BEYOND THE EDIT: AN INTERVIEW WITH ARIS CLINE
Photo by @Beckshotz
Whenever someone watches an eye catching music video, the first thought often goes to the director behind it. However, it takes a dedicated team to bring these projects to life, and one of the unsung heroes is the editor. The editor has a crucial role — they handle everything from color correction to graphics, transforming raw footage into a compelling visual story. Their work brings the narrative of the song to life and entices audiences to hit the replay button, which is not an easy task to accomplish.
We had the opportunity to interview Aris Cline, a North Carolina native who moved to LA a few years ago to pursue his passion for editing. His humble beginnings, combined with determination, have led him to collaborate with some of the biggest names in the industry, including Ice Spice, Nicki Minaj, ASAP Rocky, and notable brands like Supreme. We got to sit at his home and chat about how he got his start, what it takes to be an editor, and what inspires him today.
Can you introduce yourself?
My name is Aris Cline. I'm a video editor who does 90% of it in the music video space. I'm signed to a post-production house called Digital Sword, but I'm still a freelance editor and I've been doing it for about five years now.
Did you start learning to edit five years ago or did you start working in the industry at that time?
I started editing five years ago, and then I was just doing my own operation. And then I would say I entered the music industry in L.A, like labels and things like that, about two years ago, maybe a year and a half ago.
Photo by @Beckshotz
How does one from North Carolina, who doesn’t have easy access to the entertainment industry get into the music video space? What inspired you to get into editing?
I can't speak for everyone, but for myself. Yeah, there weren't, a lot of music videos or, you know, forms of entertainment being shoved in my face, like how it is here. There weren't big billboards for shows or anything like that. I fell into it because I have a friend BBYGOYARD, I'll give a shout to him. Shannon as I call him. He needed a music video done, and I just had an old camera and decided, ‘You know what? I can do this. I'll try it out.’ I never really paid attention to music videos before. I didn't really care about movies or anything. I was just like, ‘This seems like a fun thing to do with a friend.’ I tried it out one time with him and I edited it, and because I was not very good at filming it - it was very edit dependent. And yeah, that was just really enjoyable. He debuted it on this old YouTube channel called Elevator, which is bigger in the underground rap scene. I don't know if it is anymore, but it was then. So it got a ton of views and a lot of feedback, and I was like, ‘You know what? This actually is pretty fun.’
Photo by @Beckshotz
What was your experience moving to LA not knowing anyone?
It was frugal times. I only ate rice and beans for months. Basically my only expense was rent because I was not spending much on food, I was never going out. I had a car, I still have the same car but I did not need it a tons. When I first moved here I was still shooting as well because no one was coming to me saying ‘Can you edit this?’ I would have to go out and say ‘I’ll film this for you and then I’ll edit it.’ Even though I always had way more interest in being an editor than being a director.
What was the moment when things started to pick up and change?
I was directing and editing my own things for many months when I moved out here, and it was trending upwards, but it wasn't like an exponential growth sort of situation. I used to do this thing where I would DM people on Instagram all the time just to network and things like that. Not like, ‘Please, I'll do anything.’ Not spamming but it was just… you know, even responding to their stories like, ‘Wow, this is super cool!’ Things like that. And it wasn't with the intent of being, ‘You can give me something.’ I just thought, ‘You know what? It'd be nice to know all these people.’ Making friends.
So then one time someone who would end up becoming one of my best friends. His name is Geertan. He is from Amsterdam and he was here on a work Visa. Then he posted some picture where he was in Hollywood and I was like, ‘Oh, are you in town? We should get like a beer or something.’ The reason Geertan and I knew each other was because he wanted me to film a Sunny Digital music video for him that he would edit. But then that fell through. And that was like when I first moved to L.A..
