Before the show, there’s the promo. This year, the MTV Video Music Awards (VMA) made a triumphant return to NYC with an event at Madison Square Garden. The ceremony has been held in numerous venues and cities since it debuted at Radio City Music Hall in 1984, but this homecoming was momentous. To properly herald the broadcast, MTV turned to filmmaker Anthony Mandler, whose high-profile music videos and ad campaigns comprise the “hot list” of music, fashion and beauty. Mandler sought out Jarrett Fijal of Bonch Post to handle editorial duties on the project. The filmmaker is a frequent presence at Bonch, which has cut campaigns and videos for Reebok, SKYY, Beyoncé, Jay Z, Lady Gaga, Rihanna and many, many more.
In keeping with MTV’s moon-landing logo, the highly stylized piece – titled, “The Canvas is Ready” – foreshadows the arrival of the VMA’s at MSG. It is a skillful coming together of mystery and technology, as a “Moonman” completes his mission, the bare stage described as an empty canvas waiting for artists to make their mark. “It’s a bold dramatic spot, and there’s definitely a huge emphasis on the Garden, as well as the MTV image,” noted Fijal, adding, “The way Anthony directed it, I was able to go back a little into the spinning camera shots MTV was known for early on. It’s subliminal and a fast ten frames, but it comes across.”
For Fijal, the moon landing is a familiar one: he is a three-time winner of the Moonman for Best Editor. Further, six of the past eight winners of the VMA for Video of the Year have been cut at Bonch Post. The latest is this year’s winner, Beyoncé “Formation”, preceded by Justin Timberlake “Mirrors” (2013), Rihanna (f. Calvin Harris) “We Found Love” (2012), Katy Perry “Firework” (2011), Lady Gaga “Bad Romance” (2010) and Beyoncé “Single Ladies” (2009). That means the boutique’s VMA Video of the Year honorees alone account for upwards of 3 billion views.
Add to the shelf this year’s Best Editing VMA, awarded to Jeff Selis for “Formation,” which has proved a magnet for accolades this year: in addition to the video’s six Moonmen at the August 28 ceremony – including Directing for Melina Matsoukas, Best Pop Video and Video of the Year – Selis won the 2016 AICE Award in the Music Video category for his work on that project, which was the recipient of the first Entertainment Lions for Music Grand Prix at the Cannes International Festival for Creativity.
The company might have racked up even more Moonmen had the team not widened their focus to include more commercial assignments. Among those are the Sans campaign with David Beckham via AR New York (directed by Mandler) and the acclaimed short film, “Time” (directed by Floria Sigismondi) for Saatchi Saatchi. Selis recently reunited with Matsoukas on a new film launching the global campaign for Stella McCartney’s “POP” fragrance, starring Grimes, Lourdes “Lola” Leon, Amandla Stenberg and Kenya Kinski-Jones.
“We love working on music videos and I speak for all of our editors and artists when I say there are reciprocal rewards for working in both the music and advertising mediums,” Fijal said. “In every case, we are telling stories, presenting brands, and addressing image. Most importantly, we create work that gets eyes on it. By no means are we the McDonald’s of music videos and commercials,” Fijal laughed. “But we do serve billions of customers.”
About Bonch Post
Founded by editor Jarrett Fijal in 2007, Bonch Post is a full-service boutique providing offline editorial, color correction and finishing. A roster of distinctive talent combined with a warm, collaborative environment have made Bonch the go-to post house for Beyoncé, Lady GaGa, Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake, Lana Del Rey, Rihanna, and others. Over the past few years, Bonch’s repertoire extended to high-profile commercial projects, including Diesel, Sans with David Beckham, SKYY, Reebok, Joe’s Jeans with Bella Hadid, and the global campaign for Stella McCartney’s POP fragrance.
Multiple winners of the MTV VMA for Video of the Year have been cut at Bonch Post, which is also a four-time winner of the 'Moonman for Best Editor.'
In addition to Fijal, the Bonch roster is comprised of editors Marissa Charlwood, Chris Davis, Steve Forner, Jeff Selis, Adam “Zuk” Zuckerman, and colorists/finishers Kevin Kim and Bill Pollock. Jeff Weidemann is Executive Producer at Bonch Post.
