There has been a lot of activity in each of the disciplines this summer, revamping curriculum for the Fall, and undertaking professional projects which directly impact our students. Here’s a sampling of what’s been going on:
Recording Arts Update:
The RA Dept is very excited to introduce several new courses that continue to enrich the overall educational experience at FP. During the first year, two aesthetics courses are being rolled out, each lasting most of the semester and including analysis, critical listening, oral presentation, and research papers. They are: Aesthetics of the Motion Picture Soundtrack and Aesthetics of Music Recording. Another new course in the first year is called Survey of Careers in Audio where guest speakers from all walks of audio life will come in and talk about how and why they got into the audio industry.
There will now be three Focused Study Tracks for students to choose from in their second year: Music Recording, Sound Design for Film, and Sound Design for Game. Each track begins with intense capstone courses in preparation for feeding into FPA Studios in the spring. The two Sound Design tracks work collaboratively with the Film and Game Departments at the highest level.
There are also new courses in the second year curriculum: Ear Training for Music Recording Engineers, Signal Processing, Introduction to Synthesis for Sound Designers, Game Audio: Workshop, and Game Audio: Projects. To teach some of these very important and specialized courses, we are excited to be bringing in some new adjunct instructors with serious academic and field-work pedigrees.
Faculty were also busy in the department:
RA Chair John Murray functioned as the Supervising Sound Editor on “Make No Little Plans,” the new documentary about the life and work of famed Chicago architect Daniel Burnham, which is destined for PBS broadcast and beyond, it will premiere at Millennium Park in early September as part of the City’s Centennial Celebration of Daniel Burnham’s birth.
Bernie Mack, RA Associate Chair, is in pre-production for a new studio recording project with Blues Guitarist James Hall. Miguel Kertsman, RA Faculty, will premiere his Children’s Opera in London in late August. Jeff Kliment, RA Faculty, continues to foster great relationships and new projects with game audio industry companies such as Ludorum. And Tom Blakemore, RA Faculty, continues work on new curriculum for the Sound Design for Film Focus Track, including a wonderful new segment on ADR showcasing some breakthroughs in technology to accomplish this very important and difficult part of film post production.
VFX/Animation Update:
Changes for the fall in VFX include the addition of a class titled “Storytelling with Photoshop,” which teaches the art of storyboarding through the use of Photoshop. There will also be a class collaboration between the Film and VFX departments called “Filmmaking for Animators,” which teaches essential filmmaking skills – including the use of real camera and lighting equipment, editing tools, and film theory.
This fall, we have commitments from 2 important speakers from Pixar, a former head of worldwide training at Electronic Arts and the lead texturing and lighting artist on the film “The Barnyard”.
Department Chair Perry Harovas created titles and animation for the remake of “Night of the Demons” and motion graphics for two trailers for Lionsgate Home Video. VFX Faculty member Andy Rosen has been working remotely with a small company called DeepSix in the Seattle area. He has been consulting for them on advanced compositing and digital cinematography using custom, in-house rigs in Maya, and in-house tools developed around Maya/Shake/GIMP/Photoshop/Mental Ray/Renderman and After Effects 7.
Game Development Update:
Students in Flashpoint Studios recently produced two dynamic web games – a BMX Bike game developed to promote the Dew Tour sponsored by NBC, and a game called “Dental Distress” used to promote Healthy Smiles Month for Oral Health America.
Our all-school game Production-in-Action, “ Red Carpet Rescue,” in large part produced by game students, was demonstrated at the UFVA conference in New Orleans. Look for its premiere this Fall.
Simeon Peebler, Chair of the Game Department, recently completed development of the iPhone game BLiP Bloink, published by BLiP Fun Games in May of 2009.
Game Faculty member Ted Gordon, who leads many 3D modeling and animation courses at Flashpoint, has been animating on a major, “as-yet-unannounced” commercial game project for a top game studio in the industry. Very high-end and top secret – once this is released we will send more info.
Game Development Instructor Darryl Hughes has been working with his students on an original Paper Aviators game; the original game design concept was developed in Intro to Producing and production is taking place in Game Studio 1. Personally, Darryl has been porting over one of his patented casino games “The Big Cash Back” to the iPhone. (His role as Game Designer/Creative Director) And finally Raven Software, one of Activision’s key game studios located in Madison, Wisconsin, recently visited the campus to meet with students and review portfolio work from multiple departments within Flashpoint. We have established a relationship with them that will include monthly visits for presentations and portfolio reviews of student work. A very important strategic partnership for our Game Development students.
Film/Broadcast Update:
The Film/Broadcast curriculum has been totally revamped this summer. All first year students will take a semester of Film – where they will write, direct and edit their own three-minute short narrative – and a semester of Broadcast, where each class creates a complete TV program and each student is responsible for producing a segment of that program. The Broadcast courses will take place in the new broadcast control room and studio which we’ve added as part of our CBS training facilities.
The instructors for the expanded broadcast courses are all highly active in the field. Currently, they are producing for CLTV, WGN, CBS, Kurtis Productions, Fox32 Chicago, and WTTW.
During the summer our full-time Film/Broadcast faculty have been busy teaching, revising curriculum and pursuing their own professional development:
Peter Hawley, Film/Broadcast Chair, along with Dean Froehle and Game Development Chair Simeon Peebler, presented at the University Film and Video Association conference on the Flashpoint Production-in-Action game, “Red Carpet Rescue” and film “October Surprise”. This was a great forum for highlighting a unique aspect of Flashpoint’s curriculum, our cross-disciplinary collaboration with working professionals inside the classroom. In August, Peter’s film “what’s two+three?” screened in Iowa at a regional conference on disabilities. He led a panel discussion about the role the Special Olympics plays in the lives of the athletes and their families. In July, he directed a series of Spanish-language television commercials for Arlington Park Race Track.
