• About
  • Archives
  • Advertising

NYCPPNEWS

NYC Production & Post News

  • Home
  • Directory Listings
    • The Standby Program
    • Brooklyn College
    • Brooklyn Workforce Innovations
    • Columbia University Film Program
    • Downtown Community Television Center
    • Electronic Arts Intermix
    • Film Biz Recycling
    • Freelancers Union
    • Independent Filmmaker Project
    • Manhattan Edit Workshop
    • Mediakite Training Center
    • New York Film Academy
    • New York Film/Video Council
    • New York Institute of Technology
    • New York Production Alliance
    • New York Video School
    • New York Women in Film & Television
    • NYU Film & Television
    • Post New York Alliance
    • The Independent Film School
    • International Film Institute of New York
    • The New School – Documentary Studies
    • The New School — MA in Media Studies
    • Union Docs
    • Upstate Independents
    • Syracuse Film Office
Home » Editor Brian Lagerhausen Takes Top Prize At AICE Gala

Editor Brian Lagerhausen Takes Top Prize At AICE Gala

Cut+Run, Cutters Studios, Rock Paper Scissors, Umlaut earn three honors apiece

Winners and the Best in Show for the 2014 AICE Awards were announced and honored at a gala event in New York on Thursday, May 15th, where Editor Brian Lagerhausen of Beast in San Francisco took home the inaugural Best in Show trophy for his work on Google.

The winning entry, a spot titled “Fearless,” was created by the ad agency Autofuss and directed by Drake Doremus of B-Reel. “Fearless” introduces us to glassophobia–anxiety over or fear of public speaking–and the somewhat nerdish lad who has it yet still has to make a speech in front of his class. Deploying his Google Nexus 7 tablet, the boy accesses great historic speeches, Colin Firth’s performance in The King’s Speech, and assorted other resources that help him feel more comfortable talking before an audience.

The other top AICE Award winners were four post companies that tied for the most honors with three apiece: Cut+Run, which won for work from its London and L.A. offices; Cutters Studios, which earned recognition for work from its Cutters editorial company and Flavor, its visual effects and design studio; Rock Paper Scissors; and Umlaut.

Awards were presented in a total of 30 categories at the gala – 21 technique, media and product categories and nine awards presented to the best work from each of the association’s regional chapters.

This year marked the introduction of the Best in Show award, which was presented to one winning entry selected by the AICE Curatorial Committee from among the 21 main competition category winners. The Committee is a group of 13 artists at AICE member companies who represent a cross-section of disciplines, crafts and regions.

This was also the introductory year for two new categories: Alternative Media (over :90) and Online Campaign. The latter was designed to recognize work created specifically for online distribution.

Also taking place at the gala tonight was AICE Hall of Fame induction of John Palestrini, the late co-founder of the Lively Group of postproduction companies and a highly respected and admired editor, businessman, industry leader and mentor. Palestrini’s accomplishments were marked in a moving video presentation and by remarks delivered by his former partner, Ethel Rubinstein, CEO of Lively Group, and his son, Kris Palestrini, owner of Krispy Pictures.

Multiple winners
Cut+Run won in the categories of Alternative Media (:90 and under) for Nike “Fuelband” from AKQA, edited by Sam Ostrove of Cut+Run London; in National Campaign for Moto X/Motorola’s “Music,” “Drive” and “Meeting” from Droga 5, edited by Graham Turner and Frank Effron of Cut+Run LA; and in Public Service for Macmillan’s “Give Support” from VCCP, edited by Ben Campbell of Cut+Run London.

Cutters Studios won in the categories of Comedy for Oscar Mayer’s “Giving Thanks” for mcgarrybowen in Chicago, edited by Grant Gustafson; and in Best Of Chicago for IBM’s “On Brand” for VSA Partners, edited by Michael Lippert. Flavor, Cutters Studios’ design arm, won in the Design category for the AICP “Show Opener,” created for the AICP Show.

Rock Paper Scissors won in the categories of Broadcast Promotion for Netflix’s “House of Cards Season 2 Teaser,” edited by Grant Surmi; and in Montage and Best of Los Angeles for Nike’s “Possibilities,” edited by Angus Wall.

