A collaboration of executive producer Deanne Mehling (formerly of Jigsaw) and editors Lance Pereira (formerly of Jigsaw and Graying & Balding) and Hal Honisberg (formerly of Red Car and Graying & Balding), Chrome opened its doors in Feb. 2001. The three were previously acquainted to various degrees, so when Mehling decided to leave Jigsaw in Oct. 2000 to pursue her own gig, Pereira and Honisberg were go. "I decided I wanted to revamp and do something small and just work with a couple of really great people," says Mehling of the move.

The first project out of the gate, which was booked within the company's first week open, was a collaborative cutting project for Budweiser directed by Wayne Isham of A Band Apart. This led to other editorial work for the legendary director including *NSync's "Pop" video and a Pepsi project featuring Wyclef Jean, both of which continued the collaborative trend. In addition, Pereira and Honisberg have worked jointly on spots for Wizja-tv, the Men's Anti-Violence Network and Nissan.

"The way we worked on Budweiser was that we literally flopped them back and forth: we'd each work on one spot for a couple of days and then we'd trade. With Pepsi, there were two spots so we each took a :30," says Pereira of their joint approach to editing.

"Hal would sweeten my cut and I'd sweeten his cut," he continues. "That to me is the most rewarding, because he'd do things that I'd never thought of, but it inspires me to go off and do something further. It's kind of like when you write a line of a poem and pass it along."

The pair's biggest editing coup would have to be *NSync "Pop." Individual details of the enormous set were fused to create sweeping camera moves that transport the viewer through different scenes. The film was bumped and bounced in time to the music and the pair of editors took on the laborious task of changing the band members' clothes in sync with their many dance moves. The video snagged the editors an MTV Music Video Award nomination for Best Editing.

Mehling says that though Pereira and Honisberg only do about 25 per cent of their work collaboratively, the practice does have its benefits. "It's a good selling tool for me to sell Chrome because clients get two amazing editors however it ends up landing on the schedule," she says. "It's different from what a lot of companies are doing."

When questioned about the logisitics of an editorial team, Honisberg brings up the example of the directing team. "I find it interesting how people understand and accept the collaborative director but not the collaborative editor. Maybe the thinking is that it's more of a solo effort, but the fact is that you really have a more relaxed situation and more of an ability to reflect back on the cut," he says. "Cuts can grow, almost organically through trading ideas, dispensing of some and keeping others. It really becomes a much better cut when you have two heads on it."

Independently, the two have kept the Avid 9000s in their editing suites humming. In the last year, Pereira sliced the underwater extravaganza "Tennis" for Pocari out of Dentsu, a split screen, dual-perspective spot for American Eagle Outfitters, TBWA/Chiat Day's Xterra "Chairlift," Playstation "Monsters Inc." and "Kinetica," as well as spots for Chevy Cruze, Mapquest and Bomba Energy Drink.

Honisberg has cut "Well Oiled Machine," a well-paced mechanic symphony, for Jiffy Lube and Sam Adams "Noise Complaint" through McCarthyMambroBertino, Mitsubishi "Lancer is Here" from Deutsch LA set to the Barenaked Ladies' track "One Week," and David Gray's latest video "Please Forgive Me." He is also working on a Monster.com project through Arnold Boston, directed by Peter Care of Bob Industries.

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