An Introduction: Boston-Based Video Editor and Creative Kayla Avitabile
Hello and welcome ! This is the place where I’m going to share things about myself, things I’m working on, and really anything I feel like. So, let me start by introducing myself.
I’m Kayla, 24 year-old video professional, musician/music lover living in Greater Boston. I spent most of my childhood in NJ before moving to Medford, MA to attend Tufts University. And you guessed it … I stayed in Mass. Yes, the cost of living is high. Yes, the traffic sucks. But I don’t know, there’s something about this area that feels like home. I think for me, it comes down to the ease of access to most things and the care that many people have for their communities whether it’s local politics, the tight knit music scene, or beloved local businesses such as the fabulous selection of independent movie theaters.
So why video editing? The easiest way to answer that is – after trying all the different areas of video production, it’s what I enjoyed the most. The longer answer is that video editing isn’t what I always imagined myself doing. When I was a kid, if you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would’ve said a paleontologist (dinosaurs, duh) or an archaeologist (who doesn’t want to be Indiana Jones?). Eventually that answer would’ve evolved to being a rockstar since singing, playing guitar and writing music is one of my passions in life. So how did I turn to video? Well, I didn’t want to go to school for music. So I thought, what else is creative? Film. As a result, I went to school for Film as well as American Studies (which satisfied my itch to talk and write about art and politics, a thing I do in my music … but more on that in another blog post).
During my last year in college, I made a short film, As It Was, and it was through that endeavor that my love for editing really blossomed. It illuminated to me how much a story could change from script to final product and the immense power editing has to impact mood. Storied filmmaker, Jean-Luc Godard said, “every edit is a lie,” and this sentiment is widely agreed upon by many in the film and video production fields. It’s quite amazing how resourceful –I like to say sneaky– one can get in the edit whether it’s creating visual illusions or constructing narratives through soundbites that most definitely did not occur in that structure in real life.
Editing is both a highly technical and highly creative artform that I greatly respect and look forward to mastering over my lifetime. There is always something to learn and always room to grow much like there is with writing and performing music. As I embark on this journey of creating media and generally living life, this blog will serve as a method to document my processes, my growth and so much more. Cheers to the start of it all!
Till next time,
Kayla
Recent Work:
It’s always a pleasure working with Paige from Main Paige Media, and this video brand story for JennyB Designs is certainly a recent highlight.
I’d also like to shout out Hawke Commercial Filmmaking for having me join as the editor for this video shining a light on Atlanta regional restaurant chain, Gusto!, for the restaurant software company, 7shifts.
