Annual trailer editing contest announces winners; entries from Hootenanny, Red Car, the Whitehouse and Beast take multiple honors
Red Car Assistant Editor Ben Winter won the 2013 AICE Chicago Camp Kuleshov trailer editing Grand Prize with his entry, “Planet of Rocks.” The trailer, promoting a non-existent nature series on the Discovery Channel that studies the fascinating world of rocks, was culled from several Kevin Bacon films, among them “The River Wild” and “Tremors.” To view the winning entry, click here. Winners were announced last night at a party and awards show held in the Volcano Room at the Bottom Lounge in Chicago. For all winners, visit the Camp Kuleshov page on the AICE web site here.
Camp Kuleshov is the annual competition for assistant editors, assistant audio engineers and, for the first time this year, assistant designers. It challenges them, as well as non-assistant staff of AICE member companies (who compete in the Tent City category), to create unique trailers for “original new films” which can be either movie mash-ups or new genres. Assistant audio engineers were asked to create sound designs for “Hollow Man” and the assistant designers to create a title sequence for the 2013 Chicago Camp Kuleshov competition.
The theme for this year’s competition – which was dubbed “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” – called on assistants to work with footage from four films starring actor Kevin Bacon: “Footloose,” “Death Sentence,” Tremors” and “The River Wild.” Multiple winners and honorable mentions this year went to work from the editorial companies Hootenanny, which won Grand Prizes in the Tent City category for editorial and in the Design category, along with Red Car, the Whitehouse and Beast. Additional winners and honorable mentions went to entries from Cutters, Flavor, Optimus and Earhole.
First Runner Up in the Editorial category went to Assistant Editor Spencer Sachs of Beast for his trailer titled “Blockbuster 6,” while Second Runner Up kudos went to Assistant Editor Travis Hockswender of the Whitehouse for “Homeward Bound: The River Runs Through It.” Earning Honorable Mention for their entries were Assistants Caleb Hepler, also of the Whitehouse, for “Milk: the High School Years,” and Aaron Kiser of Cutters for “The Saved.”
In the Tent City category for editorial, the Grand Prize went to Kelsey Moher of Hootenanny for her comic take on the Bacon’s science fiction thriller “Tremors,” which became the comic love story “Valentine & Graboid.” Moher’s win was notable for the fact that she works at the company in client service. (Click here to view the trailer.) Honorable Mention for Tent City editorial entries went to Patrick Wong, formerly a production assistant at Red Car for “The Floor is Lava;” Michael Asmundson, a runner at Beast for “The Flatulent Man;” and Colin Santangelo, an intern at Hootenanny, for “Footfellas.”
For the Audio – Sound Design category, assistant sound designers were tasked with creating an original sound design sequence for the Bacon sci-fi thriller “Hollow Man.” The Grand Prize went to Assistant Audio Engineer Ricardo Mondragon of Earhole for his campy sound design and audio mix – in Spanish, with English subtitles, no less – for “Hollow Man.” (Click here to view his entry.)
The Chicago chapter of AICE introduced a new category for the 2013 Camp Kuleshov competition for Design. The brief called for assistant designers to create an original opening title sequence that incorporated clips from all of the films used in the competition, as well as the Camp Kuleshov logo and the title of this year’s contest, “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.”
The Design Grand Prize went to Smoke Assistant Eddie Loera, also with Hootenanny. (Click here to see his winning entry
Contact:Burke Moody AICE 212-665-2679 Contact Burke via email
Sonic Branding For Social Media: Engage, Align, Connect
By Chad Cook -- With more than five billion people accessing social media daily, savvy brands understand the importance of cultivating a strong social identity. They devote massive resources toward brand awareness, audience targeting, content strategy and community engagement. Yet, while they know that social platforms are critical to boosting sales and attracting new customers, many neglect one of the most effective tools for connecting with consumers: sonic branding. Marketers often associate sonic branding with catchy mnemonics used by big brands like McDonald’s, Netflix and Intel in their advertising. But that is a very limited view of what sonic branding is and what it can do. Sonic branding is a way to build awareness and stimulate engagement across all touch points, from advertising to broadcast digital, in-person and social. And it’s not limited to members of the Fortune 500. Brands at all levels can benefit from a sonic identity that is memorable, engaging and reflective of its core values. Sound has been scientifically proven to be deeply tied to memory and emotion. There’s a reason that certain songs stick in your head and bring back memories formed years or even decades earlier. So, it’s surprising that sonic branding is often an afterthought in marketing plans. That is especially true in social media marketing. Faced with tight deadlines and strained budgets, creative teams are often tempted to select music for their content simply because it “fits.” Unfortunately, that may result in content that is in tune with what’s trending but is out of tune with brand identity. Effective sonic branding, by contrast, requires thoughtful strategic planning,... Read More