Brian Read, Film/Broadcast Faculty, operated camera and field directed for several live sporting events, including the Chicago Fire/International Soccer, the Gold Cup Soccer competition, the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox baseball and Chicago Bulls basketball.
Armando Ibanez, Film/Broadcast faculty, is producing and directing two projects on Darfur: a 5-minute short on the ongoing genocide in Darfur and a feature documentary on the same subject. Additionally, he is working on a feature film, “Just Like a Dog,” and a docudrama, “Man of the People–Dr. Hector P. Garcia,” the unknown Latino Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Killian Heilsberg, Film/Broadcast faculty, is currently in production on “Sharing the Flame,” a documentary exploring women in the media — hopefully inspiring more women to enter the field and continue to build it. She is also lead writer on “Tempus Fugit”, a level-based non-violent wave game and wrote a short libretto for RA faculty Miguel Kertsman’s “O Saci”, being performed at Covent Garden, London.
Laurie Scheer, Film/Broadcast faculty, was a Speaker/Instructor for WRITE-BY-THE-LAKE, a week-long writing seminar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In July, she was a Speaker/Pitch Coach for the LATV Festival, presented by NATPE (National Association of Television Programming Executives) and she presented seminars to writers/producers on preparing and pitching material to buyers for future television content. Laurie is also an official judge for the International Emmys, which will be held in NYC in October.
Amy Rising, Film/Broadcast faculty, produced a commercial spot for ABC, and is in development on a feature film.
Core Studies Update
Flashpoint’s Core Studies department continues to seek out the most effective ways to help our students become powerful communicators, critical thinkers and media-savvy professionals. Core Studies faculty have been working closely with faculty in each of the Flashpoint disciplines, as well as our research and resource go-to person, Ella Delaney, FPA librarian, to create learning that is deeply integrated with students’ career goals and the expectations and demands of their future industries. Several courses, such as Media Literacy, have been reshaped to offer students a more interactive and challenging experience. Media Literacy, starting this Fall, will also include a focus on intellectual property, a crucial concern for all media-makers.
We are also launching several new courses: Media Ethics, offered in year two, will give students a more in-depth understanding of the ethical considerations and decisions faced by all media-makers. Oral Communication 2: Portfolio & Presentation Workshop, expands on the year one Oral Communication course, but focuses specifically on strengthening students’ pitching and interviewing skills as they build their portfolios and professional identities. The course’s capstone is a final pitch of their product or idea to a panel of industry professionals.
The JumpStart series is gearing up for another great year of special guest speakers, industry pros who share their stories and success strategies with FPA students. Scratch Paper, Flashpoint’s online magazine of student writing, photography, and art, is preparing to release its 5th edition.
Inspired by his involvement with Scratch Paper and other writing and collaborative projects at Flashpoint, recent alum Michael Rolfsmeyer will be spearheading his Story Radio project, a Flashpoint-sponsored “Mercury Theater”-type radio production that will showcase student writing to a wider audience. He’ll be collaborating with other FPA alums, as well as Core Studies and RA faculty. We’ll keep you updated.
Francine J. Sanders, director of Core Studies, is developing a television series and working on a short script set in Chicago. She recently served as a Visiting Author/Screenwriter for the Ragdale Foundation’s Visiting Artist Program in collaboration with the Deer Path Middle School in Lake Forest. Over the summer, she taught a series on filmmaker Martin Scorsese for Oakton Community College’s Emeritus Program.
Adrienne Lentz, Core Studies/Writing Across the Curriculum Faculty member, is involved in a summer-long and ongoing project researching college-age students who are dealing with learning disabilities. Her research is focused on creating a learning environment to better accommodate these students and techniques available to instructors to help LD students learn to their full potential. There will be a workshop for faculty and staff this fall with a leading professional in this field.
Core Studies Faculty member Billy Carton launched his new company, Inkblot Entertainment, a Chicago-based entertainment company specializing in 360 degree development of original entertainment properties for teen and ‘tween audiences. Inkblot currently has three properties in the market via publishing, animated television, gaming, interactive and licensed products. Currently, Flashpoint’s Animation/FX graduate Chris Janonis is applying his 3D modeling talents to Minyins, one of Inkblot’s original properties, in development for animated television and gaming. Plans include contracting other Flashpoint graduates for multimedia work on properties already in the market, including Kaimira, The Devouring and Edgar & Ellen.
Lisa Redmond, Adjunct Faculty in Core Studies is currently at work on a novel, working title: “Black Berries and Sweet Juice” a coming-of-age story about a middle class African-American family, set on the south side of Chicago. One chapter was recently published in “F Magazine: Novels in Progress and More” Volume 7.
As Oral Communication Instructor Perry Ergang begins his second year at Flashpoint Academy, he also has signed on to another new season as the program host and co-writer of “Sports Weekly,” on CN-100, The Comcast Network. The program features high school highlights, profiles and features from throughout the entire Chicago area. Under his “on-air” name of Perry Williams, he also is one of the lead play-by-play announcers for the CN-100 “High School Game of the Week.”
Media Literacy and Oral Communication Instructor Alexis Sarkisian recently led a workshop, “You Are How You Communicate,” for the North Texas Regional Library System. 45 librarians were trained over a two-day workshop. She also conducted a Leadership workshop at the recent American Library Association national conference. Audience members included librarians, trustees, library directors and library support staff.
The week of September 8-11 was truly an eventful one. In addition to having been student orientation and the first week of the Fall 2009 semester, this week also welcomed many visitors to campus, including three local television stations.
