Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Jean Hocking.
Hi Laura Jean, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I am a full-time film editor and writer/director in Memphis. I started in the local film scene doing craft services/catering and props, then worked my way up to producing, then editing, and directing. I have a production company with my husband Chris McCoy. Watching the edit of the first feature film I produced in 2004, I realize how much non-linear editing was like the collage work I had been doing for years.
I taught myself how to edit and then edited (and co-wrote) the next feature film our production company made, in 2006. I’ve been editing ever since. I’m currently editing my 9th feature film, The Scent of Linden, a narrative comedy-drama that is the first Bulgarian movie to be produced in the US. Editing a movie that is 90% in a language I don’t know has been a challenge, but an absolute joy. I love being challenged by my work, and it’s what keeps me growing and exploring.
In 2021, I edited Juvenile, a documentary about the experiences of 5 young people whose lives have been impacted by the juvenile justice system, and how they are working to change that system for the better. Both of these feature films are directed/produced by women. It is important to support movies made by women so that we as audiences can see stories and approaches to those stories that for a long time were mostly directed by men.
I love working on both narrative and documentary projects; I feel that I am a stronger editor because I am able to switch between genres and get fresh perspectives on my work. I also make a lot of music videos, for bands in Memphis and elsewhere. Music videos are a great way for me to explore visual concepts and experiment with color palettes and themes.
I also love to make experimental short films, most of which are deeply personal to me, often abstractly. I realized a while ago these short films are good conduits for emotions that I have a hard time expressing any other way.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
When I started in the film scene in Memphis there were very few women doing anything in the film. I didn’t actually think about it too much because the scene was so small and so new that everyone was just doing everything. As the scene grew, it became more apparent that it was male-dominated.
There are many more women in the Memphis film scene today but it is still majority male. I never thought of myself as a pioneer in that sense, that I was a female filmmaker breaking ground in Memphis. I’ve been a visual artist all my life, and the film was a new medium for me to explore. I was just making the art I wanted to make.
I just created my own reality as an artist and an editor. I think the honesty of my work is what appeals to people now.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am an editor by trade and it is my true love. Before I became an editor, I was a collage artist. As a young girl, I spent a lot of time alone in my room making collages out of magazine clippings.
My mother was an artist (as was her mother); she taught me the fundamentals of art at a very young age – color theory, composition, figure drawing, etc., and instilled in me a love for artistic exploration and discovery. I was a loner and an outsider as a child, and I spent a lot of time reading and watching movies, both forms of escape for me.
As an editor, I use all those elements – collage, storytelling, escape. I am the audience surrogate, and I love to think about being in a theater (or living room) watching what I’m editing. What will make the audience laugh, what will touch them, what can I bring to the screen that they can relate to?
I am proud of everything I’ve made and worked on. In 2012, I edited Antenna, a documentary about the first punk rock club in Memphis. Sifting through over 100 hours of archival footage and 88 interviews was challenging, but it was a historical documentary that needed to be made.
To show people where the underground music scene in Memphis started, and how it continues to influence the music scene today. It is because of Antenna that I was able to wait for my restaurant job and become a full-time, freelance editor.
How do you define success?
I define success as being able to do the work I love and be happy with what I’ve made. I think there is a lot of unhappiness around the idea of success, that one has to win an Oscar or be the most streamed movie on Netflix or whatever to be a successful filmmaker.
A healthier approach would be to adjust one’s concept of success as one grows and changes as an artist. My biggest dream used to be leaving the restaurant business and making a living as an editor. As soon as I achieved that I made some other attainable goals.
My idea of success is being able to enjoy the journey, to relish everything I learn and experience on the way.
Contact Info:
- Website: Director Reel – https://vimeo.com/345790046
- Instagram: @laurajeanorama
- Twitter: @laurajeanorama
- Other: https://vimeo.com/oddlybuoyantproductions
Image Credits
Sarah Fleming except for Another Girl, Another Planet, and Jordan Danelz.
