“It Comes from Below,” editor Daniel Sherwen’s quick-cut, exquisitely-syncopated spot for the athletic equipment company Under Armour and agency Droga5, won Best in Show honors at tonight’s AICE Awards presentation. Sherwen, who’s with Final Cut, also won in the competition’s Dialogue/Monologue/Spoken Word category for the same spot.
In it, Bryce Harper, the star slugger for MLB’s Washington Nationals, talks about how “baseball is a numbers game.” As we hear him rattle off an amazing set of statistics–his, presumably–the visuals respond with a lightning-fast array of stylized numbers captured from a variety of sources, intercut with scenes of baseballs flying and Harper practicing swing after swing.
In addition to winning in Best in Show and Dialogue/Monologue/Spoken Word, another spot edited at Final Cut, “We’re the Superhumans” for the Rio Paralympics, won two awards for editor Joe Guest, in the categories of Cause Marketing and Content Promotion and Trailers, resulting in a total of four winners for the company.
Also among the top winners at tonight’s gala presentation, held at Capitale on New York’s Lower East Side, was work entered by The Mill, which collectively earned five AICE Awards. Two were presented to colorist Luke Morrison for “Wise Man” for the Toronto Maple Leafs, which won in the Color Grading (90 Seconds and Under) and Best of Chicago categories; and to VFX artist Gavin Wellsman, who won in the Visual Effects and Best of New York categories for “The Piccards” for Hennessy. Rounding out The Mill’s winners was colorist Josh Bohoskey, who won in the Color Grading (Music Video) category for “Nada” for Leaf (ft. Lil Yachty).
Two companies saw work from their editors or artists win three AICE Awards: Rock Paper Scissors (RPS) and Rooster.
For RPS, editor Angus Wall won in the Digital Content (Over 90 Seconds) category for “Unlimited You” for Nike; editor Jamie Foord won in the Fashion/Beauty category for “#MyCalvins” for Calvin Klein; and editor Damion Clayton won in the Online Campaign category for “Unlimited Stories” for Nike.
Rooster editor Marc Langley won in both the Montage and Best of Toronto categories for “Where Am I?” for Ontario Tourism, while editor Izzy Ehrlich won in the Regional Campaign category with a campaign for Nova Scotia Tourism.
Commenting on what propelled Sherwen’s Best in Show winner to the top ranks among all category winners, Big Sky editor Chris Franklin, who’s on the AICE Awards Committee as well as the show’s Curatorial Committee, said it made an indelible impression the first time he saw it. “I was knocked out,” he recalled. “The synching of Harper’s words to the images on screen is totally locked in. It just clicks from beginning to end, and the picture worked beautifully with the sound. I would have loved to have done that job.”
Utopic editor Craig Lewandowski, also a member of the AICE Awards committee and the Curatorial Committee, echoed the sentiment. “I think everyone on our curatorial calls were jealous they didn’t work on this spot,” he said. “One of the key things we ask about Best in Show winners is, ‘What did the artist bring to the job to make it what it is?’ And here, the achievement is obvious. I can guarantee you this wasn’t storyboarded or scripted to come out looking like this. And that’s a huge compliment to what Daniel did with the elements he had to work with.”
Hall of Fame
Editor Vito DeSario was inducted into the AICE Hall of Fame at this year’s event, which was hosted by the postproduction association’s New York Chapter. Also inducted into the Hall of Fame, on an honorary basis, were former executive directors John David Held and Burke Moody. The top winners in the editing, audio mixing and graphic design categories at last year’s International Camp Kuleshov competition for assistants were also saluted.
AICE Chicago chapter president (and former national president) Tom Duff, president/partner at Optimus, served as the presenter introducing Held for his Hall of Fame induction. Duff cited Held’s accomplished broadcasting and advertising career–including a groundbreaking tenure of some 25 years at agency Cunningham & Walsh, NY–which was just a precursor to his achievements as AICE’s first executive director. Duff said of Held, “He was tasked with taking three independent chapters in NY, LA, and Chicago and forming them into a 'real' national trade association for commercial editors….His mantra was to give our creative editors a place ‘at the table with the clients.’ And that was from countless meetings and lunches with members and committees from the ANA, the AAAA’s, the AICP, and others. We were just really no-names until he came along for us.
“While he was doing all that ‘outside’ work,” continued Duff, “he also got us going ourselves by guiding the adoption of our bylaws, the Bid Sheet, started the Awards Show in 2002, expanded our membership to Toronto to make us an International trade association, and was the first one to write up what essentially was a white paper on ‘What does the AICE do for me?’ It was three pages long, and barely sniffed the surface, but did quantify what we are all about.”
Duff described Held as simply “a good man, a character guy who cared so deeply about our whole industry and took it very, very personally to put us on the map. Trailblazers have the toughest task, there is no path, no ‘scripts or boards’ (does that sound familiar these days for us?)–just ingenuity, drive, intelligence, desire, and a whole lot of thinking outside the box.”
AICE past national president (2012-’13) Clayton Hemmert, partner/editor at Crew Cuts, reflected on Moody during introductory remarks before the former AICE exec director’s Hall of Fame induction. Hemmert noted that during Moody’s tenure as executive director, “For the first time AICE recognized that postproduction wasn’t only editors. There are a lot of talented artists who collaborate to make great work. We recognized that mixers, sound designers, musicians, colorists, and visual effects artists are all are important collaborators in the filmmaking process.”
