AICE Show Winners; Cut + Run Win Best In Show

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.
 
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
 
To view the winners on the AICE Awards web site, go here.
 
Curatorial Committee Comments
 
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.”