Umlaut won in the categories of Alternative Media (over :90) for Skype’s “Born Friends” for Pereira & O’Dell, edited by Jessica Congdon; in Fashion/Beauty for Levi’s “Modern Frontier Train” for AKQA, edited by Doug Cox; and in Online Campaign for Skype’s “Born Friends,” “Denis” and “Growing up Family” for Pereira & O’Dell, also edited by Jessica Congdon.

The Best in Show winner from Beast SF also won AICE Awards in the Storytelling and Best of San Francisco categories. The only other multiple winner in the competition was The Mill, which won in the Color Grading category for Guinness’ “Guinness Sapeurs” for AMV BBDO in London, which was graded by colorist Adam Scott of The Mill’s L.A. office, and in the Visual Effects category for PETA’s “PETA: 98% Human” for BBDO, with effects from Angus Kneale and Vince Baertsoen of The Mill’s New York office.

Best in Show Analysis
Editor Craig Lewandowski, a member of the Curatorial Committee, notes that several category winners could have merited recognition as the show’s top winner. He was asked what propelled the Google spot “Fearless” to its Best in Show award.

“When you’re judging work it can be hard to separate concept from editorial,” Lewandowski said. “But as an editor, when we looked at it I remember thinking, ‘I don’t know if I would have done it any differently.’  It communicated a lot of information in a short amount of time, the sound was impeccably woven into the piece and it highlighted the benefits of the brand in a way that made it part of the story.”

Lewandowski was impressed with how the Curatorial Committee approached its mandate of selecting the Best in Show and providing an overall vision for the winning entries to ensure they properly reflected the crafts and disciplines of their respective categories.  “We had a really high level of engagement, and everyone on the committee was totally into it,” he said.  “And having the perspectives from the different disciplines like effects, audio mixing and color grading was really great.”

Burke Moody

Tom Duff, president of Optimus, introduced Moody last night and paid tribute to him, citing his extensive experience prior to joining AICE. He noted that Moody and his wife and business partner Annie were founding partners of Seventh Art, a Philadelphia-based editorial and creative development company. For nearly 30 years, Burke Moody was Seventh Art’s sr. creative editor and post supervisor, editing more than 3,000 TV commercials and shorts during his career. Additionally, Moody conceived and wrote Speakeasy, a computer program, which automated the film-to-tape conform process.

As for his contributions to AICE, Moody was credited by Duff as being instrumental in the organization’s rise to “a highly respected association” throughout the industry. Moody built the first AICE website, developed symposia on “24P” and “Editing in the Dot Com World,” wrote technical papers for the association, developed industry surveys, managed a major revision of the AICE bid form, and developed key relationships with sister associations such as the ANA, AAAA’s, AICP, and the ACA up in Canada.

Duff added that Moody “wouldn’t have been able to accomplish any of this had it not been for his Annie. Her critical and strategic thinking along with her skills as a producer have been vital to all of Burke’s achievements. They are a true team

“More than anything,” continued Duff, “at the core of all of this is Burke’s commitment to what the association was founded for: elevating the respect of the editor. True to his ideals, he wanted nothing to do with this [tribute to him this evening] at all–’the show is about the editor, the show is about the editor.’ That’s our Burke, all right, just a class act of a wonderful man we have been blessed to have led us all these years.”

Camp Kuleshov

In addition, the top winners from the 2013 Camp Kuleshov events were acknowledged. The Camp Kuleshov events are the regional chapters’ trailer editing competitions for assistants.

The AICE Awards will head west next year, when the association’s Los Angeles chapter will host the event.

Awards rundown
Here’s a category-by-category rundown of the 2014 AICE Awards winners:

ALTERNATIVE MEDIA (:90 and under)
Sam Ostrove, Cut+Run London
Nike
“FuelBand” :80
AKQA

ALTERNATIVE MEDIA (over :90)
Jessica Congdon, Umlaut
Skype
“Born Friends” 3:00
Pereira & O’Dell

AUDIO MIX
David Papa, Sonic Union
Hennessy
“The Man Who Couldn’t Slow Down” :90
Droga5

