An adorable singing shark becomes the darling of a seaside community until bad guys plot to capture it and put it on display in “Shark Song,” the feel-good story that takes place in a little town called Amity. And the sweet, affectionate trailer for this fictional film, created by Assistant Editor Caleb Hepler of the Whitehouse, Chicago, won the top prize at AICE Chicago’s Camp Kuleshov trailer editing competition. The winners were announced at a party and awards show held at the Volcano Room of the Bottom Lounge on West Lake Street.
The assignment for the competition, now in its tenth year in the AICE Chicago Chapter, was to select either one or any combination of the films “Jaws,” “Lost in Translation” and “What About Bob” and cut a 90-second trailer for an original new film, be it a mashup or of a new genre. Hepler’s take on Steven Spielberg’s 1975 classic swayed the jury. For his efforts, the assistant editor won an Avid Media Composer 5. In addition, he’ll be flown to Los Angeles to attend the 2012 AICE Awards Show.
To view all the winners of the 2011 Chicago Camp Kuleshov competition, check out its page on the AICE web site here.
First Runner Up honors went to Michael Lippert, an assistant editor at Cutters, who mashed up all three films for “Learning to Stand.” In this frightening drama, Bill Murray plays a creature who takes human form while on land but becomes a shark whenever he’s in the water. Lippert won a Pro Tools 9 audio system.
Second Runner Up honors went to Assistant Editor Aaron Porzel of Optimus, whose campy “Were-Shark” combines “Jaws” and “What About Bob” to tell the story of a shark that’s terrorizing a summer camp, conveyed in the style of a schlocky, black & white 1950s-era horror film. Porzel’s prize was pair of M-Audio Studiophile Q40 headphones.
All prizes for the Chicago Camp Kuleshov winners were provided by Avid.
Honorable Mentions went to two assistants at Optimus: Max Holste for “Siggy Marvin and the Summer of the Shark” and Lucy Radtke for “This Is Water.”
The Chicago Camp Kuleshov competition also has a division called Tent City, which is open to anyone employed at an AICE member company who’s not an assistant editor. The Grand Prize in this category went to Tiffany Dotson, an intern at Hootenanny, for “Faded Intent,” her re-casting of “Lost in Translation” as a psychological thriller in which Bill Murray plays an assassin and Scarlett Johansson his intended target. Dotson won a $50 Amazon gift card for her efforts.
Honorable Mentions in the Tent City category went to Optimus’ Marco Rosas for “The Ungiven Chance” and Max Mooney for “Bob Van Winkle” and to Angelica Carlson of The Colonie for “Escape to Tokyo.”
The judges for the Camp Kuleshov Chicago competition included Brian Gannon of the Whitehouse, Sean Berringer of Beast, Laura Madalinski of Red Car, Keith Kristinat of Utopic, Randy Palmer of Optimus, Adam Purcell of The Colonie, Matthew Hane of Daily Planet, Chris Hafner of Cutters and Jerem Sloan of Hootenanny.
Next up for Camp Kuleshov will be the L.A. Chapter’s awards presentation, scheduled for Tuesday, November 15, and the Toronto Chapter’s awards, scheduled for Wednesday, November 23.
About AICE
AICE is an international association whose members are independent creative editorial, design, visual effects and post production companies and their editors, designers and artists. It is dedicated to the advancement and promotion of these companies and the increasingly significant role their editors, designers and artists play in the media creation process. With chapters in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco and Toronto, AICE represents a significant segment of the vibrant post production industry, and will continue to maintain its strong collective voice in the commercial advertising and marketing industry. Among its signature initiatives and programs are the annual AICE Awards, which highlights creative excellence on behalf of its member companies; the regular publication of white papers and advisories on relevant trends and developments in post production; and active participation with other industry organizations on the establishment of standards and best practices for the post production process. As a trade organization, AICE will continue to represent the best interests of its members within the advertising and marketing industry as it disseminates information to ad agencies, advertisers and producers on all aspects of editorial, design, visual effects and post production. For more information, visit www.aice.org.
