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The Work That Made Me in association withLBB
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The Work That Made Me: James Rosen

28/02/2023
Editors
London, UK
214
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Final Cut London editor on philosophical concepts, facing adversity and classic '80s movies

James Rosen is an award-winning editor at Final Cut London. Following a busy year that saw him cut a wide variety of celebrated commercial projects and win a silver Shots award for Editor of the Year, James looks back on some of the work that led him down the path to editing, as well as some significant projects he’s cut along the way.


The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me… 

James> Gillette’s 1989 Super Bowl ad: ‘The Best A Man Can Get’. Preposterous by today’s standards, but left a huge artistic impression on my teenage self. Everything is backlit, slow motion running, astronauts, athletes, beautiful women flinging themselves into the arms of beautiful men, lots of splashing on steel, all beautifully montaged to a classic ‘80s power ballad theme tune. I had no idea what it all meant but it worked it's silly spell on me. Watch it now and you’ll cringe at such a ludicrous, outdated portrayal of masculinity, but you have to appreciate the effort.


The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry… 

James> MTV sealed the deal. Being exposed to so much creativity and artistic innovation blew my young mind and my path was set. Music videos combined two things I loved deeply: Music and movies, and while I watched them on repeat, I was becoming unconsciously aware of editing - how images, music and sound were being pulled together to such wonderful effect. I’m still a sucker for a montage set against an amazing piece of music and, looking back, all my favourite music video, movie and TV moments are just that: Bon Jovi ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’, the Miami Vice opening credits, most of ‘Rocky IV’, the ‘West Wing’ season two finale, ‘The Wire’ season closing montages, that Kate Bush moment in ‘Stranger Things’, even an ‘80s ad for Air Canada. Give me a feel-good tune and a flurry of great shots, I’m a happy camper. 


The creative work (film/album/game/ad/album/book/poem etc) that I keep revisiting… 

James> Bon Iver’s ‘22 A Million’ came at a time I really needed it, reminding me to let go and explore the messiness of creativity, embrace happy accidents and just have fun throwing things around. It’s become quite special to me, a sort of guiding light when I get a little lost. 


My first professional project… 

James> A tongue-in-cheek documentary promo for the Lilt ‘Odyssey’ TV commercial. 


The piece of work (ad/music video/ platform…) that still makes me jealous… 

James> Nike ‘Write the Future’. It’s an absolute blast from start to finish and squeezes in so many ideas, plays around with so many timelines and all at a blistering pace, yet it all makes perfect sense. Knowing how complicated that must have been to piece together and how easily it could have become a total mess, let alone the production logistics to accommodate the footballers and their notoriously tricky schedules, I’m in awe whenever I watch it.


The creative project that changed my career… 

James> Probably the first project I edited for Sam Brown, the music video for ‘Turn Your Car Around’ by Lee Ryan - a desert/horse based romp featuring Lee Ryan as a heroic horse wrangler who breaks down in the middle of the desert, only to persuade a horse to presumably gallop him back to the nearest garage. Connecting with Sam would be the start of a long lasting and rewarding collaboration that would take me from music videos to commercials. The work we’ve done has formed the backbone of my showreel ever since.


The work that I’m proudest of… 

James> A short for Unicef called ‘Put It Right’, directed by Adrian Moat. We took all 25 hours of footage shot for the main campaign and cut a five-six minute montage, into which I poured everything I love about editing; simple montage, juxtaposition, little stylistic flurries and parallel action threading several narratives together that follow the children and their horrendous circumstances. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done and I still find it absolutely devastating to watch.

‘Cowboy Dave’ (written and directed by Colin O’Toole) winning the BAFTA for Best Short was a huge moment of affirmation for me. Imposter syndrome is something I’ve struggled with throughout my career. Such a strange thing, that you don’t think you can do something while you’re actually doing it. Like most of us in the field, I never went to editing school. I was lucky to be surrounded with masters of the craft as I forged my way up, and just emulated what I loved. ‘Cowboy Dave’ meant so much to me, that perhaps all this time I really knew what I was doing.

A more current piece of work would have to be the 90sec spot for Calm ‘The Last Photo,’ directed by Max Fisher. A seemingly simple task of presenting raw video that was later revealed to be the subjects’ final appearances on recorded media. I had to take everything I’d learned, all my instincts as a commercials editor, all the tricks and tools up my sleeve and throw them away. We couldn’t embellish, polish or stylise anything. It had to be as bare bones as possible, all the while creating a commercial that needed to be taken seriously, with integrity and depth. It was an exercise in extreme restraint. Nowhere is this more evident than the music - nothing but a single solo vocal, placed out of tempo, accompanying the tragic imagery in the most delicate and sensitive of ways. It was a profound and emotionally challenging experience from start to finish. But these are the projects that stay with you throughout your career. Nothing worthwhile is easy.


The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most… 

James> Women’s Super League ‘It’s All Kicking Off’ for the 21/22 season. Working with Cassie Brooksbank is so much fun, she’s all in on the edit and pushes everything to the max, wearing her Hollywood blockbuster influences on her sleeve. Her joy in the work is infectious and her instincts are razor sharp. Having worked with her a few times now, the trust is in place allowing us to challenge each other, both striving for the very best.

And my edit for White Claw felt like returning to the source of what inspired me all those years ago. Sam and I have talked endlessly about those early days - the work of Frank Budgen, Tony Kaye, Jonathan Glazer and Ridley Scott, the directors who took advertising to an artistic and conceptual level way beyond what was expected or even possible. Beautifully simple, visceral and poetic, great music, great photography, and a philosophical concept that resonated with me personally. To face adversity and let go…

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