Editor Jinx Godfrey, a native of the U.K. who edits commercials in the U.S. via Post Factory, New York, has lately been spending a lot more time in America thanks to a spate of stateside work. This year, she has been working almost entirely on U.S. spots including her current project, an American Express ad directed by Lenard Dorfman of bicoastal/international @radical.media for Ogilvy & Mather, New York.
Other projects include several ads directed by Carlton Chase of bicoastal Neue Sentimental Film USA, including "South" for Bombay Sapphire gin via Margeotes|Fertitta+Partners, New York; "Subway," "Office," "Fairy" and "Waterfall" for Caribbean Tourism via Ground Zero, Marina del Rey; and "Dissolve," "Page Two," "Body & Mind" and "27 Resorts" for Westin Hotels and Resorts via Deutsch, New York.
Additionally, Godfrey cut "Ray Allen" for Nike Air Jordan via Wieden+Kennedy (W+K), New York. Feature filmmaker Spike Lee, who directs spots out of his Forty Acres and a Mule Filmworks, Brooklyn, N.Y., helmed "Ray Allen," which features the Milwaukee Bucks shooting guard on the court in Air Jordans. Godfrey says she was intimidated by the prospect of working with the reputedly temperamental Lee. "I was really nervous," recalls Godfrey. "But the job went remarkably smoothly. He [Lee] was very nice to me, although not so nice to the agency. I tried to be charming, in an English way, and it worked."
It wasn’t just Godfrey’s personality that eased the way. She had the opportunity to actually work face-to-face with Lee in the edit suite, which is the preferred style of working in the U.K., where the director remains involved throughout the project. "And when I’m editing commercials," says Godfrey, "I always try to dig up something slightly unexpected. In the spot, Ray Allen is pretty impervious until the end, but at the end, there’s a little Ray Allen moment: he gives a little smile, which I think made the spot."
Godfrey relates she does not have an identifiable editing style, but instead approaches each job on its own terms. "Commercials are just a big puzzle, really," she notes. "A commercial’s own style emerges, and in a way, they’re all about storytelling. It’s all about keeping the audience hooked emotionally. I look for the unexpected moments … it could be a look, or something a character is doing. But those moments go a long way toward drawing people in."
One example would be Levi’s "Dolls," out of Bartle Bogle Hegarty, London, and directed by Dante Ariola, who was then with now defunct Propaganda Films (he’s now with bicoastal/international Morton Jankel Zander). The spot, which Godfrey edited through The Whitehouse, London (Godfrey now edits through Peepshow, London, for her U.K. work), features two blow-up dolls who are a couple. Noting that it’s hard to get emotion from two blow-up dolls, Godfrey nonetheless found some. In the spot, the male doll drifts into a barbed wire fence, accidentally popping himself and Godfrey included an alternate take—which remained in the final cut—of the grief-stricken female doll subsequently popping herself with a rose’s thorn, thus giving the story an additional dimension of pathos.
Evelyn Neill, a VP/group creative director at Deutsch, who served as copywriter on the aforementioned Westin spots, praises Godfrey’s "wonderful calm. She’s got a wonderful spirit for this business, and has a great sense of editorial. She brought a lot to the [Westin] project. Carlton has a wonderful vision and he likes to work hands-on with the editor and, likewise, our clients had their own message and elements that they needed to get across. Given those parameters, Jinx did a great job on the spots—everybody was pleased."
Godfrey started her career at The Film Editors, London, where she worked for two years as an assistant. In ’92, she joined a group of that firm’s editors at their new shop, London’s The Whitehouse Post Productions, Ltd., which opened in ’90. There, working alongside Whitehouse founders/editors John Smith, Andrea MacArthur and Rick Lawley, Godfrey began cutting commercials and numerous documentaries for Channel 4 and the BBC. Her documentary work included Wisconsin Death Trip, directed by James Marsh for BBC Arena. Godfrey spent 14 weeks editing the unconventional piece; a very dark film that focuses on the bizarre tales of madness, eccentricity and violence that occurred in a small Wisconsin town circa 1890. "I like working on both documentaries and commercials," says Godfrey, who has worked on spots exclusively for the last year and a half. "I like the idea of choosing only the documentaries you really want to do. They’re very intense and take a lot out of you, whereas with spots, there’s a quick turnaround."
Godfrey also would like to try her hand at editing features—preferably an independent film. She had her first feature experience when she served as the assembly editor on Leaving Las Vegas (’95) directed by Mike Figgis and edited by Smith. "That was my first trip to America," relates Godfrey, who synched the film and showed dailies. "It was a bit frustrating [to be the assembly editor], but it was a great experience that I wouldn’t do without."
Since ’99, The Whitehouse had been repped in the U.S. by Post Factory, which led to stateside projects for Godfrey. She notes it’s been a very gradual build-up of her career in the U.S.: "It’s a matter of getting visas and getting yourself known." She has struck up a regular working relationship with director Chase. "With Carlton, I actually work with him [in person]," says Godfrey. "We edit his cut first and present it to the agency—a very English way of working. I’m always happy to do a director’s cut. The director gets to realize his vision and it gives the agency a direction to go in." She notes that Chase’s director’s cuts are not much different from the final version; it is more a matter of him de-emphasizing the branding and graphics. "It’s not so much different in the feel of the editing."
Ultimately, when The Whitehouse merged with editorial house The Lookinglass Company last year—The Whitehouse now has offices in London, New York, Chicago and Santa Monica—Godfrey opted to leave the company, as did Andrea MacArthur, who launched Peepshow. (The editors at Peepshow are represented in the U.S. by Post Factory on the East Coast, and by the Santa Monica office of bicoastal Cosmo Street Editorial on the West Coast.) "It was time to move on," explains Godfrey of her move. "There was going to be a big change at The Whitehouse [with the merger] and we wanted to continue someplace that was a bit smaller."
The natural choice for Godfrey was to relocate to New York to join Post Factory, which provided a level of familiarity, as well as a diverse clientele owing to its hybrid focus on features, documentaries and commercials. "That was a big attraction," she notes. She’s been working in the U.S. for the last five months, and Godfrey says her intention is to be based here permanently, with the option of returning to London for short stints to work on exceptional projects.
