Biography

Most recently I’ve completed commercials and promos for clients such as Evoke Tactical, VISA, HP, AvoDerm Pet food and SiteCore as an editor and director for Capitola Media LLC. I’ve also continued working under my own banner of benellis.com for companies such as CISCO, INTEL, Google and other freelance clients.

I graduated Pitzer College with my short film, “Shadow Sailing”. It was shot on Super 16, and edited on Mini DV with Final Cut 1.0. Out of college I honed my skills in Los Angeles on multiple short films, music videos, and low budget TV Pilots. I cut Actor’s reels and whatever else I could get my hands on. Eventually I cut my first feature “Dear Mr. Cash”, and supervised the sound mix at Skywalker Sound.

Technically, I’m largely self-taught. I learn best when I have a problem to solve, and I’ve learned that one must never stop solving problems. I started on an early version of Adobe Premiere, followed by Media 100, AVID, and then Final Cut Pro where I stayed until the release of FCP X. I’ve now come full circle back to Premiere and currently use Adobe Creative Cloud for the bulk of my work. I’ve always been a stickler for quality and staying current as formats and workflows evolve to working with RAW, Log, HDR and increasingly larger resolutions.

One of my favorite quotes reads, “Tools ≠ Talent”. As easy as it is to “geek out” on the latest and greatest, I never forget what editing is about – an efficiency of storytelling.

When I’m not stuck in the submarine I enjoy taking in the outdoors with my black dog Mora, doodling in my sketchbook and looking at the stars.