Editors Eric Zumbrunnen and Stephen Berger have returned to the commercials roster at Final Cut. Berger rejoins the company, which maintains shops in Los Angeles, New York and London, after two years at editorial house DAVID-Inc., San Francisco and L.A. Zumbrunnen, a Final Cut partner, is back after taking a hiatus from spots to edit the feature film John Carter, the live-action debut from Pixar director Andrew Stanton.
Zumbrunnen, a spot mainstay with work for such clients as Audi, HP, Xbox, and ESPN, first got his start editing music videos. Early work for The Beastie Boys, Smashing Pumpkins, Björk, Fat Boy Slim and Beck developed a collaborative partnership with such directors as Dayton/Faris and Spike Jonze. During that period Zumbrunnen earned two MTV Music Video Awards for Best Editing.
Zumbrunnen successfully transitioned to feature films with Jonze’s Being John Malkovich, which received three Academy Award nominations and earned Zumbrunnen both a BAFTA nomination and an ACE award for Best Edited Feature Film. Zumbrunnen’s subsequent film, Adaptation, also directed by Jonze, received four Academy Award nominations and netted another ACE nomination for editing. Other film credits include the Jonze-helmed Where the Wild Things Are (for which Zumbrunnen and Union Editorial’s James Haygood are credited as cutters).
Stephen Berger
Berger started working with Final Cut in 2005, after a five-year stay with colleague Zumbrunnen at Spot Welders. While there the two combined to cut Spike Jonze’s short I’m Here for Absolut Vodka. Berger also edited the Yellow Pencil Award-wining Grizzly Bear video “Two Weeks” directed by Patrick Daughters.
In 2010, Berger moved to the Bay Area and signed with DAVID where he extended his reach into the San Francisco market. Now at Final Cut, he will edit out of the Southern California facility as well as maintain a satellite bay in San Francisco. Berger’s Bay Area ties are reflected in work for agencies Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, DOJO and Heat.
At DAVID Inc, Berger worked on the Sprint “Epic Movies” campaign, director Filip Engstrom’s 2011 Chevy Volt Super Bowl spot, Sprite’s “Reimagined” featuring LeBron James out of BBH, and EA Battlefield’s “Is It Real?” spot directed by Noam Murro for Wieden+Kennedy. Since returning to Final Cut, Berger has wrapped his first project for the shop, an Activision commercial via 72andSunny.
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