Filmmaker Profile –Duane Fogwell

Aussie Editor Duane Fogwell Finds Success In LA

 

According to Wikipedia, an editor works with the raw footage, selecting shots and combines them into sequences, which create a finished motion picture.On its most fundamental level, film editing is the art, technique and practice of assembling shots into a coherent sequence.

 

Well, that makes a lot of sense. A film editor, like the very talented Australian editor Duane Fogwell, takes all the separate pieces of film or video or digital imagery and puts them together to make an understandable story when it’s finished. The old-time editors who worked with 35 mm film achieved the same result but worked a bit differently. They sat in darkened, cigarette smoke filled rooms and ran film stock through bulky and awkward spinning machines that allowed the editor to see the individual frames through a small glass monitor that was lit from behind. It sounds crazy now but apparently, it got the job done.

 

Today, there is no smoke and as much light as the editor is comfortable with. The job goes a lot quicker and much smoother than it did in the pre-digital world. Duane has worked on so many projects that he is considered not only an editor with a good eye and a great sense of timing but he also has a reputation of being very fast. He makes sure his work is turned in on schedule and within budget, which is very important to producers. This should be no surprise to someone with his film and TV pedigree.

 

Before he came to the U.S. Duane was a fixture in the Australian television industry. He was known as the go-to guy for people who needed a truly professional editor. After working in Sydney for over ten years after graduating from the prestigious Victorian College of the Arts film school, Duane decided to move to Los Angeles to see what the center of the world’s film and entertainment industry was really like. Since then he has worked on countless shows and productions including celebrity comedies such as, Hyperdrive, What The Fit, Cyrus vs. Cyrus, Lip Sync Battle and Dancing With The Stars. He has also edited reality competition shows such as Battlebots, Boyband, American Grit, Masterchef, The Voice, Ultimate Beastmaster, and Candy Crush. Duane is an editor at the top of his game, both professionally and personally, having made strong connections in the TV and film industry since his arrival in Los Angeles.