David Henegar, who cuts spots out of Uppercut Editorial, Minneapolis, employs a modus operandi that’s become increasingly rare: He listens and learns. He discovered its advantages while working at Assembly Line, the in-house editing facility of ad agency Fallon, Minneapolis.
"When I was quiet and learning," recalls Henegar, who worked at the Fallon facility from 1996 to ’99, "Bruce Bildsten and Tom Lichtenheld—creative group heads on the BMW account—taught me an awful lot about composition, pacing and the fundamentals of good editorial."
The practice paid off after Henegar joined Uppercut a year ago. His work on BMW’s "Spring Skiing," directed by Laurence Dunmore of bicoastal RSA USA, out of Fallon, was honored in the editorial category at the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Show at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. The spot was part of a campaign that aired on last January’s Super Bowl broadcast to introduce the auto manufacturer’s X5 Sport Activity Vehicle (SAV), a sort of mini SUV. It was a project that Henegar had no part in until a call for help came his way.
"That spot was originally edited by another house," Henegar recalls, "and it just wasn’t working. Fallon let me take the film and I cut it in a way the storyboards had never intended. Originally, the skier started at the top and simply went to the bottom. My edit was much more ethereal and dreamy. I changed the pacing to bring out emotions in a way that was never planned. It ended up being very successful for them, and for me too."
"Spring Skiing" and its companion spot, "Woods," show people in exterior action situations (skiing downhill during a spring thaw, jumping into a fast-flowing stream) before the BMW X5 is revealed. The spots equate feeling the wonder of nature with the feeling one gets from the SAV.
The commercials have no voiceover, only the natural sounds of the outdoors and the BMW X5. Henegar calls it "the whisper effect," and is proud that he proposed it. "It was a big year for dot-com spots [on the Super Bowl]. I felt that there was going to be a lot of noise, a lot of jokes and attention-getting sound," he explains. "So I suggested that we go with the least amount of sound we can get away with and vary it, so that when it’s sandwiched between two noisy commercials, it may quiet the room down and get everybody to listen. We went in that direction and it ended up in the sound design category too [at the AICP Show]." (The spot honored in the sound design category at the MoMA Show was "Spring Skiing," with design by Henegar and Carl White of Echo Boys, Minneapolis, the audio division of Minneapolis-based edit firm Crash & Sue’s.)
Agency Route
Henegar graduated from Pepperdine University, Malibu, Calif., with a degree in film and telecommunications, and edited at Davis Ball & Colombatto (now DavisElen), a Los Angeles ad agency. When one of the agency’s producers, Rob Van, went to Fallon, he recommended Henegar for Assembly Line. Henegar’s midwinter arrival four years ago was not exactly the warmest reception. "When I was flying in, the pilot informed us that the wind-chill temperature was sixty below. That was my welcome to Minneapolis," he recalls. "But it’s a great city with a relaxed lifestyle. I’m also able to come back to L.A., where my family is, to do post work. So it’s a nice balance."
Henegar has worked on almost every BMW national image campaign over the last three years. He recently cut "Pow," a new series of ads for the carmaker, which includes the spots "Eyes" and "Drive Thru," both helmed by Lance Kelleher of Ritts/Hayden, Los Angeles. He has also edited non-car spots, including United Airline’s "Spinning World" and "Gatherings," both directed by Bob Richardson of bicoastal Morton Jankel Zander, out of Fallon; and commercials for Miller Lite, Time Magazine and Ralston Purina.
Like most editors, Henegar appreciates being brought in on a project early on, and when filming is completed, being given the first cut. "We all love to have those first few days alone," he says. "I may get as many as fourteen hours of film; whittling it down to thirty seconds can be quite a task. I want to first get comfortable with what they shot; it’s not something I can easily do with a bleacher full of people."
That said, Henegar recognizes the value of client input. "The client knows their demographic better than I do," he notes. "If we listen to the creatives, the director and the clients, and get an idea of what they want to accomplish with the commercial—that kind of collaboration is what you hope you’ll get a great spot out of."
Demographics, to Henegar, are an important part of any ad, and they are what he first asks his clients about. The answer sets him on the right road, but it’s a road with many forks that must be navigated with care. "Many editors feel that the more cuts you can put into a commercial, the better—that our job is to put cuts in," observes Henegar. "[But] I never try to make a spot more than what it should be. I tailor my work according to who’s going to be watching it. It’s not always time to push the envelope."
Henegar may be prudent about pushing the envelope, but he never worries about when to bend it. "I try to look at things from the most unusual angle possible. If everybody’s looking at it one way, I try to go around the corner and look at it from the other direction and see if there’s something else I can bring out that isn’t expected."
Whatever the result of David Henegar’s next edit—a campaign for Northwest Airlines out of Carmichael Lynch, Minneapolis—it’s certain to be the result of a lot of looking, and a lot of listening. "I’m tremendously thankful to be doing what I’m doing. I want to keep doing it the best that I possibly can. I have no other long-term plans other than just doing a really good job." a