AUTOMOTIVE
Terry King, Territory
Cadillac
“Monkey Do” :30
Rogue

BROADCAST PROMOTION
Grant Surmi, Rock Paper Scissors
Netflix
“House of Cards Season 2 Teaser” :120
Netflix

COLOR GRADING
Adam Scott, The Mill LA
Guinness
“Sapeurs” :90
AMV BBDO

COMEDY
Grant Gustafson, Cutters
Oscar Mayer
“Giving Thanks” :60
mcgarrybowen Chicago

DESIGN
Flavor
AICP
“Show Opener” 2:27
AICP

DIALOGUE/MONOLOGUE/SPOKEN WORD
Chris Franklin, Big Sky Edit
New York Lottery
“Glory Days” :30
DDB

FASHION/BEAUTY
Doug Cox, Umlaut
Levi’s
“Modern Frontier Train” :60
AKQA

MONTAGE
Angus Wall, Rock Paper Scissors
Nike
“Possibilities” :90
Wieden + Kennedy

MUSIC VIDEO
Paul Martinez, Nick Rondeau, Geoff Hounsell, Arcade Edit
Jay Z
“Picasso Baby” 8:07
Jay Z

NATIONAL CAMPAIGN
Graham Turner, Frank Effron,  Cut+Run LA
Moto X/Motorola
“Music” :60
“Drive” :60
“Meeting” :60
Droga5

ONLINE CAMPAIGN
Jessica Congdon, Umlaut
Skype
“Born Friends” 3:00
“Denis” 3:00
“Growing up Family” 3:00
Pereira & O’Dell

PUBLIC SERVICE
Ben Campbell, Cut+Run London
Macmillan
“Give Support” :60
VCCP

REGIONAL CAMPAIGN
Paul Proulx, Married to Giants
Sunnybrook Foundation
“Brian” :30
“Katie”  :30
“Michelle” :60
Grip Limited

SOUND DESIGN
Rommel Molina, Nicholas Interlandi, 740 Sound Design & Mix
Duracell
“Derrick Coleman/Trust the Power Within” :60
Saatchi & Saatchi NY

SPEC SPOT
Dave De Carlo, Rooster
Engage Diamond Studio
“The Artist” :48

STORYTELLING
Brian Lagerhausen, Beast SF
Google
“Fearless” :60
Autofuss

UNDER $50,000
Jon DeVries, School
National Ballet of Canada
“Lost in Motion 2” 3:22
National Ballet of Canada

VISUAL EFFECTS
Angus Kneale,Vince Baertsoen, The Mill in NY
PETA
“PETA: 98% Human” :32
BBDO

BEST OF BOSTON
Joel Walker, Peel & Eat
City Year
“Anthem”  :60
Allen & Gerritsen

BEST OF CHICAGO
Michael Lippert, Cutters
IBM
“On Brand” 2:14
VSA Partners

BEST OF DALLAS
Richard Gillespie, Fast Cuts Edits
Domtar Paper Company
“PAPER Because/Bridal Shower” :40
Eric Mower + Associates

BEST OF DETROIT
Rich Smith, Hudson Editorial
Quicken Loans
“Chase” :60
Driven

BEST OF LOS ANGELES
Angus Wall, Rock Paper Scissors
Nike
“Possibilities” 1:30
Wieden + Kennedy

BEST OF MINNEAPOLIS
Jim Stanger, Channel Z
Canterbury Park
“Dynamic Moments” :30
Hunt Adkins

BEST OF NEW YORK
Sonejuhi Sinha, Final Cut USA
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
“Stand Your Ground” 1:25
Grey

BEST OF SAN FRANCISCO
Brian Lagerhausen, Beast SF
Google
“Fearless” :60
Autofuss

BEST OF TORONTO
Alison Gordon, Relish
Kobo
“The Gift of Reading” :60
John St.

 

Community & Partner Links

How Sony’s New Virtual Sound Technology Can Change How We Hear Films

Kami Asgar and Jessica Parks are post-production heavyweights who work with major studios, namely Sony. As a sound designer (Asgar) and as a post executive (Parks), their collective resume touches on everything from Apocalypto to Grandma’s Boy to Venom.

Parks has recently shifted her focus from supervisor to hands-on sound design, and we talk about how it’s never too late to pivot on your career path and find the thing you love doing wherever you are in life.

