Ben Kwok, Visual Effects Supervisor at Blacksmith, won the Best in Show at the AICP Post Awards premiere, held virtually this evening. Kwok won for his masterful compositing and Flame work on “The Journey” for Zillow, in which a young girl is accompanied on frightening and fanciful travels to her new home by a pair of reassuring furry characters, who help smooth the way. Created by the New York office of FIG, the piece also won for Compositing & Visual Effects. 

The AICP Post Awards honor excellence in a range of post production crafts, including editing, color grading, audio mixing, sound design, visual effects, CGI, animation and design. They’re part of the AICP’s suite of juried competitions, which also includes the AICP Next Awards and the AICP Show. To view all the winners of the 2021 Post Awards, visit http://www.aicppostawards.com/.

Kwok was one of a group of artists who scored two AICP Post Awards each. Also honored twice were Editors Jessica Baclesse and Peter Wiedensmith of Joint Editorial, who won in the categories of Editorial: Existing Footage (added this year to honor work created under pandemic circumstances) and Editorial: Montage for Nike’s “You Can’t Stop Us.” Spencer Susser of Blue-Tongue Films, the Editor/Director behind the Humane Society International’s “Save Ralph,” was singled out for Editorial: Cause Marketing/PSA and Best of West. And Editor Will Town of Modern Post won in the categories of Editorial: Dialogue/Monologue/Spoken Word and Editorial: Fashion/Beauty for Vogue’s “I Love New York.”  

A number of companies were represented with multiple awards presented to their artists. Company 3 led this list, with its artists taking home four AICP Post Awards: Colorist Sean Coleman won Color Grading: Under :60 for Turbo Tax’s “Auctioneer”; Colorist Dave Hussey won Color Grading: :60 to :90 for Diet Coke’s “Drink What Ya Mama Gave Ya”; and Colorist Tim Masick won Color Grading: Over 90 for Zara’s “Women/Spring Summer Campaign.” In addition, Colorist Billy Gabor was singled out for Best of Southeast for Lenovo’s “Liftoff.”

Both Blacksmith and Modern Post were represented at the show with three awards presented to its artists. For Blacksmith, in addition to the two wins for Ben Kwok, CGI Leads Tuna Unalan and Olivier Varteressian were also honored in the CGI category for Zillow’s “The Journey.” At Modern Post, in addition to the two wins for Will Town, Editor Graham Patterson won in the Editorial: Music Video category for Sufjan Steven’s “Sugar.”

In addition to FIG’s three wins for Zillow, the agencies Droga5 and Wieden+Kennedy were also affiliated with three winning pieces in the AICP Post Awards. Droga5 was honored in the Editorial: National Campaign for Amazon  (Ben Campbell, Cut+Run/The Quarry), in Editorial: Storytelling for Huggies (Trish Fuller and Stuart Reeves, Work Editorial) and Best of East for Facebook (Mikkel EG Nielsen, Rock Paper Scissors). Wieden + Kennedy was honored for Nike in Editorial: Existing Footage and Editorial: Montage (Jessica Baclesse and Peter Wiedensmith, Joint Editorial) and for Turbo Tax in Color Grading: Under :60 (Sean Coleman, Company 3). 

In addition, AMV BBDO and Vogue each worked on projects that won two Post Awards; the former for Libresse/Bodyform #wombstories in Audio Mix (Sam Ashwell and Jake Ashwell of 750MPH) and Graphic Design & Animation (Sharon Lock of Framestore), the latter for its “I Love New York” project in Editorial: Fashion/Beauty and Editorial: Dialogue/Monologue/Spoken Word (Will Town, Modern Post).

The 2021 AICP Post Awards also saluted the top winners of the 2019 Camp Kuleshov competition. (Camp Kuleshov was not held in 2020.) Top winners from across the participating AICP chapters who won in the categories of Editorial, Graphics and Sound Design went up against each other for the coveted “Lev Award,” named for the Russian film theorist Lev Kuleshov. The “Lev” winners each presented a 15-second acceptance speech during the show. They included Evan Goodell of Hero Post in Atlanta, who won in the Editorial category; Katie Schade of Optimus in Chicago, who won in the Graphics category; and Logan Vines of Another Country, also in Chicago, who won in the Sound Design category. 

The Post Awards featured graphics and titles created by Ingenuity and Cosmo Street, with a score by Robert Miller of RNDM ORDR. The Colonie created the sponsor tribute, which featured music by Noisefloor. 

Sponsors help make all of the AICP awards competitions and events possible. AICP Partners and Supporting Partners, who support all AICP events throughout the year, are: CAPS – A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company, Universal Studios and Wrapbook (Partners); and Film Offices of The Hawaiian Islands; Musicbed + Filmsupply; Sony Pictures Studios; and The TEAM Companies (Supporting Partners). 

The 2021 AICP Awards Sponsors include Aspen Travel, AwardCore, BMGPM and BMG Bespoke, The Colonie, Color Lab, Cosmo Street, Heard City, Hello World, International Digital Centre – IDC, Istros Media, Ingenuity, Kodak, Little Black Book, Noisefloor, RNDM ORDER, The ROOTS, S'well, SHOOT Magazine | SHOOTonline,  Source | SHOTS | Slate and Whitehouse Post.

