Page 194 – NYFA

NYFA Game Design Visits Blizzard

Bachelor of Fine Arts Game Design students at NYFA’s Los Angeles campus recently visited Blizzard Entertainment Headquarters in Irvine, California. Blizzard is one of the industry giants, and the developer behind blockbuster games like “World of Warcraft” and “Overwatch.”

Students had the opportunity to tour the museum, which includes life-size statues, paintings and figurines of some of the developer’s most famous characters. Some of the items on display are original pieces created by Blizzard’s famous design team. The tour also featured a look at the theatre, library, and common rooms used by Blizzard’s employees. Adding to the experience was the chance to peruse some highlights from Blizzard’s titles, including: World of Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo.

Statue from Blizzard’s “World of Warcraft” series

NYFA ALUMNUS RAKESH VARRE APPEARS IN BIGGEST BLOCKBUSTER IN THE HISTORY OF INDIAN CINEMA

The Indian blockbuster “Baahubali: The Conclusion” opened April 28 across 9,000 screens worldwide — including 6,500 in India in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi language versions — and has already amassed an estimated $81.2 million. Now well on its way to smashing box office records for an Indian film, Arka Mediaworks’ “Baahubali: The Conclusion,” directed by S.S. Rajamouli, has already surpassed the 2016 hit “Sultan” starring Salman Khan, which previously held the Indian opening weekend record with $51.4 million.

“Baahubali: The Conclusion” also opened at number three at the North American box office with $10.1 million across 425 screens. This includes $1.8 million from 45 IMAX screens, the highest North American opening for a foreign-language film.

Appearing in the film as the character Setu Patti is New York Film Academy alumnus Rakesh Varre, who says he had an “outstanding experience” in the Acting for Film, Filmmaking, and Screenwriting programs.

“Taking that experience from NYFA, I was able to act as a major supporting role in ‘Baahubali,’” said Varre. “It’s the most expensive movie to date in Indian cinema.”

Varre acts in a film that includes Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty and Tamannaah Bhatia.

“Baahubali: The Conclusion” is a sequel to 2015’s “Baahubali: The Beginning,” which grossed over $100 million worldwide.

Virtual Reality School Highlights at New York Film Academy

Last month the inaugural 8-Week Virtual Reality students showcased their final projects in conclusion with their graduation. Students and faculty were able to experience student work through interactive stories and games, which captured everything from Central Park to a virtual beer pong game.

Carlos Cruz, who worked for more than fifteen years in video production in Brazil, came to NYFA to learn about the emerging VR technology. “It was a great opportunity to come to NYFA,” said Cruz. “To study here was like a dream.” Cruz’s project allowed us to explore a blossoming relationship which began as an accidental encounter in Grand Central Station.

“I find VR absolutely captivating as a medium,” added Catherine Dionne Henry, a NYFA VR student who is a native New Yorker. “We are at the forefront of a technological transition and I feel that this is a very exciting medium to be in.”

Henry’s final project “Welcome to Harlem USA!” captures the legacy and culture of Harlem, which she says is a neighborhood in a period of transition and change.

The projects were all impressive, making the 8-Week program a huge success. The Academy looks forward to its next batch of VR pioneers and wishes the best of luck to its recent graduates.

In VR Faculty news, NYFA VR instructor Caitlin Burns headed a panel discussion on Virtual Reality at the Las Vegas Convention Center on April 23. Burns and other panelists tackled questions as to whether the technologies will be around for the long run and explored how to use and take advantage of the growing technologies, uncover how the experiences will look down the road, and the potential revenue strategies.

Currently serving as Vice Chair of the Producers’ Guild of America New Media Council, Burns has spent a decade working with narrative intellectual property franchises, independent artists, brands and philanthropic initiatives. Developing content strategies, overseeing multiplatform storyworlds and supervising localization campaigns spanning the globe, she understands what it takes to create a success story.

Her past work includes: “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Disney Fairies,” “Tron Legacy” and “Disney Descendants” for The Walt Disney Company, James Cameron’s “Avatar” for Fox, “Halo” for Microsoft, “The Happiness Factory” for The Coca-Cola Company, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” for Nickelodeon and “Transformers” for Hasbro.

She has also worked with Sony, Showtime, Pepperidge Farm, Scholastic, Tribeca New Media Fund, FEMSA, Diageo, Wieden+Kennedy, Odd Division, Tool of North America, Hush, Campfire, Reebok, Stratasys and UNICEF. Her independent feature McCarren Park, a film distributed by geolocated mobile app, premiered at the Tribeca Film Institute’s Interactive Day and screened at New York Film Festival.

Burns will soon be heading a panel discussion on VR in New Zealand as well as introducing the technology to a group of Maori children.

NYFA LA Introduces Best of Fest Series Featuring Festival Programmers and Filmmakers

On Thursday, May 4 Head of the Festivals Department at the New York Film Academy Los Angeles, Myriam Frankel introduced the first edition of a new guest lecture series, Best of Fest, featuring Festival Programmers and Filmmakers. The panels covered the myths and realities of film festivals, from the most effective submission strategies, to the best ways to optimize networking events, and take advantage of the festival circuit to advance your filmmaking career.

The first panel included: Larry Laboe (PGA), Executive Director of NewFilmmakers Los Angeles, NYFA alumnus Kevin Resnick along with his filmmaking partner Rebecca Norris who showcased their short film “On Becoming a Man” made at NYFA, and festival award-winning writer/director Tamar Halpern.

“Before you can start submitting to festivals you need to make sure you’re comfortable talking about your film,” Laboe told the students. “Research and a well thought out strategy are the keys to success. If you apply to ten film festivals you’re spending around a thousand dollars. You want to play it safe.”

