Engine Room, Beantown’s newest editorial and effects company, was recently opened by editor Don Packer and creative director/editor Scott Knowlton. The company is primarily focused on advertising work, although the partners also intend to diversify into compositing for features and long-form television projects.
Both had been at Boston-based commercial post house Finish since the mid-’90s. Packer–who served as Finish’s founder and COO–was with that entity when it launched in ’94, and Knowlton joined a year later. Earlier, Packer was employed at now defunct Videocraft and Knowlton edited at Video Visuals in Newton, Mass.
Engine Room opens with an HD Flame/Smoke combo, an Avid Adrenaline and Macs with Final Cut Pro and Adobe After Effects. All flavors of SD and HD are supported.
Joining the Engine Room team are two additional Finish alums, editor Matt Rogers and producer Cheryl McKeever. “Having Cheryl and Matt with us is a huge asset,” said Packer. “Cheryl ran operations and was the backbone [at Finish] for years– Matt is a really great editor. People love his attitude and his skill set is tremendous on both Flame and Avid.”
Clients of the Engine Room editors include such Boston agencies as Arnold Worldwide and Gearon Hoffman.
Since opening Engine Room, Knowlton handled visual effects and finishing on “Sound Dock,” an HD client-direct Bose spot for broadcast on a screen in New York’s Times Square. He also finished a New England Toyota campaign for agency TCAA, Dedham, Mass., which was produced by Strader Films in Nashville and directed by Michael Merriman.
At press time, Packer was cutting and Knowlton completing visual effects and HD finishing on a new campaign for GMAC via hybrid agency/production company Alchemy Creative in Boston; the campaign was directed by Alchemy’s Jeff Monahan.