Cut + Run Editor Sam Ostrove Wins Best in Show at AICE Awards

A moody and evocative four-minute film for Volvo from the Swedish ad agency Forsman & Bodenfors, edited by Sam Ostrove of Cut + Run, was named Best in Show at the 2015 AICE Awards, which were held this evening at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles.

The spot features a range of Volvo models and shows sweeping scenes of uniquely Swedish life, much of it revolving around the harsh and forbidding landscapes associated with the Nordic country, all edited in perfect syncopation to the song “Vintersaga” from the Swedish singer/songwriter Amanda Bergman.  The film also won the AICE Award in the Automotive category for Ostrove.

To view the winners on the AICE Awards web site, click here.

Editors Graham Chisholm of Married to Giants, Chris Franklin of Big Sky Editorial, Joe Guest of Final Cut, Nadav Kurtz of Cutters and Adam Pertofsky of Rock Paper Scissors each won two AICE Awards.  Chisholm won in the Public Service category for work for Cundari and in Best of Toronto for the Toronto Raptors. Franklin won in the Dialogue / Monologue / Spoken Word category for American Express and in National Campaign for E*Trade.  Guest won in the Montage category for Lurpak and in Storytelling for John Lewis.  Kurtz won in the Online Campaign category (which he shared with Cutters Editor Cameron Yergler) for CVS and in Under 50K for Wingmate.  Pertofsky won in the Fashion / Beauty and Best of Los Angeles categories for his work for Levi’s.

Among companies, entries from the editors at Rock Paper Scissors won the most total AICE Awards; in addition to Pertofsky’s two winners, RPS Editor Damion Clayton won for a Beats by Dr. Dre spot in the Alternative Media – Over :90 category while Editor Biff Butler won in the Best of New York category for work for Adidas.

Work from Beast’s editors took home three AICE Awards: Editors Blake Bogosian won in the Alternative Media – :90 and Under category for JohnnyRandom; Karen Kourtessis won in Comedy for Hayden 5; and Jai Shukla won in Spec Spot for New Balance.

Cutters editors were recognized with three AICE Awards; in addition to the winners for Kurtz and Yergler, Editor Louis Lyne won in the Best of Detroit category for Ford.

Also earning three AICE Awards were artists from The Mill.  Adam Scott won for the second year in a row in the Color Grading category, this time for Axe White Label, while Lisha Tan and Andrew Proctor won in the Design category for work for the Texas Lottery.  Winning the Visual Effects award were Phil Crowe, Chris Bayol, Robert Sethi, Becky Porter and Jacob Bergman for their work for DirecTV.

The full list of winners includes:

Best in Show

Sam Ostrove, Cut & Run

Volvo V70, XC70, and XC60

“Vintersaga” 4:00

Forsman & Bodenfors

Alternative Media :90 and Under 

Blake Bogosian, Beast

JohnnyRandom

“Bespoken” 1:07

Alternative Media - Over :90

Damion Clayton, Rock Paper Scissors

Beats by Dre

“The Game Before the Game” 5:03

RGA

Audio Mix

Steve Rosen, Sonic Union

Adidas

“Superstar” :90

Johannes Leonardo

Automotive

Sam Ostrove, Cut & Run

Volvo V70, XC70, and XC60

“Vintersaga” 4:00

Forsman & Bodenfors

Broadcast Promotion

Mark Tyler, Northern Lights Post

Bloomberg TV

“With All Due Respect” :60

Bloomberg TV

Color Grading

Adam Scott, The Mill

Axe White Label

“Hotel” 1:26

BBH

Comedy

Karen Kourtessis, Beast

Hello Flo

“Faked It” 2:20

Hayden 5

Design

Lisha Tan & Andrew Proctor, The Mill

Texas Lottery

“A Million Stories” :32

LatinWorks

Dialogue/Monologue/Spoken Word

Chris Franklin, Big Sky Editorial

American Express

“What's Your 20?” :60

Ogilvy

Fashion/Beauty

Adam Pertofsky, Rock Paper Scissors

Levi's

“Just Don't Bore Them” :60

FCB West

Montage

Joe Guest, Final Cut

Lurpak Cooks Range

“Adventure Awaits” :60

Wieden + Kennedy

Music Video

Luis Moreno, jumP

Coldplay

“Magic Music Video (Official Video)” 5:16

National Campaign

Chris Franklin, Big Sky Editorial

E*Trade

Are You Type E?

