ROSELLE, NJ — Raciely Rodriguez got into film editing by chance.
At age 11, she noticed an app on her phone called “iMovie.” She didn’t know what it was. She clicked on it and played around with it. From there, she started making videos with her friends and created a YouTube channel. “Fun videos with my friends goofing around,” she said. The channel ran until her junior year of high school, during the pandemic.
During that time, Rodriguez was inspired by YouTube influencer Emma Chamberlain. “She was 17 and I was 11,” said Rodriguez. “I really liked her style of video. She became popular. Her style of editing was different from others at the time. The effects, the sound effects she would use, I loved as a kid. I took inspiration from her editing style. Before 2019, she was very quirky. She would use a lot of ‘zoom in’ on her face, anytime something was funny. She would use effects to make it more dramatic, use kind of chill music to enter and exit her videos. I took a lot of inspiration from it. The music she used, I looked it up on YouTube. It would be copyright-free. I searched for a lot of music she used. I try to be as myself on camera as she was. It wasn’t reading from a script – it was her personality. Her editing style changed, but I still watch her videos. Now they are about fashion. Before it was friends, DIY, cooking segments; just fun stuff. It inspired me to edit like that, too.”
The Abraham Clark High School alumna had been selected for the prestigious Television Academy Foundation Internship program. She was one of five students chosen by Television Academy members from across the country for the 2025 Fall Internship Program. The foundation offers paid internships at top Hollywood studios and production companies annually to college students nationwide.
Rodriguez, currently a student at Montclair State University majoring in film and television, began her editing internship last month at Geiger Post, a post-production facility in Hollywood, California, through the foundation’s program.
“It’s going well,” she said. “The co-workers are nice.”
One of the cool things Rodriguez has done so far was to edit concert footage. “I had to get audience shots,” she said “If a member was dancing really well, I clip from that one clip. I got to watch through a bunch of footage, got to see behind the scenes and how to film a concert.”
Her internship program lasts until the end of November; then she will return to Montclair State University, where she will be finishing in May 2026. “Living in California is definitely different from New Jersey. No humidity. That’s really nice. It’s still hot in October. It throws off my balance. I’m not wearing hoodies.”
Rodriguez will be returning to Montclair to graduate. She said, “A lot of classes I need aren’t online.”
When Rodriguez graduates, she wants to start applying for jobs in the industry. “I have some goals,” she said. “Other than editing, I want to audition. I’m an actor as well.”
Rodriguez played the lead Jule in a short film “Brave,” which was about anxiety before college. “Exploring anxiety can impact someone making big changes,” she said.
She also had another role-playing Diana in “Handicap Accessibly,” which was nominated to be in a screening this month. Rodriguez said, “She’s (Diana) very witty and has comebacks. She’s not opposed to being mean to her friends. She has a lot of funny lines. That was really fun. That was also a comedy. I want to do more comedy. That was a fun set to be on, just cracking jokes and having fun.”
Rodriguez said she’ll be searching for work in New Jersey and New York, where she was born and raised before moving to Roselle, when she was in first grade.
Looking back at her time in Roselle, she liked the community townhouses. She said, “There’s a park we used to go to, not far from us. Also, a skating rink. I liked it for the calmness. New York is very loud. Roselle has a calmer environment, and a small town feel that I like.”
When Rodriguez isn’t studying or working, she does side projects. She said, “I’m helping with an audio book for a company, Make That Paper. This is my first time doing audio.”
She also likes to be on FaceTime with her friends and watching anime. “I love anime,” she said. “Me and my roommate are binging right now.”
Photo Courtesy of Arely Jaime
