Finalists have been announced for the 2017 AICE Awards, and at the top of the list is colorist Tom Poole of Company 3. Poole, who won the Color Grading category in the 2016 AICE Awards, earned finalist nominations for his work in Color Grading (90 Seconds or Under) for Budweiser; scored two out of the three finalist nominations that were swept by Company 3 in the Color Grading (Over 90 Seconds) category for Hennessy and Squarespace; and was nominated in the Best of New York Category for Hennessy.
Earning three finalist nominations are a trio of editors: Ben Suenaga of Friendshop! scored two of the three finalist nominations in the Comedy category for work for Lenovo and Little Caesars, and in the Dialogue/Monologue/Spoken Word category, again for Little Caesars. Eric Zumbrunnen of Exile earned nominations in the Montage category for work for Apple and in the Best of Los Angeles category for Apple and for Kenzo. Jeff Jay of Hero Post is nominated in the Regional Campaign category for work for Novant Healthcare and in the Best of Atlanta category for the Novant work and for Delta.
The 2017 AICE Awards will take place on Thursday, May 11, at Capitale in New York. A full list of Finalists can be found at the AICE Awards website here.
A number of companies saw work from their editors and artists nominated multiple times. Leading this list was The Mill, whose artists earned seven nominations in the categories of Color Grading (90 Seconds or Under), Color Grading (Music Video), Visual Effects (The Mill swept, earning all three finalist nominations), Best of Chicago and Best of New York.
Also earning seven nominations is work created by the colorists at Company 3. In addition to sweeping the Color Grading (Over 90 Seconds) category, it scored in the Color Grading (90 Seconds or Under), Color Grading (Music Video), Best of Atlanta and Best of New York categories.
Three companies have a total of five finalist nominations. This includes Rock Paper Scissors, whose editors are nominated for work in Dialogue/Monologue/Spoken Word, Digital Content (Over 90 Seconds), Fashion/Beauty, Montage and Online Campaign. Also earning five nominations are Exile in Content Promotion and Trailers, Digital Content (90 Seconds or Under), Montage and Best of Los Angeles. Yessian also earns five finalist nominations in the categories of Original Music, Sound Design and Best of Detroit.
Two companies have work from its editors earning four finalist nominations: Beast, which is nominated in Digital Content (90 Seconds or Under), National Campaign, Best of Chicago and Best of San Francisco; and Rooster, which earned nominations in Montage, Regional Campaign and Best of Toronto.
Companies whose editors or artists have three nominations include Arcade Edit, Cut + Run, Final Cut, Friendshop!, Hero Post, P.S. 260 and Work Editorial.
Editors and artists who earned multiple finalist nominations include: Paul Martinez of Arcade, who earned two of three finalist nominations in the Music Video category for work for Justin Timberlake and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Michael Gabriele of Daily Planet, who was nominated in both Comedy and Under $50,000 for Kimski Restaurant. Michael Reuter of EditBar was nominated in the Best of Boston category for music videos for Project Fathom and Aardman Nathan Love. Shane Reid of Exile, was nominated in Content Promotion and Trailers for Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and in Digital Content (90 Seconds or Under) for Adidas. Joe Guest of Final Cut was nominated in Cause Marketing and Content Promotion and Trailers for his Rio Paralympics spot. Maury Loeb of P.S. 260 in Digital Content (Over 90 Seconds) and Docu-Style for Harry’s Razors; Patton Tunstall of Reel FX in Best of Texas for VFX work on two spots for Warner Bros.; Marc Langley of Rooster in Montage and Best of Toronto for Ontario Tourism; Izzy Ehrlich, also of Rooster, in Regional Campaign for Nova Scotia Tourism and Adidas Canada; Angus Wall of Rock Paper Scissors in Dialogue/Monologue/Spoken Word and Digital Content (Over 90 Seconds) for Nike; Ted Griffis of TBD Post for Automotive and Best of Texas for Mazda; Sam Rice-Edwards of The Assembly Rooms in Digital Content (Over 90 Seconds) and Storytelling for HP Spectre; Luke Morrison of The Mill in Color Grading (90 Seconds or Under) and Best of Chicago for the Toronto Maple Leafs; Gavin Wellsman, also of The Mill, in Visual Effects and Best of New York for Hennessy; Mark Chu of Yessian in Original Music and Best of Detroit for Nintendo; and Jeff Dittenber, also of Yessian, in Sound Design and Best of Detroit for Clipsal.
New to the competition this year are an expanded set of craft categories for Color Grading, including 90 Seconds or Under, Over 90 Seconds and Music Video, and a new category for Cause Marketing, which replaces the category for Public Service. In addition, the category for Broadcast Promotion has been expanded to cover a wider range of entertainment properties and is now called Content Promotion and Trailers.
Review: Director/Co-Writer Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ “My Dead Friend Zoe”
Even for a film titled "My Dead Friend Zoe," the opening scenes of Kyle Hausmann-Stokes' movie have a startling rhythm. First, two female American soldiers are riding in a Humvee in Afghanistan 2016 blasting Rihanna's "Umbrella." They are clearly friends, and more concerned with the music coming through loudly than enemy fire. Zoe (Natalie Morales) tells Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green) tells that if they ever set foot in "some dopy group therapy," to please kill her. Cut to years later, they're sitting in a counseling meeting for veterans and Morales' character has a sour look at her face. She turns to her friend: "Did we survive the dumbest war of all time just to sit here all broken and kumbaya and ouchie-my-feelings?" But after this rush of cavalier soldiering and bitter sarcasm comes a sobering moment. Merit blinks her eyes and is instead staring at an empty chair. Zoe isn't there at all. "My Dead Friend Zoe," co-starring Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris, confronts a dark reality of post-combat struggle with as much humor and playfulness as it does trauma and sorrow. It comes from a real place, and you can tell. Hausmann-Stoke is himself a veteran and "My Dead Friend Zoe" is dedicated to a pair of his platoon mates who killed themselves. The opening titles note the film was "inspired by a true story." Audience disinterest has characterized many, though not all, of the films about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the output has pretty much dried up over the years. "My Dead Friend Zoe" feels like it was made with an awareness of that trend and as a rebuke to it. This is an often breezy and funny movie for what, on paper, is a difficult and dark story. But the comic tone of "My Dead Friend Zoe" is, itself, a spirited rejection to not just the heaviness... Read More