“Buffet” :30

“Rock Climbing” :30

“Dance Lessons” :30

Ogilvy

Online Campaign

Nadav Kurtz, Cameron Yergler, Cutters

CVS No More Tobacco Sales

One Good Reason

Nadav Kurtz  “Russell” 2:15

Nadav Kurtz  “Tammy”  2:30

Cameron Yergler  “Lisa”  2:28

BBDO

Original Music

Scot Stafford, Pollen Music Group

Google Mobile Interactive App

“Duet” 3:45

Google ATAP

Public Service

Graham Chisholm, Married to Giants

CIBC Run For the Cure

“In Her Shoes” 2:15

Cundari

Regional Campaign 

Kelly Vander Linda, KVL Editorial

Group Health

“Bull Rider” :30

“The Wait” :30

“Questionable” :30

DNA

Sound Design

Evan Mangiamele, Heard City

Gillette

“Conditions Box LATAM Binaural” 2:53

Grey

Spec Spot

Jai Shukla, Beast

New Balance

“Move Forward” 1:02

Storytelling

Joe Guest, Final Cut

John Lewis

“Monty The Penguin” 2:00

adam&eveDDB

Under 50K  

Nadav Kurtz, Cutters

Wingmate Disposable Collar Stays

“Wingmate NY” 1:50

Wingmate

Visual Effects

Phil Crowe, Chris Bayol, Robert Sethi, Becky Porter, Jacob Bergman, The Mill

DirecTV

“Lemonade” 0:32

Grey

Best of Boston

Peter Barstis, EditBar

Liberty Mutual

“James Trussart” 1:24

Hill Holliday

Best of Chicago

Randy Palmer, Optimus

Chicago Blackhawks

“Christina's Goal” :60

Ogilvy & Mather

Best of Dallas

Marc Stone, 3008

Dodge

“Wisdom” :90

The Richards Group

Best of Detroit

Louis Lyne, Cutters

Ford Electric Focus

“Solstice” 1:20

Team Detroit

Best of Los Angeles

Adam Pertofsky, Rock Paper Scissors

Levi's

“Just Don't Bore Them” :60

FCB West

Best of Minneapolis

Jim Stanger, Channel Z

Kohl's

“Holiday Magic” :60

PMH

Best of New York

Biff Butler, Rock Paper Scissors

Adidas

"Superstar" :90

Johannes Leonardo

Best of San Francisco

Doug Cox, Misfit

Google You Tube

“LSTN Watch It Work” :90

Camp + King

Best of Toronto

Graham Chisholm, Married to Giants

Toronto Raptors

“We The North” :60

Sid Lee

Craig Lewandowski, Editor and Partner at Utopic in Chicago, serves on both the AICE Awards committee as well as on the Curatorial Committee for this year’s awards competition. The Curatorial Committee is a group of editors, colorists, effects artists and audio mixers who review the work of the online and live judging panels to ensure that finalists and category winners as selected by the judges are appropriate for and meet the criteria of each category.

“The main comment that kept coming up in the discussions about Best in Show was how, even though this film is four minutes long, there isn’t a wasted frame in it,” Lewandowski said. Overall, he noted, “There were a lot of good conversations among the committee about the category winners,” and he described the support for Ostrove’s entry as “overwhelming.”

The committee also paid close attention to the various craft categories, such as Color Grading, Audio Mix and Sound Design, to make sure the winners in each were outstanding examples of their respective crafts. “Having a great representation from the different crafts on the committee helped insure that those categories were judged appropriately,” Lewandowski noted.

The Awards Committee – which also includes Editors Chris Franklin of Big Sky and Bob Spector of Beast – was also pleased by the number of entries for the debut Original Music category. The winner was Scot Stafford of Pollen Music Group for his work on Google titled “Duet.”

In terms of overall trends, Spector said the presence of traditional thirty-second broadcast TV commercials continued to decline.  “We’ve been noticing this year after year, and it’s a sign of where the industry is headed,” he observed. “More and more of the work we’ve seen in the show reflected extended lengths and different kinds of content that’s never going to be seen on a broadcast network. That’s why it’s so important that we continue to monitor our categories and make sure they reflect the work our members are being asked to deliver. So far, we’ve been on target.”