Click on this link to read the rest of the article on No Film School’s site.

NJ – Governor Murphy signs $14B Incentive Program Bill – the NJ Economic Recovery Act of 2020

 Film tax credits — amending existing programs to include provisions for so-called New Jersey film partners and New Jersey film-lease partners and allowing an additional $200 million of tax credits annually over 13 years.

Click this link if you want to read the full article on the Lexology site. http://bit.ly/35NtDx6

Film Commish announces date for production restart

In her December 18, 2020 news update, MOME Commissioner Anne del Castillo announced that the Film Office is now accepting permit applications for production activity that begins on July 27th.

She also announced awards now (Awkwafina) and more. To read all of the Film Commish’s bloggy sort of news column, click here.

Stimulus Offers $15 Billion in Relief for Struggling Arts Venues

The coronavirus relief package that Congressional leaders agreed to this week includes grant money that many small proprietors described as a last hope for survival.

For the music venue owners, theater producers and cultural institutions that have suffered through the pandemic with no business, the coronavirus relief package that Congress passed on Monday night offers the prospect of aid at last.

To read the full article on The New York Times’ site, click here.

If you want to start production, here’s the latest news from the Mayor’s Office

Phase 4 production guidance is available on the Film Permit website. All production activity, whether it requires a Film Permit or not, must comply with New York Forward Industry Guidance.

For more information see, please refer to the State Department of Health’s Interim Guidance for Media Production During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Please review the guidelines and FAQ before submitting permit applications. The Film Office is operating remotely, so please allow additional time for Film Permit processing.

The above paragraphs contain links to the various FAQ – just mouse over the relevant words.

Nikon to Stop Making Cameras in Japan

Nikon has fallen on hard times as of late as its camera sales have cratered, and now there’s a new indicator of how dire its financial situation is: the company is reportedly pulling the plug on making cameras in Japan after over 70 years of doing so.

To read the full article on Petapixel’s site, click here.

NVIDIA Uses AI to Slash Bandwidth on Video Calls

NVIDIA Research has invented a way to use AI to dramatically reduce video call bandwidth while simultaneously improving quality

What the researchers have achieved has remarkable results: by replacing the traditional h.264 video codec with a neural network, they have managed to reduce the required bandwidth for a video call by an order of magnitude. In one example, the required data rate fell from 97.28 KB/frame to a measly 0.1165 KB/frame – a reduction to 0.1% of required bandwidth.

To read the rest of this article on Petapixel, click this link.

 

 

 

Union Health Plan Dodges Film Workers’ Suit Over Virus Relief

Law360 (October 9, 2020, 5:22 PM EDT) — The Motion Picture Industry Health Plan’s board can’t be sued under ERISA for allegedly flouting its duties when it relaxed plan rules in response to COVID-19, a California federal judge has ruled, nixing a proposed class action filed by two cinematographers who still couldn’t qualify for benefits.

In an order entered Thursday, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner granted the board of directors’ motion to dismiss Greg Endries and Dee Nichols’ Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit accusing board members of breaching their duty to treat all plan participants fairly.

Endries and Nichols, members of Local 600 of the International Cinematographers Guild, said in July that the board left them and others “out in the cold” in its attempts to address the problems COVID-19 caused for plan participants.

But Judge Klausner agreed with the board’s contention that the case, which alleged a fiduciary breach, should be tossed because plan administrators don’t act as fiduciaries when they amend health care plans.

Read the full article on the Law360 site by clicking here.

Russo Brothers Received Close to $50 Million From Saudi Bank

Anthony Russo and Joseph Russo photographed at the PMC Studio in Los Angeles for the Variety Playback Podcast.

The Russo brothers, directors of the all-time top grossing film “Avengers: Endgame,” quietly secured a roughly $50 million cash infusion for their production company AGBO from Saudi Arabia earlier this year, multiple sources tell Variety.

In a deal brokered and closed at the beginning of the pandemic, the Russos received the investment from an undisclosed Saudi bank in exchange for a minority stake in the brothers’ Los Angeles-based shop.

  • About
  • Archives
  • Advertising
Copyright © 2021 NYCPPNEWS | Site Built with Studio Press Genesis