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Paving Their Way Stefan Sonnenfeld Los Angeles native Stefan Sonnenfeld was not born into the entertainment industry — in fact, his parents made sure he was exposed to diverse cultures, perspectives and influences by send- ing him to an international boarding school in Greece for his high school years. Sonnenfeld finished school intent on earning a business degree and starting a career in banking, but a summer job at a Holly- wood post house changed all that. He was delivering cans of exposed film from the set of Michael Mann's TV series Miami Vice to the telecine facility, and he almost instantly became fascinated with the world of post. "I just loved the whole process," he recalls. "I completely responded to the technical and creative ele- ments that come together in post." He abandoned his banking plans and went to work full time at a facility, gaining experience at a succession of post houses. "I worked my way up in the vault," he says. "I was a tape op. I liked the work I was doing but I wanted to do more, to learn more. I had the opportunity to work in standards conversion for TV shows. In those days, if you converted video from NTSC to PAL, or the other way around, you had to make adjustments to the color too. That's really how my work as a colorist started to develop. " This was technical work — using color grading tools to essen- David Inc.'s Jay Herda during his mechanic days in Ohio. He later cut this Super Bowl spot for CareerBuilder using an Avid Media Composer. JAY HERDA From physics major to auto mechanic to runner to owning an edit house. That is the interesting path that led Jay Herda, co-owner of SF-based David Inc., to where he is today. Herda was always interested in TV and Sonnenfeld and a Chevy Silverado Super Bowl spot he worked on earlier this year. tially match the images — but this seemed to come naturally to Sonnenfeld. As soon as he could, he segued into a position assist- ing colorists who were working in commercials and music videos. This afforded him a perfect vantage point to observe how suc- cessful colorists thought, how they could impact the feel of an image and help directors and cinematographers realize a vision. And he could see how sought-after colorists interacted with a diverse roster of clients. While assisting by day, Sonnenfeld stayed late at night, teaching himself the color grading console and learning how to be creative and efficient through long hours of trial and error. He'd color any project that came along, including friends' student films, to hone and improve his skills and to demonstrate his abilities. After he had built a solid reel, Sonnenfeld was able to move behind the grading console himself as colorist, working on a num- ber of major music videos. "I was in the thick of that business pretty quickly," he says of his music video work for top recording artists, including Santana, Sade and Boyz II Men. His efforts also led to work on major com- mercials by leading directors 22 Post • April 2012 film, even when he realized that physics wasn't for him. There weren't a ton of opportunities in Ohio, but his interest remained intact, and when the Kent, OH, auto repair shop he worked in closed, he decided to hit the road to see friends. He landed in San Francisco, and while there, a girlfriend told him the edit house her sister worked at needed runners. Herda left his construction job and started as a runner at Bob & Sheila's Edit World. The career he was always interested in was now becoming a reality, and he wasn't going to let the fact that he had no editing experience get in the way. "It was a busy enough place that someone continued on page 51 always needed help — they needed people who knew how to load a tape and breaking down clips," he explains. "The first time I learned anything was when one of the assis- tants was slammed and told me, 'The red light is flashing. When it stops flashing come get me.' That is how I started learning. They were busy, needed a lot of help and the more curi- ous I was the more stuff I got to do." Herda realized the more he hung around, the more he picked up. "I learned a lot from the four or five editors they had there. I was very curious. That's how I got to know the Avid." But the tools were only part of his lesson in editing. "Interacting with clients was very valuable for me," he explains. "Being in the edit rooms www.postmagazine.com and seeing how the editors worked with clients, what their style was like, how they cut things. Some were quick on the jump; others would talk it through and get behind an idea before they worked on it. It was great to see those different styles and learn how to col- laborate with people." From there he started working on indie projects with people — "that is really where I first started cutting. Getting a chance on evenings and weekends, as many as I could." This led him to editing a short that got into Sundance, and that led him to work on snowboarding films. "Those were the Final Cut days, where I was able to do that inde- pendently outside the studio." He also got to travel the world. After Bob & Sheila's Edit World he went on to be a freelance assistant for places like Radium, Spot Welders, and Bikini Edit when they came to San Francisco. He also worked in-house as a freelancer at agencies like Goodby and Chiat. "That was the first time I got to see how that collaboration works. We had the machines to work on, but were treated more like creatives. Editors outside of agencies had a script, had a thought-out production. Editors inside of agencies got thrown into the early development of the ideas and were given the freedom to be almost another copywriter or idea person on the project. That was an interesting shift of worlds." Herda then moved on to Red Car where he made the jump from assistant to editor. He then landed at Mad River in San Francis- co for six years. When they shut down, he and his producer, Janie Ford, opened David. Inc. also in San Francisco.