Months before the rest of the world saw the new CBS crime drama “CSI: Cyber,” Xavier alum Victoria C. Page was cranking up the volume and revving up the visuals.
“My producers’ mantra is basically fast and loud. So we have a lot of things moving fast, and we have a lot of loud,” Page says. “We have a cyber/digital look and feel. You see a lot of code. You see a lot of malware.”
“CSI: Cyber” is Page’s newest project since graduating from Xavier in 2010 with a communications degree in electronic media. As an assistant editor on the new series, Page helped create its high-tech look, sound and feel. The 13-episode series, which airs at 10:00 p.m. ET Wednesdays on CBS, moves fast with many quick cuts. It stars Patricia Arquette as FBI special agent Avery Ryan, who solves crimes by searching electronic devices.
“CSI: Cyber is about Internet crime—how people can hack into other people’s devices,” Page says. “It doesn’t just have to be computers. It can be your phones. We had an episode where a printer is set on fire, remotely.”
Which, it turns out, has actually happened. All the shows are fictionalized accounts of real events. The show’s pilot, which aired in March, involves hacking a baby monitor. But the show takes precautions: A cyber psychologist ensures the series doesn’t veer into science fiction, and details of how to commit the crimes are never revealed.
“Working on the show, it kind of made me fearful,” Page says. “If someone hacked your laptop, they could see through your camera and watch you. I think the show is really current with what we’re living through today. We’re always on our phones, always on the Internet, always texting and talking.”
It was during a Xavier student film challenge that Page realized post-production was for her. She loved creating something “that’s visually stunning and emotionally touching.”
After graduation, Page moved to Los Angeles and earned her certification in
film/video editing from the Post-Production Institute in Burbank. Now based in LA as a freelance assistant editor, she’s already worked on “Under the Dome” and the mid-season CBS drama, “Reckless.” She loves the creativity of it all. “I look at the hard work that we put into this, and to see it air on TV or a big screen? It just feels so awesome.”
