John Quinn,
who earned a
B.A. in Film from
Columbia College Chicago,
played a key
post-production role
in the sequel to
the 1995 cult classic
John Quinn, who teaches the courses “Editing: Mastering the Scene” and “Editing the Horror Film” at Columbia College Hollywood, recently completed work as the co-editor of the film Tales From the Hood 2 (Universal Home Entertainment).
The sequel had its worldwide premier at the Fantasia International Film Festival in July and will be released on October 2 on DVD, Blu-ray, and digitally.
“It was thrilling when I got the call from the producer telling me that writer / director Rusty Cundieff wanted me to be his editor for Tales From the Hood 2,” says Quinn, who was an undergrad at Columbia College Chicago when the original Tales From the Hood came out in 1995. “It was exciting to be part of a sequel to a film that has so many passionate fans, especially since I am one of them. I loved the first Tales From the Hood.”
TALES FROM THE HOOD 2 TRAILER #1
Quinn grew up in Franklin Park, IL and graduated from East Leyden High School in 1994. He developed an interest in editing while taking a TV Broadcasting class, and he learned his craft by experimenting with edits of the first two Terminator movies on 3/4 inch video tapes.
He enrolled in Columbia College Chicago – which is not affiliated with Columbia College Hollywood – in the fall of ’94 and graduated in 1999 with a B.A. degree in Film.
Quinn moved to Los Angeles after graduation and gradually built an extensive resume as an editor of film, streaming content, and TV projects. While he has developed an expertise in the horror/thriller genre, he’s also worked on dramatic films that have won prestigious festival awards – including Axis (dir. Aisha Tyler), which received the Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking award at the Newport Beach Film Festival 2017 and Holden On (dir. Tamlin Hall), which received the Audience Award at the Dances With Films Festival in 2017.
Another of Quinn’s recent projects was the YouTube Red comedy horror anthology series 12 Deadly Days (Blumhouse Productions) in 2016 and the upcoming slasher film Thriller, which stars Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA and will be premiering at the Los Angeles Film Festival in September.
At Columbia College Hollywood, where Quinn has been an instructor since 2013, Quinn teaches students how to edit a feature-length project in his “Editing the Horror Film” class. This training, according to Quinn, is an educational offering that’s rare among film schools.
“To the best of my knowledge, most film school students never have the opportunity to cut a feature-length film,” says Quinn. “By having that experience as part of their studies, CCH students definitely gain a leg up over grads from other colleges.”
In his work teaching film editing to his students at Columbia College Hollywood, Quinn aims to share not just the technical side of the job, but the art as well.
“The editor gets to take all of the art that was created by the crew and carries it to the finish line,” he says. “It’s absolutely true that the edit is the final re-write of the film because what was shot is never exactly as it’s written in the script. What makes a movie a movie is the editing, and that’s what distinguishes films from all other art forms.”
About Columbia College Hollywood
Founded in 1952, Columbia College Hollywood is a nonprofit, regionally accredited liberal arts college with a focus on creative media. Columbia College Hollywood educates students in the art and science of communications and the diverse media of contemporary storytelling within an exploration of the liberal arts. Columbia College Hollywood is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC) to offer Bachelor of Fine Arts and Associate of Fine Arts degree programs in Cinema with an emphasis in acting, cinematography, directing, editing and visual effects, new media, producing, sound, and writing.
