Adam O'Dwyer — IADT On Show 2020

Adam O’Dwyer

I’m an editing major with experience in funded short films and corporates. Over the past few years I’ve been honing my skills as a storyteller while using Avid Media Composer, DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro. I’m highly proficient in post-production workflows in an assisting and HOD capacity. In my 4th year I worked on several projects as editor, two of which were graduate films. Included in this showcase are photos of my work, a trailer for Sisters, my resume and showreel.

Grad Project 1: ‘Sisters’: In 1970s Ireland, teenager Meabh does whatever it takes to shelter her younger sisters from the harsh reality of their Catholic children’s home. I thoroughly enjoyed editing Sisters. It’s full of heart and drama. The pieces really fell together after a few months of moving scenes around and finding its voice. It’s a story that Ireland is not finished telling.

Grad Project 2: ‘To All My Darlings’: Adaeze and Nonso, after a recent miscarriage, have to deal with the trauma and stigma within their Nigerian-Irish community. This was my most difficult edit all year. Not only under lockdown circumstances but also in threading such a delicate story through powerful imagery. My goal during the edit was authenticity and keeping narrative focus on Adaeze.

My research into my dissertation contributed massively to how I approach sequences. I studied parallel editing/cross-cutting and its uses in film. Interrogating the experiments of early filmmakers added to my editing of the grad films. While I didn’t cross-cut in any of the final picture lock sequences, the affects of time manipulation bled into my work. Experiments by the early masters inspired the way I looked at developing performances. For example, inference through juxtaposition or subtext was one of Sergei Eisenstein’s crowing achievements in montage. My goal moving forward is to gain employment in a post-production facility as an assistant and gain mentorship in order to advance my storytelling skills.