By Jack McDermott

Executive Online Editor

It started as a hobby, continued into a memorial, and is now a spectacular showing of skill.  Beth Clifford’s obsession with movie editing started with friends in 7th grade but flourished as she created a memorial video for her friend, Joey Sykes, who died of cancer.

 This video was then shown at the Joey Sykes annual basketball tournament and after, a Daily Herald reporter told Clifford how a new program, Final Cut, could benefit her with better flexibility in options than iMovie.

Although Clifford wanted the new software, the cost for the cheapest version was $250.  To raise the money Clifford spent an entire summer babysitting until she finally had enough.

After installing the program Clifford soon found out how much more you could do.
“iMovie is a lot simpler but [Final Cut] just gives you a lot more freedom, ” said Clifford.
It seemed as though Clifford would never use Final Cut to its full potential until shegot the stomach flu and needed to stay home for a week.  During this week she watched tutorial after tutorial on all the tricks until she mastered Final Cut. This skill then became very useful this year when Clifford needed to create a video for her Written and Oral Communications class.  Clifford decided to go all out on the video and created a true work of art.
“It was absolutely the best video I have ever seen,” said Clifford’s teacher, Teri Buczinsky.
To make the video, Clifford needed to dedicate 22 hours of her time and a trip to Chicago to see and record all the KONY 2012 protests.
Although Clifford enjoyed making the movie, this project could not come at a better time because she wanted to boost her grade.
Her other videos were for Lee Dwyze, and her 8th grade graduation, but this was definitely her best movie yet.
To watch Clifford’s full video, click here.