Behind the scenes with the amazing Roy Arwas!

One of the film world's most talented guys- Roy Arwas

I was looking at some editors’ reels the other day and came across one that was pretty exciting; it belonged to Roy Arwas. I watched it and then I watched it again and then I found some of his films on the Internet and watched those. The common threads that connected his films and the excerpts from his work on the reel were very good story telling and excellent editing that permeated each carefully and thoughtfully cut scene.

 

Even though Roy Arwas is quite capable of doing a lot of jobs very proficiently on a movie set, his focus is mainly on editing. The projects he’s worked on all have high production values and have the look and feel of feature films, and his editing has contributed to their tone and pacing and the seamlessness of the forward progression of the story lines.  

 

Several of the films have been award winners at international film festivals. Roy’s film Departure, which he edited, won high praise and a top award at the First Glance Film Festival, and Connect, another one Roy edited, won Best Short at the Boston International Kids Film Festival. Other films that Roy edited including, Joe, Connect and Coelcanth, were warmly received and were Official Selections of the L.A. Movie Awards, the IFS Film festival and L.A. Shortsfest.

 

Looking at his beautiful film Departure, I was blown away by the futuristic feel of the piece. The visual effects were truly something to behold. The moving fog, the distant alien-like landscapes and the camera movement all added to the realistic ambiance of the movie. The editing, however, stood out simply because it didn’t draw attention to itself. It was smooth and flawless, just like you would expect from an award-winning editor.

 

Roy Arwas is an interesting editor. He seems to be a natural who knows exactly where to make that cut and where to make a transition �" and which transition to use. You can tell that he is and probably always will be a student of cinema. He must watch movies over and over again in order to perfect his knowledge of the language of filmmaking. All the great directors, such as Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, Terence Malick, Woody Allen, and some of the famous directors from generations back like John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks and John Huston always work with great editors. Michael Kahn, another professional editor, won two Oscars working on the Spielberg movies, Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List. Roy Arwas has that same kind of passion for bringing a film together, piece by piece and we can’t wait to see him walking the red carpet on his way to pick up his first of many Oscars.