The Association of Independent Creative Editors’ (AICE) chapters in Chicago and Los Angeles held their 2010 Camp Kuleshov trailer editing competitions for assistant editors late last week, and it was a good night for assistants at Cutters who topped the competitions in both cities.
The Chicago Camp Kuleshov assignment was to take two films, Burn After Reading and Ocean’s 11, both starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, combine them to create a new film and cut a trailer promoting the new film. The Grand Prize winner was Cutters’ assistant editor Carl D. Shumacher for his trailer titled Self Destructs. The prizes were awarded at a ceremony and party held at the Bottom Lounge in Chicago. To view the winner, as well as the runners up and honorable mentions, visit the Camp Kuleshov Chicago page on the AICE website here.
The Los Angeles Camp Kuleshov assignment was to choose from a roster of recent hit films including Inglorious Basterds, Slumdog Millionaire, The Hangover, Up, Up in the Air, Avatar, The Strangers and The Orphan and cut a :90 second trailer which promotes the film as a picture of a different genre. The trailers were screened and awards presented on Thursday evening, November 11 at jumP in L.A. First place honors went to assistant editor Connie Chuang of Cutters for her trailer for The Hangover as a thriller. To view the winning entry, runners-up and honorable mentions, visit the Camp Kuleshov Los Angeles page on the AICE website here.
Chicago Winners
Rounding out the Chicago Camp Kuleshov winners list were assistant editor Julie Kravitz from Optimus for Linda and assistant editor Sean Halvorsen of Hootenanny for The Charming Danny Ocean, which tied for first runner up honors. The second runner up prize went to Mike Berg of Optimus for Guess Who? Honorable mentions went to Brad Tohtz of Optimus for Epidemic and Adam Purcell of The Colonie for The Makings of Ocean’s Eleven Inches.
The Chicago Camp Kuleshov competition also included Tent City, a category open to runners, interns, receptionists, librarians as well as freelance assistant editors who are sponsored by an AICE Chicago member company.
The grand prize in this category went to Mark Sheridan of Beast for Party Yacht ou Trois Partie. Honorable mentions went to Kerri White of Red Car for Reconstruction, Caleb Hepler of The Whitehouse for (S)he Loves Me and John T. Gallagher of The Whitehouse for Being Brad Pitt.
The Chicago Camp Kuleshov entries were judged by a group of editors and artists from Chicago shops. The panel included editors Jerem Sloan of Hootenanny, Carlos Lowenstein of The Whitehouse, Steve Mach of Optimus, Angelo Valencia of Beast, Eric Houtz of Cutters, Michael Coletta of Red Car and Tim Kloehn of Utopic, along with creative director Jack Danger of ProtoKulture and designer Will Carpenter, also of ProtoKulture.
L.A. Winners
The L.A. Camp Kuleshov winners include assistant editor Ben McGill of The Whitehouse who took second place honors for his version of Up as a sci-fi/thriller, and Brian Leong of Union Editorial who took third place honors for his version of Inglorious Basterds as a foreign film. Honorable mentions went to assistants Shane Reid of The Whitehouse for his take on Up in the Air as a thriller, and to Richard Gonzalez of Cutters for his version of Inglorious Basterds as a romantic comedy.
The Camp Kuleshov L.A. entries were judged by AICE L.A. editors Tad Tatum of Cut + Run, Steve Prestemon of The Whitehouse, Stuart Waks of Hybrid, Rob Watzke of Beast and Jay Friedkin of Union Editorial.
The L.A. and Chicago winners come on the heels of the announcement last month of the winners of the New York Chapter’s Camp Kuleshov competition. Assistant editor David Otte of Red Car, New York, took home top honors for Freaky Friday, his re-envisioning of the 2003 Disney comedy Freaky Friday as a spine-tingling horror flick.
Detroit, Toronto
Meanwhile AICE chapters in Toronto and Detroit are moving forward with their competitions.
The Toronto chapter’s Camp Kuleshov entry deadline is today, November 15. Winners will be announced at a party and awards presentation scheduled for Tuesday, November 23 at the Cadillac Lounge in Toronto. For more information on the event, contact Sarah Brooks at School Editing at sbrooks@schoolediting.com.
The Toronto assistants were given the task of taking any mainstream Hollywood film that’s not a comedy and cutting a trailer that promotes the picture as the funniest film of the year, Brooks said. “We’ve received some wonderful entries so far, from a wide variety of genres.”
In Detroit, Kristin Redman of START Editorial said the assignment is to take any film listed in the American Film Institute’s Top 10 Films in 10 Top Genres (for a look at the list, click here) and create a :90 trailer that promotes the film as a picture of a different genre. The genres they can choose from are those in the AFI Top 10 grouping. Entries are due Monday, January 3, 2011.
Redman says the idea for the competition, which was developed by START editor Louis Lyne, ensures that the assistants will be using a selection of great films for their source material. “We think this kind of exposure for the assistants is great,” she said. For more information on the Detroit event, contact Redman at kristin@starteditorial.tv.
All Camp Kuleshov competitions are open to full-time assistant editors at AICE member companies, or to freelance assistants who are sponsored by AICE member companies.
