Two years ago the Association of Independent Creative Editors’ (AICE) Boston chapter decided to create College Park, an editing competition for the college community with mentoring provided by editors of member AICE companies–Panache Editorial, Editbar, Spot! Editorial, Paul’s Place and Accomplice.
Based on the AICE International Trailer Park Competition, the first competition required students to edit a three-minute trailer from the movie 28 Days Later and change the genre from a horror film to a comedy. But this year the concept for the event, called “Filmspotting 2007,” was to edit a :60 second spot for a real life or fictional product using footage from the films Little Miss Sunshine, Old School and New York Stories.
The clever winning spots included the work of third-place winner Ezra Horne of Emerson College. He used an existing product, Dairy Queen hamburgers, and made a humorous commercial about how the burger can lift you from the doldrums of eating the same boring meals all the time. Horne’s editing professor Daniel Gaucher suggested he give the contest a try. And Horne is glad he did.
“The competition has helped me immensely as a film student because it has given me some great contacts in postproduction. I want to either edit or direct for my career, and before I had no professional editing contacts. Now that I have participated in the AICE competition I have a personal connection with two post-houses in Boston,” Horne said.
Horne was mentored by Panache Editorial on Newbury Street. “I worked pretty closely with Ellen Boldis and Josh Sklaroff on my spot, but also got to know Mark, the IT guy, and Noreen and her husband who own the place. I also got to know Beth at EditBar.
“It was fantastic to be able to get feedback from working professionals. I’ve always been able to rope my friends into watching my work, but they don’t understand the terminology, the technique, so their feedback is often ineffective. Having people who have been editing for some time offer their wisdom for free is a wonderful thing.”
The insight they gave him that made the biggest impact on his work was to keep the interest up and use every frame of video to the best of his ability because of the limited time there is to tell a story.
“In my initial cut, the end of the commercial was slow and lost its pace, but using their feedback, I added more material and made the pacing consistent and strong throughout. I feel that editors are some of the most caring and laid back people in the whole TV/film industry, and I can’t wait to be a part of it professionally.”
In a way, he already is. He’s been doing paid edit work for www.Uppereast.com, editing short form video content for the web for the past six months.
Second place went to Wendy Molle, also of Emerson College, who created a new product called Happillion for the depressed population who want to get happy again.
The first place winner, Kevin McManus, also of Emerson College, created a serious spot using funny footage from the films. He promoted a “Kidnap Decoy Child” to help combat the kidnapping of children. The spot had serious and comical undertones, evoking suspense and laughter at the same time. He took home an Avid Express Pro that was donated by Avid Technologies for the first place honoree.
Last year the competition only recruited students from Emerson College but this year students from Massachusetts College of Art and Boston University also participated in the event. The students had one month to edit their spots.
Organizers changed the format to spots instead of trailers since the longer format proved to be a real challenge for students as they tried to manage their school projects simultaneously. “I believe it became a bit overwhelming for the students so this year we changed the formula,” explained Ellen Boldis, president of AICE Boston and executive producer at Panache Editorial. “We gave students more time to work on their projects and that alone was invaluable. We also changed the timing of the event and held the competition in the spring semester, rather than the fall, because it was better for students and their workloads. It proved to be a good decision to move the timeframe.
“All the students did a fantastic job and were extremely creative. The top three commercials were original in concepts and execution.”
Beyoncé’s Halftime Show Highlighted Netflix’s NFL Debut On Xmas Day
Beyoncé provided more excitement than either game during Netflix's NFL debut on Christmas Day.
Riding into her halftime appearance on a white horse, the 32-time Grammy winner rocked her hometown Houston crowd with a nearly 13-minute performance on Wednesday.
She surprised fans by bringing along Shaboozey to perform "Sweet Honey Buckiin" and Post Malone joined her for "Levii's Jeans."
The action on the field didn't live up to expectations as the NFL showcased four of the AFC's top five teams.
Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce exposed a glitch in Pittsburgh's defense during Kansas City's 29-10 rout in the first game.
The broadcast itself went off just fine, quickly becoming the second-most popular live title on Netflix to date, according to NFL Media.
Lamar Jackson and the Ravens led C.J. Stroud and the Texans to 17-2 at halftime before Beyoncé stole the show.
Mariah Carey opened Wednesday's doubleheader with a taped performance of "All I Want for Christmas is You" and then the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs trounced the Steelers to clinch the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
There were no signs of any major streaming issues during the game after Netflix experienced minor blunders at the start of the pregame show. The broadcast opened with roughly 10 seconds of silence because it appeared studio host Kay Adams' microphone wasn't turned on.
Beyoncé's live performance at NRG Stadium was supposed to be the biggest test for the streaming giant and it seemed to go off without a hitch.
Mahomes threw for 320 yards and three touchdowns and Kelce had eight catches for 84 yards and one score as the Chiefs (15-1) earned a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. The... Read More