Bearing Witness: A Name and a Voice
ANTHEM MULTIMEDIA | LEAD EDITOR | 2 MINUTES
WHY THIS MATTERED
The documentary was finished. The trailer didn’t exist. And without the right trailer, the film wouldn’t travel. They weren’t looking for hype. They were aiming for something harder: clarity without distortion.
WHAT WASN’T WORKING
The film was quiet. Cerebral. Restrained. Every attempt at a trailer risked breaking its tone. They’d worked with multiple editors over the years and walked away unsatisfied. By the time they called me, skepticism was justified.
WHAT I DID
My first move was ownership. Not just cutting a trailer—but designing one.
I studied comparable films, tested structures, and stripped the options down until only what mattered remained.
Ten essential elements pulled from a thousand.
I built the piece like a song—rhythm, breath, and silence doing as much work as the images.
Nothing was added that didn’t belong.
WHAT CHANGED
The first cut landed in three days. The second was nearly there. By final delivery, the conversation stopped. The trailer held the film’s intelligence without flattening it—and helped Anthem’s documentary go on to win an Emmy.
"We had no ideas for this trailer. You took it from zero to something that actually worked."
- DINA RUDICK, ANTHEM MULTIMEDIA