AICP Post Awards Winners 

Editorial: Automotive    
Carla Luffe        

Forsman & Bodenfors    
MJZ    
Volvo    
“The Parents”

Editorial: Cause Marketing/PSA    
Spencer Susser      
     
Blue-Tongue Films    
Humane Society International    
“Save Ralph”

Compositing & Visual Effects    
Ben Kwok    

Blacksmith    
FIG    
Epoch Films    
Zillow    
“The Journey”

Graphic Design & Animation    
Sharon Lock    

Framestore    
AMV BBDO    
Chelsea Pictures    
Libresse    
“#wombstories”

Color Grading: Music Video    
Matthew Schwab    

Flawless Post        
Parkwood Entertainment    
Beyoncé    
“Brown Skin Girl”

Color Grading: Over :90    
Tim Masick    

Company 3    
Baron & Baron     
Seeker Productions + One Thirty Eight Productions    
Zara
“Woman | Spring Summer 2021 Campaign”

Color Grading: Under :60    
Sean Coleman    

Company 3    
Wieden+Kennedy    
Biscuit Filmworks    
Turbo Tax    
“Auctioneer”

Color Grading: :60 To :90    
Dave Hussey    

Company 3    
Anomaly    
Caviar + Grayskull    
Diet Coke    
“Drink What Ya Mama Gave Ya”

Editorial: Comedy    
Grant Gustafson    

Cutters    
Highdive    
MJZ    
Rocket Mortgage    
“Certain is Better”

Editorial: Dialogue/Monologue/Spoken Word    
Will Town    

Modern Post    
One Thirty Eight Productions    
Vogue    
“I Love New York”

Editorial: Montage    
Jessica Baclesse, Peter Wiedensmith    

Joint Editorial    
Wieden+Kennedy    
Pulse Films    
Nike    
“You Can't Stop Us”

Character Design & Animation    
Tim Allen    

Blinkink    
The Gate    
Childline    
“Nobody is Normal”

CGI    
Tuna Unalan, Olivier Varteressian    

Blacksmith    
FIG    
Epoch Films    
Zillow    
“The Journey”

Type Design & Title Animation    
Omar Aqil, Wallen Diaz, Michelle D'Urbano, SMECCEA, Nini Sum, Kota Yamaji    

Brand New School            
Adobe    
“MAX Conference Identity”

Sound Design    
Alex Bingham, Alberto Mielgo, Patch Rowland,  Andy Stewart    

Machine London    
DDB Paris    
Pinkman.tv    
UBISOFT    
“Watch Dogs: Legion - Tipping Point”

Audio Mix    
Sam Ashwell,  Jake Ashwell     

750MPH    
AMV BBDO    
Chelsea Pictures    
Libresse    
“#wombstories”

Editorial: Regional    
Micah Scarpelli    

Uppercut    
22Squared    
Park Pictures    
AdventHealth    
“The Sound of Healing”

Best of East:  Docu-Style    
Mikkel EG Nielsen    

Rock Paper Scissors    
Droga5    
Epoch Films    
Facebook    
“Born In Quarantine”

Best of Midwest:  Cause Marketing/PSA    
Craig Lewandowski    

Utopic        
Sandro Films    
Truth Hope and Just Initiative    
“Mothers”

Best of Southeast:  Color Grading: Over :90    
Billy Gabor    

Company 3    
Zeno Group    
Nom de Guerre Films    
Lenovo    
“Liftoff”

Best of Southwest:  Sound Design    
Matt Cimino    

Lucky Post    
The Richards Group    
Hammer Productions    
RAM    
“2021 Ram 1500 TRX Desert Dream”

Best of West:  Cause Marketing/PSA    
Spencer Susser     
       
Blue-Tongue Films    
Humane Society International    
“Save Ralph”

Editorial: Docu-Style    
Dave Warren    

Nomad Editing    
Great Guns    
Black Lives Matter    
“Mama”

Editorial: Fashion/Beauty    
Will Town    

Modern Post    
Vogue    
One Thirty Eight Productions    
Vogue    
“I Love New York”

Editorial: Music Video    
Graham Patterson    

Modern Post        
Mythologie Pictures    
Sufjan Stevens    
“Sugar”

Editorial: National Campaign    
Ben Campbell    

Cut+Run / The Quarry    
Droga5    
Biscuit Filmworks    
Amazon
“Amazon Alexa”

Editorial: Existing Footage
Jessica Baclesse, Peter Wiedensmith    

Joint Editorial    
Wieden+Kennedy    
Pulse Films    
Nike    
“You Can't Stop Us”

Editorial: Storytelling    
Trish Fuller, Stewart Reeves    

Work Editorial    
Droga5
SMUGGLER    
Huggies    
“Welcome to the World, Baby”

Best of Show: Compositing & Visual Effects    
Ben Kwok    

Blacksmith    
FIG    
Epoch Films    
Zillow    
“The Journey”
 

About AICP 
AICP represents, exclusively, the interests of independent companies that specialize in the production and post pro-duction of commercials in various media—film, video, digital—for advertisers and agencies. The association, with national offices in New York and Los Angeles as well as regional chapters across the country, serves as a strong collective voice for this $5 billion-plus industry. Founded in 1972, AICP assists its members by: disseminating information; representing production and post production companies within the advertising community in business circles, in labor negotiations and dealing with employment issues; and before governmental officials; developing industry standards and tools; providing professional development; and marketing American production and post production via events and awards shows.