Commercial and feature editor Dan Swietlik has joined forces with London-based editorial house Stitch, opening up an office in Santa Monica. The move will see immediate collaboration on projects between the U.S. and U.K. operations.
Swietlik is part of a Stitch L.A. roster of editors that also consists of David Checel, Marc D’Andre, Frank Effron, Tad Fatum and Jeff Grippe. This ensemble of talent had previously been at editorial house Cut+Run.
Also Cut+Run alumni are editors Andy McGraw, Leo King and Tim Hardy who a year ago opened Stitch in London’s Soho district. The Stitch U.K. editors have gone on to cut campaigns for such clients as BMW, Ford, Johnnie Walker, Heineken, Kit Kat, Motorola, Panasonic, Range Rover, Samsung, VW, Vodafone and Weetabix.
Charged with helping to expand the Stitch brand stateside is executive producer Stacey Altman, a former independent sales rep.
The first project wrapped under the U.S./U.K. Stitch banner is the American launch of the Smart Car directed by Guy Shelmerdine of Smuggler and edited by McGraw for Merkley + Partners, New York.
At Stitch L.A., Effron has also edited a Mercedes-Benz commercial directed by Carl Eric Rinsch of RSA Films, and delivered two spots for Jimmy Dean with director Jeff Low of Biscuit through TBWAChiatDay, Los Angeles.
Stitch is in the midst of a Hyundai-funded project with executive producer Tom Dunlap at Scott Free/RSA Films. It’s a non-fiction branded content effort directed by Amir Bar-Lev whose credits include the documentaries The Tillman Story and My Kid Could Paint That, which were nominated for the Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize in 2010 and ’07, respectively. The Hyundai project will see a number of disparate elements created (such as interstitials) that will come together in addition to a documentary.
“We currently have three editors working on trailers, behind-the-scenes footage, music video elements and more,” said Swietlik regarding the job. “There is no shoehorned Hyundai product placement in the material. The brand is added in a subtle, organic way. It’s crafted with entertainment in mind.”
The project also underscores Swietlik’s propensity to team on documentary work as evidenced by such feature-length projects as director Michael Moore’s Sicko (edited by Swietlik, Geoffrey Richman and Christopher Seward) and director Davis Guggenheim’s An Inconvenient Truth (edited by Swietlik and Jay Cassidy). Swietlik’s credits also include he and Dayn Williams (of Cut+Run) editing the Rinsch-directed short film The Gift, part of the Philips’ “Parallel Lines” campaign’s series of shorts out of DDB London. The Gift won the Grand Prix in last year’s inaugural Film Craft competition at the Cannes Lions Festival.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More