Optimus trailers win 5 out of 9 Camp Kuleshov awards

Grand Prize winner Caleb Hepler of The Whitehouse

The affectionate trailer for “Shark Song,” a fictional feel-good story created by The Whitehouse’s assistant editor Caleb Hepler, was the grand prize winner at the 10th annual AICE trailer editing competition.

Nine winners were announced at a party and awards show at the Bottom Lounge’s Volcano Room Thursday, Nov. 10.  Of these, five were assistant editors who won for Camp Kuleshov and four non-assistants, who work at AICE member companies and won for the Tent City division contest.

Of the nine winners, five were Optimus talents.

The assignment was to select either one or any combination of the films “Jaws,” “Lost in Translation” and “What About Bob” and cut a 90-second trailer for an original new film, be it a mashup or of a new genre.

For his take on Steven Spielberg’s 1975 classic, Hepler won an Avid Media Composer 5. He’ll also be flown to Los Angeles to attend the 2012 AICE Awards Show Nov. 15.

To view all 2011 Chicago Camp Kuleshov and Tent City winners, click here

Optimus and Cutters assistants earned First and Second Runners Up

Camp Kuleshov First and Second Runners Up were Cutters’ Michael Lippert and Optimus’ Aaron Porzel.  Lippert mashed up all three films for “Learning to Stand,” in Bill Murray plays a creature, who takes human form while on land, but becomes a shark whenever he’s in the water. Lippert won a Pro Tools 9 audio system.

Porzel, whose campy “Were-Shark” combines “Jaws” and “What About Bob” tells the story of a shark that’s terrorizing a summer camp, conveyed in the style of a schlocky, black and white 1950s-era horror film. Porzel’s prize was pair of M-Audio Studiophile Q40 headphones. 

Avid provided all prizes to Chicago Camp Kuleshov winners.

Optimus assistants also copped two Honorable Mentions: Max Holste for “Siggy Marvin and the Summer of the Shark” and Lucy Radtke for “This Is Water.”

Hootenanny intern wins the Tent City Grand Prize 

In the Tent City competition for non-editors, Tiffany Dotson, an intern at Hootenanny won the Grand Prize for “Faded Intent.” Her re-casting of “Lost in Translation” as a psychological thriller made Bill Murray an assassin and Scarlett Johansson his intended target.  Dotson’s prize was a $50 Amazon gift card.

Optimus again scored two Tent City Honorable Mentions: Marco Rosas for “The Ungiven Chance” and Max Mooney for “Bob Van Winkle” and the third Honorable Mention went to Angelica Carlson of The Colonie for “Escape to Tokyo.”

Nine prominent editors judged the entries

Judges for the Camp Kuleshov Chicago competition included Brian Gannon of The Whitehouse, Sean Berringer of Beast, Laura Madalinski of Red Car, Keith Kristinat of Utopic, Randy Palmer of Optimus, Adam Purcell of The Colonie, Matthew Hane of  Daily Planet, Chris Hafner of Cutters and Jerem Sloan of Hootenanny.