Bicoastal production house Original (formerly Original Film) has partnered with noted editor/director Jonathan Del Gatto who will serve as creative director of its newly formed postproduction division. Plans call for the new post venture to offer services spanning editorial, design, motion graphics, visual effects and animation for broadcast advertising, branded content and other forms of visual media.
In addition to heading up the post division, Del Gatto will be available as a director and editor. In his first project under the Original banner, he directed and cut The Ambassadors of Wow, a series of web videos for Jamba Juice and The Neighbor Agency, Los Angeles.
Del Gatto, who has been a commercial editor for more than 15 years, arrives from Foundation Content where he expanded into directing. His work there included web-based video series for United Airlines and real estate developer Del Webb. He also directed and edited two music videos for Matt & Kim. One of those clips, “Cameras,” earned inclusion earlier this year (1/28) into SHOOT‘s The Best Work You May Never See gallery.
Del Gatto’s background includes seven years at Terminal Media, an editorial house he founded, and eight years at Red Car. He also had tenures at 89 Editorial and Butcher prior to joining Foundation Content.
Over the years, Del Gatto’s work as an editor has received eight AICP Show honors, seven Clios and seven London International Awards. In 2009, he edited while at Butcher a 30-minute film, created by Minneapolis agency Barrie D’Rozario Murphy for the Chambers Hotel, that won a Gold Lion at the Cannes International Advertising Festival and was honored in the Next Experiential category of the ’09 AICP Next Awards. (The “Chambers Video Art Piece” was directed by Peter Nydrle of production house Nydrle.) In addition to his advertising work which includes such clients as Budweiser, Sony, Nike, Chevy, Coca-cola, Coors and Lexus, Del Gatto has extensive experience in feature films, documentaries, music videos and shorts.
Del Gatto said that he plans to develop Original’s post division into a state-of-the-art digital production studio. “As advertising media continues to expand into web and mobile platforms, the production industry is becoming increasingly post-centric,” he observed. “We plan to capitalize on that trend by offering a way to develop projects in creative, smart and modern ways.”
Original has production offices in Culver City, California and New York City.
SUPERLATIVE Signs Director Claudia Abend For Spots and Branded Content
Latin American director/editor and documentary filmmaker Claudia Abend has joined SUPERLATIVE for her first U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content.
Abend's empathetic docu-style POV has garnered several international awards for the documentary films Hit (2008) and The Flower of Life (2018). Her spotmaking credits include such brands as Procter & Gamble, Nestle and Blue Cross/Blue Shield. SUPERLATIVE has already worked with Abend, together producing a new ad campaign for digital agency Tinuiti and The Honest Company, a consumer goods corporation featuring eco-minded products.
“We found Claudia through her poignant documentaries on the festival circuit,” said SUPERLATIVE creative manager Stefan Dezil. “We are excited about her textured narratives, emotional storytelling, and her powerhouse long-form storytelling abilities, currently on her third feature film. As SUPERLATIVE continues to build our brand after premiering our latest films at Sundance and SXSW, Claudia is the kind of multidimensional artist we are excited to partner with on branded content and beyond. Fluent in English and Spanish, her reel shows real prowess with infants, food and skin products, families both young and old. Great visual storytelling and inspirational doc work.”
Abend began her career in her native Uruguay, studying film and editing in college. “My dad would show me films like Citizen Kane,” she said. “I love cinema and became an editor. It was here that I learned all about communicating human emotion.”
From the get-go, Abend hit it big as a documentary director, teaming with Adrianna Loeff on Hit, a movie chronicling pop artists of Uruguayan music. Abend took home a Best Editing... Read More