Scott Rankin topped the third annual Trailer Park Awards held by the Association of Independent Creative Editors’ (AICE) New York chapter. The competition showcases trailers cut by assistant editors from AICE/New York member companies, providing those up-and-coming artisans with the opportunity to gain exposure for their editing talents. Rankin, an assistant editor at Northern Lights Post, New York, won first place honors on the strength of his Bollywood send-up of the Tom Cruise-starring feature film, Cocktail. Rankin’s version was called “Caakthal.” The winners were feted during an awards ceremony on Thursday (9/14) at West Lounge in New York.
This year’s Trailer Park challenge was to not only edit a 90-second trailer for one of nine films, but also to switch genres as well–for example, treating a sci-fi/horror film as if it were a comedy. The films selected for the ’06 competition–which drew a record 45 entries–were: Fame (1980), Cocktail (’88), The Day The Earth Stood Still (’51), Enter The Dragon (’73), Please Don’t Eat The Daisies (’60), The Big Lebowski (’98), Pumping Iron (’77), Double Indemnity (’44) and Legends of the Fall (’94). The genres spanned musical, love story, sci-fi/horror, martial arts, family/feel good, comedy, documentary, film noir/detective and epic drama.
Second place went to Ian Marks of Crew Cuts for his humorous “Enter the Dragon, Bitch.” Taking third place was Joshua Berger of Cosmo Street for an eerie version of Fame he called “For All Must Eat.” Special recognition was bestowed upon George Carty of Northern Lights Post on the strength of an Enter The Dragon trailer with a decidedly viral character.
And for the first time judges gave honorable mention recognition to five assistants: Kirsten Larvick of Bionic Media for The Day The Earth Stood Still; Josh Van Praag of Refinery for “Iron Pumping”; Michael Carter of Chemistry for The Big Lebowski; Michael Novello of Northern Lights for “Double Femininity” and Adam Weiss of Company X for “Bar Wars: Cocktail Hour.”
First prize winner Rankin received a software-only Avid Media Composer. The second place prize was an Avid Xpress Pro, and third prize a Digidesign Mbox2. Prizes were donated by Avid.
Judging the trailers were four established editors from AICE/New York shops: Chris Franklin of Big Sky; Owen Plotkin of the now corporation; Lin Polito of Jump; and Rob Tortoriello of mad.house.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More