Hemmert added that Moody started the Technical Committee. And while that “might sound a little boring,” it has proven significant, explained Hemmert. “It’s why next month AICE will unveil the single master, file format–not accepted by all distributors. You won’t have to make eight different file masters to release one spot for distribution. And you won’t see Burke’s name on it, but he got the ball rolling.”
As for Moody’s tenacity and powers of persuasion, Hemmert related, “Burke got the CALM Act for audio levels agreed on and signed into law, even going to Washington, D.C., to make it happen with the U.S. Congress. Who can get the U.S. Congress to agree on anything? Burke did.”
2017 AICE Awards Winners
BEST IN SHOW
Daniel Sherwen, Final Cut
Under Armour
“It Comes from Below / Bryce Harper”
AUDIO MIX
Tom Jucarone, Sound Lounge
Hennessy
“Wild Rabbit (The Piccards)”
AUTOMOTIVE
Alvaro del Val, Uppercut
Volvo S90
“Song of the Open Road”
CAUSE MARKETING
Joe Guest, Final Cut
Rio Paralympics
“We’re the Superhumans”
COLOR GRADING (90 Seconds and Under)
Luke Morrison, The Mill
Toronto Maple Leafs
“Wise Man”
COLOR GRADING (Music Video)
Josh Bohoskey, The Mill
Leaf (ft Lil Yachty)
“Nada”
COLOR GRADING (Over 90 Seconds)
Tom Poole, Company 3
Squarespace
“John’s Journey”
COMEDY
Ben Suenaga, Friendshop!
Little Caesars
“Champion”
CONTENT PROMOTION AND TRAILERS
Joe Guest, Final Cut
Rio Paralympics
“We’re the Superhumans”
DIALOGUE/MONOLOGUE/SPOKEN WORD
Daniel Sherwen, Final Cut
Under Armour
“It Comes from Below / Bryce Harper”
DIGITAL CONTENT (90 Seconds or Under)
Shane Reid, Exile
Adidas Originals
“Original is Never Finished”
DIGITAL CONTENT (Over 90 Seconds)
Angus Wall, Rock Paper Scissors
Nike
“Unlimited You”
DOCU-STYLE
Jeff Ferruzzo, Arcade Edit
Dick’s Sporting Goods
“Fifth Ward Saints”
FASHION/BEAUTY
Jamie Foord, Rock Paper Scissors
Calvin Klein
“#My Calvins”
MONTAGE
Marc Langley, Rooster
Ontario Tourism
“Where Am I?”
MOTION DESIGN & GRAPHICS
Matt Greenwood, Gary Thomas & Stefan Woronko, Nice Shoes
Canadian Centre for Child Protection
“PROJECT ARACHNID”
MUSIC VIDEO
Paul Martinez, Arcade Edit
Red Hot Chili Peppers
“Dark Necessities”
NATIONAL CAMPAIGN
Leo Scott, Cartel
Under Armour
“Rule Yourself”
ONLINE CAMPAIGN
Damion Clayton, Rock Paper Scissors
Nike
“Unlimited Stories”
ORIGINAL MUSIC
Yessian Music Original Composition
Toyota
“Discovery Machine”
REGIONAL CAMPAIGN
Izzy Ehrlich, Rooster
Nova Scotia Tourism
“Nova Scotia Tourism”
SOUND DESIGN
Joel Raabe, Mission Film & Design
The Story Bar
“BLACK SESAME”
STORYTELLING
Sam Rice-Edwards, The Assembly Rooms
HP Spectre
“’HP’ Brothers”
UNDER $50,000
Ben Jordan, Work Editorial
Prince’s Trust
“Parallel Lives”
VISUAL EFFECTS
Gavin Wellsman, The Mill
Hennessy
“The Piccards”
BEST OF ATLANTA
Billy Gabor, Company 3
(Color Grading – Over 90 Seconds)
Land O Lakes
“The Farmer”
BEST OF BOSTON
Mark Grassia, Trident Post Production
(Digital Content – 90 Seconds or Under)
Reebok
“Reebok Nano 6.0”
BEST OF CHICAGO
Luke Morrison, The Mill
(Color Grading 90 Seconds or Under)
Toronto Maple Leafs
“Wise Man”
BEST OF DETROIT
Mark Chu, Yessian
(Original Music)
Nintendo
“Mario Run”
BEST OF LOS ANGELES
Eric Zumbrunnen, Exile
(Fashion/Beauty)
Kenzo
“My Mutant Brain”
BEST OF MINNEAPOLIS
Nick Miller, Drive Thru Editorial
(Digital Content – Over 90 Seconds)
Hormel Dinty Moore
“Lumberjacked Lumbersexuals”
BEST OF NEW YORK
Gavin Wellsman, The Mill
(Visual Effects)
Hennessy
“The Piccards”
BEST OF SAN FRANCISCO
Mark Pitchford, M Squared Productions
(Audio Mix)
WWE Video Game
“Suplex City”
BEST OF TEXAS
Patton Tunstall, Reel FX/Radium
(Visual Effects)
Warner Bros
“What Kind of Person”
BEST OF TORONTO
Marc Langley, Rooster
(Montage)
Ontario Tourism
“Where Am I?”
To view all the 2017 AICE Award winners, click here.
