Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/237968
Mauriot. Their most recent work include spots for PlayStation 4, Adidas, Samsung, Activision's Call of Duty, and Louis Vuitton. STRENGTHS: "The industry is changing fast; it's finding its feet, people are having to adapt to having ideas that work across all platforms. The good news for editors is that all the content being created requires storytelling, and that is the heart of the service we provide. Technology is also allowing us to edit on-set anywhere in the world and gives agencies, production companies and clients the ability to see their ideas being formed as they shoot." WEAKNESSES: "I think as an industry, we have to be careful about making sure we have the best team of people surrounding us. There has been a big push for editorial houses to have grading, online, design and sound in-house, and whilst financially this makes sense for the editorial companies and clients, and works well on a great deal of jobs, sometimes you need to work with specialists in their chosen fields to get the best results." OPPORTUNITIES: "Things are shaking up in our industry: Clients are going directly to production companies, agencies are hiring directors without production companies, smaller agencies are offering to work on a job-by-job basis for clients, post houses are having directors in-house. All of these scenarios offer opportunities for editors. What we do is all about relationships; I don't think any one model will win in this brave new world. For me it's about working with the best people in the industry and building new relationships based on the creativity that you can bring to a job." THREATS: "I think we need to maintain the value in what we do — yes, I mean getting paid! Quite often an 'online' [spot's] budget is greatly reduced from that of a [broadcast] commercial, although, as these tend to be longer in length, they can be a great deal more work and can often end up becoming TV commercials anyway. They do offer a chance to expand the creative horizons as they have less restrictions and tend to be a little braver to stand out, but they often don't have sufficient budgets for production and post production. I believe this could be solved by better educating clients in what the jobs still entail. An agency producer summed it up well when an account director working for a large global corporation suggested that an upcoming online campaign would be great for a director's reel, and that they should be willing to work for a greatly-reduced fee. The agency producer returned with the suggestion that perhaps the account director would like to give up half his salary for the month to work on the project!" Union's Marco Perez cut this short film, The Audition, which appeared in numerous festivals. OUTLOOK FOR 2014: "It's exciting times! We hope to continue doing great work with great people. We have just opened our New York office, and we are all looking forward to making this a space that people will enjoy coming back to time and again." Walter Mauriot of Circus edited Adidas' Unite All Originals spot. Marco Perez Partner/Editor Union Editorial Los Angeles & New York www.unioneditorial.com Union Editorial is a commercial, music video and film editing company with offices in Los Angeles and New York. Its services include finishing, VFX and sound mixing. Among recent spot credits are United Airlines' Orchestra, Call of Duty Epic Night Out and the CoverGirl installations at LA Live and Times Square cross-promoting The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. STRENGTHS: "A lot of directors with amazing eyes are shooting a wide range of reality and stories in many different formats. We're sifting through huge amounts of material and shaping spots more in editing than we used to. Boards are also much looser, which create opportunities for editors to show their own talents and how they're able to shape stories. Agencies are looking for strong storytelling editors who can shape stories in a short amount of time with a lot of emotion." WEAKNESSES: "With so many formats flourishing, editors have to put a lot more energy into post production and adopt more efficient workflows. All parts of post are now more and more connected. Integrating VFX, graphics, music and technology has given us more tools to work faster and at a more precise level." OPPORTUNITIES: "Knowing how to build a story and how to be efficient doing it has proved a tremendous asset for our editors. With many directors, especially Michael Haussman, whom we work with a lot, we start discussing the story almost at the treatment stage; more and more clients welcome this way of working. There's dialogue and interaction between director, editor and agency that make commercials stronger and more effective. "Commercial editors are working across multiple genres today. I've www.postmagazine.com Post • December 2013 29