And then fast forward to this time, it was December of 2021. I reach out to him. He says, ‘Sure, we can get a beer. Also, I'm co-directing a music video for Gunna. He is like, ‘I need someone to operate this specific type of DV camera. Do you know anyone?’ And then I didn't really know how to operate it at a high level. I told him, ‘Yes, I can do that. Definitely. I do that all the time.’ So the next day I was to go on the shoot and I stayed up super late looking up all the things about the camera. And he was co-directing with this guy named Edgar Estevez who is like a really big name. And the whole point of me going on this shoot was to show Edgar my edits. It was kind of like the Trojan Horse was me filming for Gunna. Two of the shots ended up making this video, which is cool because I thought it was all going to be unusable. But anyways, so then I meet Edgar there. It's on a helicopter landing pad on the top of a villa. It was so crazy. It was blowing my mind because I'd never been on set. The highest production I’d ever been a part of before that was having a friend helping me out with mine.
And at the end of the day, I got to show Edgar my edits and he was like, ‘Oh, this is really great. I am a partial owner in a company called Digital Sword.’ He just told me where the office was. So that was the end of that and I was not brought on another set again.
But I knew the address and I knew Geertan went there sometimes. So he and I would go together and I would go for weeks and there was a kind of public area in the office where I would just edit there every day my own stuff. So I would just go every day and at first I was too nervous to talk to people and people wouldn't talk to me. They thought I was Dutch because Geertan is Dutch and they thought I didn't speak English. I was just editing my own stuff. Every day, hoping that they would need a hand on something. Then three weeks in, everyone is super booked. This guy named Jack, who is a post producer there, came and asked, ‘Hey, our lead editor Cal is super busy. Can you just do like one note on this video? They just need one thing changed, but I don't know how to work the interface.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, definitely.’
And then he liked what I did. I told them, ‘Yeah, I will help you with any projects.’ So I was just doing these little things for them. I started assistant editing, which is just syncing the audio to the clips and setting up projects for other editors. And then I started getting my own edits, which was kind of fun but they were all really small scale. And then Geertan directed this ASAP Rocky video. He came back and he said, ‘I want you to help me edit it because like I've been seeing you. You're very skilled at editing.’ So then we did it together, he and I, and it was great.
Photo by @Beckshotz
Do you go into the office a lot vs work from home? What does a day in your life look like?
I try to edit two videos a week, which kind of shakes out to close to a nine to five, but a nine to five on Monday to Thursday. And the weekends are pretty clear
I wake up and the morning around here I don't do a ton. I pack up. Sometimes Eliza will make breakfast, which is nice. She's making this egg, sweet potato scrambled thing lately. It's super nice. And then I drive to the office, which is in Hollywood. It's 13 minutes away. And then I stay there from 9:30 until 5:00 ish. And there's no reason for me to go for those hours. I just feel it'll help me keep structure if I try to do something pretty regular. And then I come home. Eliza makes dinner, I do the dishes, and then maybe a little editing before that.
And then that's a general day. But the thing is, I edit every single day. Even if I don't go to the office, I'll edit at home or like on a lazy Sunday, I just get like 3 hours.
Do you find it difficult to stop working and just relax?
I definitely had the feeling - that feeling of guilt for not working all the time before. Like before I was at Digital Sword I didn't do anything except work because I felt guilty if I wasn't productive. Then I had guilt of not taking on every project. But now it's kind of evened out. Now I feel I've proved enough to myself and the projects are constant enough where it's okay to turn things down.
Which project are you the most proud of so far in your career?
Probably the Ice Spice, Nicki Minaj “Princess Diana.” That one is cool because it was the biggest cultural moment I got to be a part of. It was really fun editing it. Getting to meet the artists who were working on it.
I would say honestly, the projects that I love the most and I'm most proud of came to me naturally. The ones that are were a constant struggle throughout it, they're never ones that I'm in love with. If the client isn't happy with it reasonably within like one or two cuts, then it's just like a project that is not compatible with me, you know what I'm saying? I wouldn’t love it because I wouldn’t understand it I guess.
How do you stay up to date about latest editing systems with the constant flow of updates and information?
