The Work That Made Me: Brandon Roten
Based in the United States’ rural south, Brandon Roten’s work has been described as insightful, motivated, and full of humanity. These are the between-the-lines details it takes to edit stories from Mississippi for directors coast-to-coast and brands like FedEx, Under Armour, Gatorade, Hasbro, National Geographic, and IBM. Brandon’s perseverance, curiosity, and candidness further set him and his work apart in an industry full of options for masterful storytellers. When not using his right brain in the cutting room, Brandon can be found using his left brain to help create a balance in his life. From rebuilding antique motorcycle engines to training his English Lab, Willow, there’s always a puzzle that needs to be solved.
The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…
Brandon> In the early ‘90s, my dad was still hanging on to the Betamax format in our house. We always recorded The Wonderful World of Disney movie on Betamax each week. During one of those animated features, the original Gatorade, “Be Like Mike” commercial aired, and it blew my mind! I remember constantly taking out that Betamax tape, fast forwarding past the movie and watching that ad over and over again.
The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry…
Brandon> When I was in college I thought I might go into live sports production because that’s all that was available to me, then Leo Burnett’s “Stryker - Army of One”, US Army spot came out. I remember telling my roommates it was my favourite commercial of all time. That spot somehow helped me realise editing was a profession. In an insane turn of events, a year after I graduated, I was hired as an editor by the DP of the Stryker ad. To this day I’m baffled by how that unfolded.
The creative work (film/album/game/ad/album/book/poem etc) that I keep revisiting…
Brandon> When I was in college, I was given “John Williams Greatest Hits 1969-1999”. When I need a professional calmness or a reminder about why I started on this path in the first place, I always go back to his music.
My first professional project…
Brandon> I earned money in high school by helping record school plays, and in college I worked most every day at the University Television Center by running cameras for everything from the coaches' shows to weekly PBS shows produced at my school. But my first real gig in post production happened later in college when I started working part-time at a local production company. I remember editing highlight videos for sororities and cutting small corporate videos.
The piece of work that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*…
Brandon> Any political ad.
The piece of work that still makes me jealous…
Brandon> The Way of the West was an experimental piece, cut by Josh Bodnar, years ago. I don’t know him, and he doesn’t know this, but I’ve idolised his work for the past 15 years. He cuts at Whitehouse Post now and is, in my opinion, a legendary advertising editor. Long story short…I was given the same footage as Josh and was embarrassed by what I came up with compared to him. He was implementing insane ideas back then that hadn’t yet become a “stylistic thing” in post production. When I saw what he created, I realised I had a lot of growing to do as an editor.
The creative project that changed my career…
Brandon> When I was flown to Kansas City to cut the first, swipeable Instagram ad for Gatorade, I felt like I was starting to turn the corner, but it wasn’t until an insanely talented DP named Joe Simon started bringing me on to cut his Under Armour and Mouser Electronics projects that I began feeling like I was heading in the direction I’d been working towards for so long.
The work that I’m proudest of…
Brandon> I really like FedEx “Across America” because I had to sell the agency on some storytelling techniques and ideas that stretched them past their comfort zone.
I was involved in this and it makes me cringe…
Brandon> Any political ad I was required to do when I was a staff editor early in my career.
The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…
Brandon> I'm in the middle of doing some work for Princess Cruise Lines, and I’m really excited about it. Directors and DPs are always travelling the world, but editor’s don’t always have that job-related luxury. So, it’s really fun travelling the world from the comfort of my edit suite.
