Acclaimed Brazilian Film Editor Makes the Cuts for VW, HBO, Coca-Cola and more

    LOS ANGELES, CA, February 29, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Beto Araujo has 18 years of editing experience in advertising, music videos and TV series. As an editor, he aspires to make such clean cuts that the work he's done is almost invisible. The key to Araujo's magic touch is in his patience and respect for every project he's hired to work on. Whether he's telling a story in a 30-second commercial, a three-minute music video or a two hour movie, there's always fine balance between timing and emotion.

Over the years, Araujo, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, has done a broad array of outstanding work for many companies including Vetor Zero/Lobo, Saigon, Sentimental Filmes, Prodigo Films, O2, Damasco Filmes and Dinamo Filmes. Through these appointments as editor, Araujo's cut footage for VW, HBO, Visa, Samsung, Coca-Cola, Fiat, Google and Nickelodeon, to name a few.

"I think that dedication and affinity for storytelling are the most important characteristics every editor should possess," said Araujo. "Having a lot of experience obviously helps a lot on most projects, but the ability to start something from scratch finding a new and fresh way to tell a story sometimes is even more important."

Araujo's style is hard to forget. It's so strongly crafted and effective that directors never seem to stop seeking his services. He understands that his job is to be unique, but also to collaborate. That, along with his outstanding sense of sequencing, visual storytelling and enormous track record of excellence, has placed Araujo as one of today's leading editors.

One of Araujo's foremost collaborators is director Ricardo Carelli, of Vetor Zero/Lobo, a film production company that is also Brazil's leading 3D animation studio. Araujo and Carelli have collaborated on many projects both for Vetor Zero/Lobo and Dinamo Filmes, a firm Araujo edited hundreds of ads for over nine years. Together, Carelli and Araujo's work covers commercials, advertising promos and music videos for acclaimed artists such as Nacao Zumbi.

"I got my first MTV VMA nomination for a music video we did for Nacao Zumbi," Araujo said. "Working with the great talent that is Ricardo Carelli and the incredible production teams he is always surrounded by made me grow a lot as a professional and prepared me to be a well-rounded editor with experience in several different styles."

Carelli said, "Beto was an essential part of our production team and performed a variety of editing and post-production roles which helped us achieve the best possible result on every production. He is not only a master of his craft, but has an exceptionally good eye at identifying exactly which bits of footage to incorporate into the final product."

Chief among Carelli and Araujo's collaborations was the international campaign - "Black and White" - for the leading laundry detergent brand, Skip. Carelli directed, while Araujo was engaged as editor. It was a stylized narrative complete with two distinct sections of animation, one black and the other white.

"Pulling focus allowed us to tell two very distinct stories in a short period of time, and we required a top notch editor who could seamlessly integrate the images in a manner which made sense to the audience while preserving the intricate flow of images and animation," said Carelli. "Beto was able to pull this off flawlessly."

Araujo's deft editing directly helped the campaign to become recognized and praised in the industry. It won many esteemed international awards including the 2010 Cannes Silver Lion.

Araujo again edited a Carelli-directed commercial, "Declaracao de Amor" (Declaration of Love), for BIC, a world-leading manufacturer of ballpoint pens and other products.

"The spot was shot as a quirky spoof on romantic comedies and needed a specific pace and upbeat energy to meet the demands of the client," said Carelli. "To accomplish this, we needed an editor who understood how to both convey the storyline and achieve the requisite timing that worked for this comedic campaign. Beto's role as editor was again an essential ingredient in the production's international acclaim and success, for which we were extremely grateful for."

"Declaracao de Amor" received many awards including the Bronze at El Ojo de Iberomerica and was short listed at the Cannes Film Festival (France).

Araujo's visual style is typically filled with fast paced cuts, but he knows how to slow it down to a more contemplative mood when necessary. His creativity is constantly inspired by music, fashion, sports, motorcycles and happiness. Even when he doesn't have footage in front of him, he finds himself cutting together clips in his mind. He calls his editing: "Smart editing."

"Everything is a reference for me," Araujo said "Things I experience in my day to day living I sometimes absorb and creatively inject into my work as an editor."

His entrance into the craft ironically came about by accident. In 1998, he was hired by Videoimagem as an account executive assistant, but on his first day he was asked to assist on one of the company's shoots. After filming, Araujo was taught the editing software, Avid, in order to load footage for the editor's use. Unable to resist, Araujo made his own rough cut. The client was so impressed they requested that Araujo edit all of their projects. He never wound up working as the account executive assistant, and instead had forged his initiation as an editor.

Some of Araujo's biggest influences are Dody Dorn, Sally Menke, Lee Smith and James Herbert. From his home country of Brazil, he admires Daniel Rezende, who received an Oscar nomination for editing Miramax's hit crime drama, "City of God." Araujo once had the opportunity to edit with Rezende on a worldwide televised campaign for YouTube.

In 2014, Araujo edited four episodes of HBO Latin America's drama series, "Psi." The series received two international Emmy Award nominations including Best Drama Series. Araujo edited the series' critically important pilot episode and its Season 1 finale.

Araujo's editing shined again for a VW Fox commercial in 2014. "I got to put my style on a piece where the objective was to make the spot look like a movie trailer instead of a traditional advertisement," he said. "It was really fun doing it and was very well received by the agency."

He also edited the "85 Seconds" campaign for Getty Images, which was directed by Joao Simi. The campaign set Araujo with the challenge to cut together stock video, which included weeks of arduous research. The script was only created after all the footage was selected.

"The challenge was to create a spot for Getty using only stock video instead of stock still pictures. We were trying to find beautiful images that would cut between each other with a seamless effect and tell a story at the same time."

Araujo's editing efforts paid off as the spot went on to win many distinguished international awards including the 2013 Gold Lion for Editing, the 2014 Gold for Best Editing at the El Ojo and the Bronze in Editing at the New York Festivals International Television and Film Awards.

For more information, visit: www.betoaraujo.com.

Beto Araujo is an editor from Brazil.

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