That's a great question. Things sort of just fall to me. I've historically been pretty resistant to technological change. I don't update my phone very often and I haven't learned DaVinci Resolve. But there are little things that I’ll kind of see and then incorporate. Like there's a ton of new features in the update to Premiere where it's super technical, I'm not even going to get into it, but it's super helpful. And then this free editing app that six year olds are using called CapCut. I started using CapCut for supplemental effects. Like it's paid. They're pro effects. So to get around that because I guess I’m still kind of cheap, I'll export some of the video that I've edited and Premiere, put it in CapCut and then use the pro effects and then just like screen record it back in. I would say the biggest growth over the past year or so is just getting faster and also learning how to do After Effects things in Premiere.
How long does it take for you to edit a video on average?
If I'm very focused I can get my cut done in somewhere between two and four hours. It had to become very fast just because the music industry, like with music videos, it works so fast. I've had to do so many overnight things, so I can make my version very fast and that's something I'm proud of. Because I've edited so many videos, and seen so many things, that I can just kind of tell every time where things should go. So I could do that. But then what slows it down is typically since I'm just the editor now, I'm not the director anymore, the director will have notes that I will adjust the video to, and then the artist will have notes that I'll adjust the video to. And then sometimes the label as well.
What other skillsets have helped you out in your career beyond just editing?
Growing up, I've made music in different ways. I've had phases of my life where I was closer to a musician. And those times I think help me align and understand the music side of things. So that's why music videos, I think came to me naturally because I just could understand the music a little better.
And I think that's something that's really helped my career in general - just really hearing out the musician and trying to understand where they're coming from. My job now is 50% interacting with people. That's just as important as my editing ability - having the artists like me and having the directors feel like I'm listening to what they're saying.
How do you know when a project is complete and when to stop editing?
I'm fortunate to not be a perfectionist. If I just feel the energy of it and there's some soul to it, then I'll be happy with it. Because the nit-picky things are not as important to me as just like the energy of the video is right and it complements the song. If I feel like it does those things, rather than, ‘Should I do this effect or should I not do this effect?’ Those are not as important to me. And I think they aren't as important to the viewer because people watch a YouTube video once or twice. So as long as the energy is right. I'm very meticulous about the first 30 seconds because I think that's what people view the most. For most of it I think you just have to get it done because it’s very fast. A lot of the times I'll have two days to edit it, and the way I'll know it's done is that it's out on YouTube. An hour before a big artist will be asking me to make changes to the videos and it comes out at noon and it's 11 a.m. and I'm still making changes.
Photo by @Beckshotz
What's the difference between doing something that's more for a business versus a music video?
Well, the corporate things pay a lot better, which is cool. Yeah, it’s interesting. I've had to make three 15 second ads, and that paid more than a music video. But it kind of evened out the amount of work because with the ads, there's so much red tape and there's so many things you have to focus on. Because you have some creative control with the music videos, but you have a lot less with an ad because you have to show the car and all these different angles and you have to use approved music and things like that. So the workflow is different. I'm getting used to it because I'm trying to do more commercials.
Do you want to stick with music videos or branch out and do different types of work?
I would say that I'm looking to branch out a bit, try more commercials. I'm looking to do a short film for editing. I actually assistant edited on a project that's going to be on Netflix, which is cool.
Is film something you would like to explore more?
I like music a lot more than I like movies. So it's hard for me to understand the line of when I'm getting too far away from the thing that really excites me, which is the music and then moving into the film, which is so cool, but it's less like soul sort of.
So do you like the music more because there's more creative freedom when it comes to, like, the music videos?
I would actually not say that because I still think I would be able to add some of my own touches. I would say I just prefer music as an art form over film, but as I've been maturing and learning, I've been more interested in being a storyteller. So I think, you know, the film space is somewhere I'm interested in moving into.
Thank you so much Aris for chatting with us. To keep up with all of his latest projects make sure to follow him on Instagram, @ariscline.
Check out Digital Sword here: https://www.instagram.com/digitalsword_/
