"I'm trying to accomplish an emotion or a feel in the spot, be it storytelling, abstract or effects intensive," states Red Car editor Jeff Landsman. "Whatever it may be in the end, I want you to be able to watch it and experience some kind of emotion. In my head I've watched the spot before I've even begun to cut it. I've experienced the emotion."

Landsman began editing in high school where he used a deck-to-deck Sony to cut footage for a local cable station. While attending Indiana University, he studied photojournalism and Spanish and minored in psychology. Time off from school was spent refining his editing skills and shooting local events.

Determined to edit commercials for national broadcast, Landsman took a job in the vault at Optimus in Chicago. Working through the night, he learned the Avid and broke into the post house's assistant pool. He joined Red Car as an assistant senior editor in 1997.

Landsman was awarded his First Boards for varsity.com's "Balance" out of Leo Burnett, Chicago; "Fidget" for Lands' End out of DDB Chicago; and Major League Baseball's "Sosa vs. McGuire" through Vigilante (a division of Leo Burnett).

Boards: How would you describe your approach to editing?

Landsman: When I start editing, I'm looking to create some sort of feel or taste to what the footage is supposed to say. I usually have two things in mind. First, obviously I want to tell the story so that people get it. Secondly, I want to conjure up a certain emotion, a smile or a laugh. It's kind of an intangible feel. If you look at the spots I think they all kind of reflect that statement.

With varsity.com, I tried to cut it so that the viewer feels the guy's frustration and then relief with the reveal. I want the viewer to feel just as annoyed as the coffee is spilling on the table. I want the viewer to somehow relate to him and the best way to do that is to become abrasive, but without being so abrasive to where it's distracting. I did that through sound design and some quick pace editing.

Boards: What project marked an important turning point in your career?

Landsman: Definitely the Lands' End project was the turning point because it was an opportunity to create a spot and then have it sell. "Fidget" captures a number of familial moments at the beach. Art director Alex Hackworth and copywriter Dave Claus were pitching Lands' End for a print campaign. Instead of going out and just shooting a bunch of snapshots, they thought let's shoot some film and see if we can cut some spots from it.

They went out and co-directed the footage. Copy was written for the spots and Lands' End picked up seven out of the nine spots we cut. It's an editor's dream to be told to run with it, tell the story and do whatever you want. "Fidget" was really based on what emotion we could conjure up and hopefully that makes people want to go out and buy these clothes because it reminds them of a time when they were relaxing on a beach.

Life outside the Avid bay.

"I just finished a short that premiered on IFILM called The Last Drop. I co-wrote, edited, and directed with Brian York, a guy I met at Optimus who ended up joining Red Car not long after I did. It took us about three and a half years to finish that film.

"The Last Drop is a black comedy. It's a comment on relationships, specifically, how people drop their friends for significant others." [Landsman and York are also the principal actors in the film, shot on location in Chicago.]

Future projects

"In addition to commercial projects, I'm working on another short with Brian as well as a feature script. Through it all, I've learned that the best people to work with are filmmakers with interests that extend beyond their day job as a colorist or editor, etc." Hence the college major.

Webfiles>

The Last Drop> www.ifilm.com/ifilm/skeletons/ film_detail/0,1263,768346,00.html