except I get to trim or cut out parts that aren’t necessary before the speech happens. I’m a terrible public speaker though so editing is a much better way of communication for me because I can then finesse the ‘speech’, so to speak,” said Ro.

Ro has become a leader in the editing industry and recently has worked on many prolific projects, including a commercial for BackBeatRags celebrating their environmentally-friendly clothing line as well as a series of videos for Tastemade, creating culinary travel videos for digital distribution across all platforms, from Facebook to Instagram and everything in between. The highlight of Ro’s career, however, came just last year after her film In Between premiered and was recognized at film festivals around the world.

“It was very meaningful to me since the project was written based on my childhood experience of growing up with my grandmother. I was initially very hesitant to make the film, especially with difficult scenes that were set in otherworldly places and were complicated to execute. But with the help of my crew, we were able to make it happen and it was rewarding to see that the viewers resonated with the story,” she said.

Earlier this year, Ro collaborated with Elite Models to create a teaser video showcasing the new face of the agency. After noticing a lack of videos for the Los Angeles based branch, the director and Ro reached out to Elite Model Management and pitched an idea about making a showcase video for the new models at Elite. Once the project was approved to be made, Ro reached out to a team to get them on board, and the work began.

“It was incredible to work with such a passionate team and help Elite Model Management to showcase the new models by making content with beautiful imageries and a high production value,” said Ro.

Elite Model Management is one of the top agencies worldwide, and Ro recognized the need for a high-production value video for their marketing. The main goal on this project was to highlight the natural beauty of the models. Ro and her team had an idea of building a spacious palace with sheer linens where the sunlight would diffuse through them. She worked on making a visual treatment together with the director, pitched the idea to the management, and also found the music piece that best complimented the video. Also acting as a producer on the project, Ro recruited many that she believed would be a good fit.

Knowing that her editing would be driven by the music that would be chosen, Ro communicated with the cinematographer about the pace of the music, which affected his decision on the use of slow motion effects. She was very specific about the speed of the slow motion and it really enhanced the editing.

By understanding the director’s vision thoroughly while still having a vision of her own, Ro was essential to the project’s success. She was involved from the very beginning, and her commitment is evident in the final piece. She made sure that every detail in the production – from styling to the choice of music – was in line with the concept that was initially pitched. Her deep understanding of the project also facilitated the editing process, as throughout the entirety of filming she had a clear idea of which shot to use and how to structure the video while blending the visuals and music together to tell a powerful story about the agency.

“In addition to the company’s immense success, I really admire Elite’s mission – they embrace diversity, change and inclusiveness – I think those are the values that we need to be reminded of as filmmakers,” she said.

Using fashion as a means of storytelling was fascinating for the editor, and she believes it broadened her horizon as an editor. She knows the importance of versatility in her career and is always looking for new mediums to explore with her talents. She encourages those looking to follow in her footsteps to do the same.

“I think it’s extremely helpful to work on as many projects possible as an editor to find your editing style and what kind of content that you want to edit. I found it very helpful to work on the administrative side of post-production, as I learned and gained knowledge about the business and the post production workflow,” she concluded.

 

 

Editor, Film, Film Editors, Filmmakers, International Creative Talents, videographer

Videographer Maria Aguado takes us back in time with Button Barcelona

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Maria Aguado has always known she was meant to be a filmmaker. Since the age of seven, she wrote screenplays and made movies. At the time, just a small child in Barcelona, she filmed her dolls, editing the footage, unaware of what she was really doing. She grew up holding a camera, and to this day, nearly twenty years later, that remains true.

Aguado’s unique eye has greatly contributed to the success of many brands who seek her services. Just last year, the company Button Barcelona reached out to the videographer to make a promotional and informative video about the brand that would be played at a Button Barcelona event, as well as two other videos to be used to promote the brand on social media.

“I really liked the romanticism that creates Button Barcelona and I wanted to be a part of it. They emphasize how everything worked in the old times, enjoying every step with serenity and a slower rhythm. I was happy to express this through audio-visual,” said Aguado.

Button Barcelona is a company inspired by the way people used to live sixty years before the industrial revolution in a small village in Barcelona. They sell all type of products with one thing in common: bringing back the traditional methods of production and elaboration with hand-made products. As a videographer and editor, Aguado had to transmit this idea to the audience. She filmed and edited three videos for Button Barcelona. The first one was a series of interviews explaining the story of Button Barcelona. The second was the “making of” of the photo shoot. For the third video, she edited the previous two videos together, for the Button Barcelona event. All three were posted and used on social media as their marketing campaign.

“The shooting was really fun. We immediately became a good team from the start. The event was also amazing, my video was screened and we were all there, overwhelmed by the story the video shows and the whole experience,” Aguado described.

While shooting, Aguado filmed the models in different parts of the village doing antiquated activities, such as washing clothes in a bucket of water, going to an antique cinema, and sewing clothes. She truly shows really the audience how these people used to live, emphasizing the essence of the company.

“Button Barcelona is everything that defines us, differentiates us and reaffirms our personality. That’s why I decided to select every single piece that showed a narrative in order to create a story inside a fashion video,” said Aguado. “Through the shooting and the editing, I transformed models into characters. This is the nice and tricky thing about editing, with just one look, a movement, a step, you can create a story, a narrative structure. The tricky part is to know when you are cutting a video and why, it all has to end up making sense in order to touch the audience. Also, remembering all the material in order to be fluent and creative. The brand’s idea is the opposite of frenetic; it’s all about taking your time to produce with love. I showed this by carefully selecting pieces of music and mixing them together. The rhythm plays a very important part too, music and video have to dance together.”

The final video is eight minutes long. It begins documentary style, interviewing the various people at Button Barcelona, and explaining the story behind the company. The final five minutes feature the “making of” from the photoshoots. Aguado perfectly blends the shots to the music, editing the cuts to the exact beat of the song. It does not appear to be a promotional video, but instead an artistic music video, where the models are simply people enjoying their life rather than working. The result is outstanding.

“Maria was given full freedom to create both videos and the result was even better than what we had expected. She is a very hard worker with a positive attitude and creative mind! Her creativity and passion for what she does is what makes her so good at it,” said Candelaria Turrens, CEO and Founder of Button Barcelona.

The three videos were crucial in branding Button Barcelona. They explain the company’s idea, and introduce the world to the members of the brands Button distributes. Without Aguado, the event would not have been the success that it was, and the brand itself could not have achieved what it has today. She captured the company’s essence through the lens of her camera.

“It felt like we were teleported to another time; the times Button Barcelona tries to keep in our lives. The story was clearly shown to the audience, they could feel the essence of the brand and really enjoyed it. The video was repeated every half an hour, people kept asking to see it over and over again. It was amazing,” Aguado concluded. “I believe I showed the value of the simple way people used to live, the romanticism of the old times, enjoying every step with happiness, calm and serenity.”