From the visual antics of Jim Carrey to the brooding post-war realism of Vittorio De Sica, assistants at post house and production companies took their best shot at reimaging classic (and not-so-classic) films into new creative statements as part of Camp Kuleshov, AICP’s popular trailer competition. The annual contest, which tasks assistants with cutting new trailers that change a films’ genre; composing new sound design tracks that alter a scene’s meaning; or creating original opening title sequences for iconic films that never had one, has just wrapped up its series of city-based competitions with five awards presentations held around the country.
Now these winners in CK’s Editing, Sound Design and Graphic Design competitions will go head-to-head in a national contest to pick the best in each category, which will be presented with “The Lev,” Camp Kuleshov’s grand prize. (All of the Camp Kuleshov winners and runners up can be found here. For more info on Camp Kuleshov, along with a full listing of all source films for each category, visit the Camp K website here.)
This year’s Camp K entrants had a wide range of films to choose from. In Editing, that list ranged from Bobby Farrelly’s slapstick “My, Myself & Irene” to De Sica’s classic 1948 neorealist gem “The Bicycle Thief.” In Sound Design, the list of source films included Ken Russell’s trippy “Altered States” and Brian De Palma’s action-packed “The Untouchables,” while the Graphic Design source film list included narrative masterpieces like “Citizen Kane,” “There Will Be Blood” and “The Godfather: Part II.”
The Winners
- In Chicago, which held its event at the Rock Bottom Brewery, the First Place winner in Editing went to Ashley McGinn of The Whitehouse for her Horror genre spin on “Me, Myself & Irene.” Second place went to Kalen Kirkpatrick of Cutters, with Third Place going to Amanda Marien, also with The Whitehouse.
- In Sound Design, the First Place winner was Mike Regan of Cutters, who won for his ethereal sound design on “Altered States.” Second Place in Sound Design went to Alejandra Leon of BAM Studios.
- In Graphic Design, the First Place winner was Jeff Borowiak of The Colonie for his cute animated sequence for the Coen Brother’s “Inside Llewyn Davis.” Second Place went to Alex Ritter, also of Cutters.
- At Cosmo Street in Los Angeles, the First Place winner in Editing went to Joe Carugati of The Whitehouse for his Horror film take on the 1982 musical “Annie.” Second Place went to Roman Petrov of Union Editing, with Third Place going to Alexandra Jimenez of Cosmo Street.
- The Camp K L.A. Sound Designer winner was Ruge Sun of Swell Music, who won for his comic audio track laid over a climactic scene in “The Untouchables.”
- And in Graphic Design, the winner was Andrew Becker of Flavor for his type-heavy title sequence for “There Will Be Blood.”
- The Dallas event was held at the offices of 3008, where the First Place winner in Editing went to Alexandra Beninger of Republic Editing for her trailer for “Me, Myself & Irene” as Written by Stephen King. Second Place in Editing went to last year’s Lev winner, Alex Heisterkamp of Lucky Post, with Third Place going to Parker Smitherman, also of Republic Editing.
- It was a big night for Republic, as its assistant, Noah Smith, won the Sound Design category with his rock-fused sound design and original music composition for “The Long Riders.”
- And Lucky Post wasn’t done yet either, as assistant Jake Odgers won the Graphic Design prize with his newspaper-inspired title sequence for the Brit comedy “Hot Fuzz.”
- In Atlanta, where the event was held at Nine Mile Circle, the Editing First Place winner went to Evan Goodell of Hero Post, LLC, who also tackled “Me, Myself & Irene” as Written by Stephen King. Both the Second and Third Place Editing winners went to assistants at Beast: Mike Moore came in Second, followed by Jonathan Butler, who took Third.
- The Sound Design winner in Atlanta was Nick Shoup of Nine Mile Circle, who also won for a comedy remix of a tense scene from “The Untouchables.”
- In New York, where the prizes were once again handed out at M15 Lounge, First Place in Editing went to George Irizarry of Cosmo Street for his Science Fiction reworking of “The Bicycle Thief.” Second Place went to Tara O’Sullivan of P.S. 260, and Third Place went to Patrick Fitzsimmons of Northern Lights. An Honorable Mention in Editing was presented to Beau Dickson of Cut + Run.
- The First Place winner in Sound Design went to Tom Morris of Heard City for his vacation ad parody of “Altered States,” with Second Place going to Matthew Orlando of Sonic Union.
- The First Place prize in Graphic Design went to Cayla Gao of Mr. Wonderful for her evocative title sequence for Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood.”
“Every year we see great work coming from assistants all over the country, working across all the disciplines of postproduction, and it’s an encouraging sign for the future of our industry,” said Big Sky Edit owner and editor Chris Franklin, a member of AICP’s Camp Kuleshov Committee, and emcee at the New York event. “I’ve said many times that being an assistant is one of the toughest jobs in the business. To see the time, passion, creativity and craft that these young talents devote to their work, and to realize the benefits they get out of the Camp Kuleshov process, is a highly rewarding experience.”
“And as we’ve seen, the enthusiasm for Camp Kuleshov remains at a consistently high level, especially here in Chicago, where the competition was born,” said fellow Camp K Committee member Jon Desir, executive producer at Optimus. He noted that Cutters editor Kathryn Hampel, who founded what became Camp Kuleshov back in 2001, was on hand at the awards ceremony to lend support.
While honor and glory was handed out all round, the winners also walked away with more tangible evidence of their skill and creativity. Each received a trophy bearing their name, category, company and chapter on it. In addition, winners in Sound Design won an Avid Pro Tools software package. Avid will also provide Media Composer licenses to those who take home The Lev awards in Editing and Graphic Design. In addition, each Lev winner will receive a $1,000 cash prize, courtesy of Key Code Media.
Camp Kuleshov events this year were generously supported by a list of key sponsors. In addition to Avid and Key Code Media, the list also included West One Music, Music Bed, P.S. 260, Big Sky Edit and Cosmo Street.
