NYC Editorial History

• Alan Bazin - Film and Video Editor • Reel Elements/Examples of My Work in NYC 1998 - 2008 •

The five videos below are examples of content for which I was the sole editor, either while working at "Pi Edit" or "22" in NYC. "Guess Watches" is a spec commercial shot for a Director's reel. I disliked the Director's edit (it was all rapid cuts and flashes, jarringly nonsensical) but believed the footage was attractive, just poorly utilized. Luckily, a generous film to tape transfer was done, so I used it to remake the spot from scratch into what I felt was the best possible use of the footage. "Radon" is a Public Service Announcement that ran extensively on Spanish language television. The Dario Argento presentation is a montage I created (after work hours) that was part of a package presented to potential investors in Dario's next film (which eventually became "Mother of Tears.") Producer Robert Marcucci (who I also worked with on the Image DVD releases of Nathan Schiff's films) hired me to create a DVD that contained selected scenes from a range of Argento's films, and also create a montage that would serve as an introduction to his work (which would be the first thing investors saw). I had free reign to do whatever I wanted, the only restriction being I didn't want to include any scenes that were already part of the main DVD, as I didn't want investors to see any images twice. I was told that producer Claudio Argento thought my montage was excellent, but that's all that came of it. The excerpt from "Jump" was part of a complete re-cut of the film I did with director Justin McCarthy that was never released due to a disastrous budgetary issue with the production company, Given Films.

Given Films became a client of mine after I re-cut their film "Intern" in three days in order to help them prepare a rushed submission for Sundance (the producers felt the director's edit was terrible). My edit gained "Intern" entry into the festival, but the film then passed back to the control of the director, and as with "Jump," the original edits were the ones that were released. In the case of "Intern" the director was undoubtedly happy. In the case of "Jump," the director was furious. Both served as my sobering entry into the often strange world of post production with regard to independent films. When you work at a high end post production facility in Manhattan, it is near impossible to accommodate the budgets of indies. The enormous overhead and equipment costs dictate that the vast majority of your work will be with large advertising agencies, because they are the only ones who can afford to rent your "suites." As those who work in independent film production know, one of the areas where budgets are often reduced to an absolute minimum is in post, specifically the editing stage. Most of the editors I knew who were cutting independent films were working in threadbare, windowless rooms rented as cheaply as possible. I would have liked nothing better than to have worked on feature films, independent or otherwise, but they were rarely an option for me as a staff member of Pi Edit and 22. I disliked the advertising industry when I started, and wholly despised it by the time I left, a disposition I hold to this day. I vowed to never do that kind of work again. Happily, I'm now at a point in my life where I'll never have to.

Guess Watches (Spec Ad for Director's Reel) :60

Radon PSA (Spanish Language TV) :60

Dario Argento Presentation for Investors (Warning: contains graphic violence) 8:54

Jump (excerpt from feature film re-cut) 3:00

Intern (excerpt from Sundance re-cut) 3:51

Below are three examples of content for which I was the sole assistant editor at "Pi Edit" and "22" in NYC, working for editors Michael Swerdloff and Terry Katz. My duties included digitizing, logging and organizing elements, prepping for and scheduling mix and online sessions, conforming the final edit and creating digibeta masters for air. In addition to spots for American Express and Foxwoods, we did countless commercials for Hasbro, and everything from spots for "Country Time Lemonade" to training videos for The Boston Consulting Group.

"Life With Big Cats" was a full length documentary Terry edited that aired on Animal Planet on which I assisted and supervised the final online sessions for air. It won the Genesis award for best documentary the year it was released. The fourth example, "Six Chicks in a Kitchen," was a demo for a proposed reality TV style cooking show that I edited solo for Given Films. Two of the "chicks" are actress Samia Shoaib (who can be seen briefly in "Requiem for a Dream") and future author Ariel Levy.

American Express "Rafting" and "Everyday" TV Spots :60 + :30

"Life with Big Cats" with Tippi Hedren (excerpt) 2:05

Foxwoods "The Wonder of It All" and "Hey New York" TV Spots :60 + :30

"Six Chicks in a Kitchen" (promo) 4:20

Found below are four examples representing no budget, solo editing work done through my home based studio "Digital Shark." "Controlled Burning in Tanzania," is a short video I shot myself while in Africa. "Twitch" was an editing experiment using only still and scanned images that was praised by Southern Records (Rudimentary Peni's record label) and featured on the band's social media page. The Six and Violence's "My House is Haunted" video was one part of a massive video retrospective I made for the band that drew on old, fan submitted, amateur video of live performances shot over a period of many years.

Kurt Stenzel (the shorter of the two singers, and all around fantastic human) scored the amazing documentary on Alejandro Jodorowsky, "Jodorowsky's Dune." Another fun fact about The Six and Violence, they are the only punk band to ever be able to say they had Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull perform on one of their songs. Peelander Z's "Mad Tiger" is a makeshift music video, created to help promote the band, using footage supplied by the their friends following a successful show at the Bonnaroo Music Festival.

Fair warning for those unfamiliar with these three bands, these videos contain loud, raw, punk rock music.

Controlled Burning in Tanzania 4:10

Peelander Z "Mad Tiger" 3:28

Rudimentary Peni "Twitch / Imps of the Perverse" 1:50

The Six and Violence "My House is Haunted" 3:45

The logo for "Digital Shark" was created by my friend, graphic novelist and author Bob Fingerman, and was featured in the closing credits for the three films by director Nathan Schiff that were released on DVD by Image Entertainment. The credits on the back of the DVDs also credit myself and my home studio, as shown below. For more information on how I transformed Nathan's films into digital masters, check here.