Editorial house Final Cut, with bases in London and New York, has added editor Carlos Arias. He will initially work out of the London Final Cut for at least a month before making the Manhattan facility his prime roost.
Arias had worked at New York-based Consulate and its predecessor, Chad Sipkin Editorial, for nearly six years, the last four as an editor. Among his recent editorial credits are "The Hurt" for Aiwa via Gigante Vaz Partners, New York; "Reverse" for Nike/Footlocker via Wieden+ Kennedy, New York; and "Piercing Parlor," a PSA for the Lorillard Youth Smoking Prevention Program via Bozell, New York. All were directed by Jake Scott of bicoastal RSA USA.
Arias’ latest endeavor entailed editing 20-plus spots for Bolt. com via Bartle Bogle Hegarty, New York, directed by Gregg Hale of The Haxans, a collective of The Blair Witch Project filmmakers. (The Haxans is repped for spots by Thru-Line, a division of bicoastal/international Chelsea Pictures.) The spots, which kicked off during the premiere of Fox’s reality series American High, feature teens sharing creative talents and secret desires, and engaging in pranks.
The editor has also been active in Japanese-market spots, including "Red Hot 2000/Car" and "Red Hot 2000/Beach" for Sony Mini Disc via Sony’s Tokyo-based in-house agency, Intervision, as well as "Japonism" for Canon copiers via Hakuhudo, Tokyo. Both projects were directed by Malik Sayeed of Little Minx, which is affiliated with bicoastal Cylo.
Arias represents the newest addition to the Final Cut office since it opened in New York four months ago as an expansion of its London headquarters (SHOOT, 4/7/00). The editorial lineup for Final Cut, New York, also includes Kirk Baxter and Duncan Shepherd. The shop’s U.K.-based editors are company founder Rick Russell, Gary Knight, Struan Clay, David Webb and Adam Jenkins.
"What I think is exceptional about Carlos is that he has a really terrific fashion sense and his imagery is really unusual," said Stephanie Apt, who has been serving as a consultant for Final Cut and is on its board of directors. "His mastery of visual effects is also quite exceptional. I think he brings a very creative eye to all his work. He’s extremely inventive and his work is of a very high caliber; that’s what we were drawn to."
Arias related that he was attracted to Final Cut for the opportunities it offers to broaden his exposure, particularly vis vis the shop’s London office. "These guys do amazing work," said Arias. "And I’m going to be traveling back and forth, from London to New York to L.A, whatever. It’s [a chance to] get a little bigger piece of the pie. If I can be exposed to [some cool projects], I think I’m going to learn so much. It’ll either make me better or it will be overwhelming-one of the two. I’m going to have the best time with it; that’s all I can do."
"Part of what we think is really interesting for everyone in the company," noted Apt, "is this opportunity to create a global community within the company. While we have people from London working here, we very much want to see the opposite happen as we bring in American editors. We think there’s a place for them in London, too."
Arias said that he was slated to start work on several undisclosed jobs out of the Final Cut London office in the next several weeks, including one to be helmed by the directing team Jim & Jake out of Godman, London (who are repped stateside by Los Angeles-based Palomar Pictures). Final Cut is repped nationally by Creative Management Partners, which has offices in New York, Santa Monica and Chicago.
