Here are a few of my favorite clips and movies which influenced me to become an Editor

From Harold and Maude , the last scene intercuts between two seperate time frames, to the song "Trouble" by Cat Stevens.  The intercutting between Maude's death and Harold's drive is so effective for the audience to really get inside Harold's mind and experience the grief as he is experiencing it.  This movie as a whole is brilliantly done.

One of my favorite filmmakers whom I studied in college is Stan Brakhage .  His avant-garde films were literally paintings on celluloid.  Stan's experimental films helped me to see how important every frame of film can be.  Many of his films were silent, yet even with silence, they had a visual music of their own.  Below is his film, Mothlight (made in 1963) .

Another influential filmmaker that inspired me to become an editor was Georges Melies.  His films were some of the first in film history to utilize special effects such as time-lapse photography, stop camera trick, multiple exposure, dissolves.  His films influenced me to see film as a magical medium that could be manipulated to tell any story.  This film, L'homme-orchestre, made in 1900, is one of my favorites.

The first film that I remember seeing in a movie theater was Tommy.  Yes, I was 5... what was my babysitter thinking? But thanks to her, I was exposed to something I had never seen in my life.  This was the first "music video/musical/rock opera" that I had ever seen and I LOVED it.  The scene below was one of my favorites, with fast paced cutting and visual elements in rhythm to the music.

Raising Arizona is one of my all time favorite comedies.  This scene below is not only perfectly edited for its comedy beats, but it also goes to show you that you don't always need dialogue to make the audience laugh!

One of my all time favorite psychological thrillers is Silence of the Lambs .  This scene where Jody Foster faces off with Buffalo Bill is by far one of the most suspenseful "chase" scenes I've ever seen.  The tension that is created with the editing, the camera work, acting and music makes this one of the most memorable scenes in motion picture history.