This past Wednesday Flashpoint Academy was one of the sponsors of the Chicago premiere of The Dark Knight. The film was shot in Chicago last summer and the premiere was held at the Navy Pier Imax theater.

As one of the sponsors Flashpoint was allowed to be on the red carpet, in the screening and at the party afterwards. I was elected to be the person interviewing the stars on the red carpet. We were able to get a couple of students out there with me- this is Matt and Joe, as well as our in-house producer Paul Matian. We interviewed Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, producer Charles Roven and others and our students got to meet and speak with director Christopher Nolan. A great time was had by all, and just another way Flashpoint is different from other film schools.

I’ll let the pictures tell the story. 

PeterH

About a month ago a group of Flashpoint students participated in the Chicago 48 Hour Film Project, and last Saturday night their film, Urn Doctor, M.D. won the Audience Prize for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.

Team Flashpoint was one of 30 teams that competed during the Chicago event held during the weekend of June 20-22. In 2007, some 30,000 filmmakers participated in the 48 Hour Film Project in 55 cities around the world. This year, 15 cities were added, the 48 Hour Film Project will tour 70 cities.

To compete in the 48 Hour Film Project, teams must write, shoot and edit a short film in just 48 hours. All teams are given the same character, prop, line of dialog and genre, and must finish their project 48 hours later.

This year’s elements were “Walter or Wilma Western Repair Person” (character), an urn or container with a deceased’s ashes (prop) and a line entitled “What’s the Password?” (dialog).

I am very proud of them because they exhibited all of the things we try so hard to deliver at Flashpoint-namely collaboration and communication. Team Flashpoint was comprised of students across all four disciplines. Those students are:

Bill Douglas-producer/team leader,
Matt Arauz-director,
Adam Darin-assistant director/ Lead Actor
Steve DaDouche-director of photography,
Ian Roelle – chief audio technician,
Pat Sokley – assistant producer
Tony Schiavone-Editor
Ben Cline-editor
Josh Gort-gaffer
Scott Fedor, Austin Johnson, Chris Janonis, Mike Rolfsmeyer -graphics/PA’s

Vlad Sava – Additional Camera Support
Timothy Daniel – Wardrobe/Craft Service/ PA
Kyle Krause – Additional Camera Support

Kara Powell – Lead Actress

Check Out Their Website – UrnDoctorMD

Congratulations Team Flashpoint!

PeterH

One of my students asked me to do an interview about why I settled on sound design and teaching as my career path.  I thought it might be helpful for incoming Flashpoint students if I re-printed the transcription.

The interview was conducted by Dan Newman, one of the inaugural Rec Arts students, now awaiting his second year at Flashpoint.

April 2008

John Murray: I suppose it all started with a love for sound, and a thirst to capture it, harness it, manipulate it, and to tell a story with it.

My first recording device was a cheap portable Panasonic cassette recorder / player. I carried it with me everywhere. I was about nine years old. Once I discovered that I could start and stop recordings with the “PAUSE” button, and in effect, string together snippets of audio, there was no stopping me. Although I didn’t recognize it as such at the time, it was a way that I could “edit.” Much like a film editor tells a story by “editing” together discontinuous moving image sequences, I was editing little pieces of unrelated audio that once compiled together told a story that was formerly only present in my imagination.

That primitive methodology evolved through middle school until I became dissatisfied with the lack of precision. After all, the PAUSE button was mechanical, housed inside a really cheap device. I wanted the ability to make “cuts” that were absolutely, and precisely, in time with the music I was using. So around the time I started high school, I began meticulously taking apart cassette casings, carefully pulling the tape off the reels, cutting it with scissors at exact moments, rearranging the pieces and using scotch tape to mend the seams back together.

By the time I got to college and was allowed to use “professional grade” open reel tape recorders, splicing blocks, grease pencils, razor blades, and real bona fide splicing tape, I was completely hooked.

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FLASHPOINT ACADEMY DRAWS RAVES, CRITICS

By Emily Krone, Daily Herald Staff

Maine South graduate Lisa Shanahan loves music, but not math or science or most other subjects found on a school report card.

For years, Shanahan struggled to find her niche in the sometimes narrow confines of school.

Now she, and scores of other suburban students like her, have enrolled at fledgling Flashpoint Academy, which caters to students whose skills and passions don’t quite dovetail with those rewarded in traditional schools.

The two-year digital media college, which draws more than half of its 280 students from the Chicago suburbs, offers programs in recording arts, visual effects and animation, computer game development, film and broadcast media.

In short, “it’s one of those things, it’s so cool, it’s intimidating,” Shanahan said.

Since opening its doors last September, Chicago-based Flashpoint has generated tremendous buzz. Celebrity guests such as Chevy Chase have popped by; Mayor Daley offered a very public seal of approval; and famed Chicago entrepreneur and Flashpoint President Howard Tullman has aggressively promoted the school.

Tullman, who recently orchestrated Kendall College’s celebrated turnaround, bills Flashpoint as a revolutionary response to an out-of-date higher education system.

“Colleges today train college professors, not employable people,” Tullman asserts.

Tullman echoes sentiments expressed by educational critics such as Ken Robinson, noted author and expert in the field of creativity and innovation. In public speeches Robinson says that an alien visiting earth would “have to conclude that the whole purpose of public education throughout the years is to produce university professors.”

Robinson criticizes public schools for killing creativity, and he agitates for a broader definition of intelligence that encompasses more than just math and language skills.

Read Article on DailyHerald.com.

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