Another piece of advice Laboe shared with NYFA is not to get mad if a film is not accepted. “A lot of times it’s not about the quality of your film. Sometimes the festival has too many comedies, or they want more LGBTQ filmmakers or more filmmakers of color. Tribeca has a wall of shame for people who’ve sent ugly notes in response to rejection letters. Don’t be one of those people.”

Never be afraid to be the squeaky wheel Halpern stressed. “Let them know your actress just got cast in something. Let them know that you have a name working on your project. There’s a fine line between being a squeaky wheel and being a pain, but you can certainly use this information to promote your work.”

Stony Brook Film Festival accepted Halpern’s first film and she strongly encouraged NYFA students to send their films there as well. It’s only twenty dollars to apply. They flew Halpern and her lead actress out, provided accommodation, and were very nurturing throughout the process.

Veterans in Film and Television helped Resnick get his film in front of Disney executives. He encouraged students to get their money in line for festivals upfront. For “On Becoming Man” and his feature “Cloudy With a Chance of Sunshine,” he split his budget in half. Half went to pre-production, production, and post. The other half was for film festivals.

Here’s a quick tip for filmmakers at their first festival: pass around a clipboard during the Q & A to collect the emails of those in the audience. Having met the filmmaker in person and being personally invested in the film, the audience will most likely help build a strong fan base.

Another suggestion was to shop the film around to different regions. The Midwest has been incredibly kind to Resnick and Norris. There, the film festival is a huge annual event for the town. “It’s a really rewarding thing when people just love movies and they tell you they like your movie there’s no feeling like it.”

Additional quick tips included: Know who’s attending the festival. Don’t be afraid to ask the coordinators. Be clear and timely when communicating with organizers. Don’t make them hound you for information. Try to meet as many people as you can. Hustle to promote your screening. Know the journalists who’ve covered the film festival in the past and reach out to them.

At the end of the event, Frankel was elated with the turnout and the richness of the discussion, “It was practical and insightful and I felt it was very valuable,” Frankel said. “I hope students walk away with a more tangible and realistic outlook on festivals.”

The New York Film Academy would like to thank Resnick, Norris, Laboe, and Halpern for taking the time to speak with our students. Keep checking the NYFA calendar for more upcoming events, Q & A series, and networking opportunities at the New York Film Academy.

NYFA Screenwriting Instructors Release New Comic Miniseries “Dragon Age: Knight Errant”

Chair of the New York Film Academy Los Angeles Screenwriting Department (and Dean of Faculty) Nunzio DeFilippis and his wife/writing partner Christina Weir, who is also an instructor at NYFA, have a new comic book miniseries which just launched on Wednesday, May 10th!

“Dragon Age: Knight Errant” is a comic miniseries that ties into the story world of Bioware’s award-winning fantasy game series “Dragon Age.” Set after the events of the last game, “Dragon Age: Inquisition, Knight Errant” is the tale of a drunken washed up Knight, Ser Aaron Hawthorne, and his elven Squire Vaea. Vaea is more than she appears — a thief who uses Ser Aaron’s travels to roam the world and steal high value artifacts. When a job goes wrong and pulls her into a larger Inquisition operation, she’s in danger of having her Knight (and meal ticket) find out the truth.

The miniseries launches with Issue 1, on sale in comic shops across the country on May 10th.

Nunzio and Christina recently appeared on NYFA Games’ Twitch channel to talk about this book, their careers, comics and games. The team discuss their newest miniseries, as well as their writing career which includes numerous comic books, television shows, movies and video games.
Watch live video from NYFA_Games on www.twitch.tv

NYFA Photography Alumna’s “Living Shape” Selected by the Prestigious Florence Biennale

New York Film Academy Photography School alumna Zhuoqun Jiang’s photography work, “Living Shape,” has been selected by the Florence Biennale. The Florence Biennale is the major contemporary art exhibition in Florence (Italy), where it is regarded as an outstanding showcase of the international contemporary art production. Every two years the Florence Biennale enlivens the Medicean city with a program of collateral events such as conferences, displays, performances, workshops and lectures. All this with a view to offer artists and their audience the opportunity to engage with art and culture, and know more about the theme of each edition of the biennial.

Originally from China, Jiang moved to NY to attend Photography School at NYFA, where she created this piece as her first year final project. She then moved on to her MFA in Photography at NYFA Los Angeles.

“This piece was created to show my respect of life,” says Jiang. “I am a minimalist, and I think the most simple thing carries the greatest power. The triangle represents strength and the color means growing and blooming of life. I handmade the costume as a soft sculpture and asked a model to dress it up.”

Jiang says she was always encouraged by her instructors to create and explore new ideas and concepts. “The skills I learned at NYFA made me confident to face any problem while shooting my projects,” she added.

Jiang has experience in many fields of art; her work consists of sculptural, fashion based, fiber art and photo illustrations. They can be exhibited both as photographs and individual pieces. Her current focus is on exploring the artistic expression through craft, sculpture and photography.

The Florence Biennale 2017 will be held October 6th – 15th at Fortezza da Basso, Florence.

NYFA Acting for Film Alumnus Lands National Commercial for Kellogg’s Eggo

Growing up in Argentina, Gonzalo Maiztegui has been acting since drama club days in school. In fact, he recalls the moment he came to the realization that acting was going to be his lifelong passion and career. From there he says he fell in love with the New York Film Academy, where he attended the AFA Acting for Film program at the New York Film Academy Los Angeles.

After graduating, Maiztegui booked his first National Commercial for Kellogg’s Eggo in the famous “Leggo my Eggo” campaign.

“I auditioned for the part, like any other actor, but truthfully many things I learned at NYFA helped me a lot in that audition,” said Maiztegui. “I was simply myself, and not fake, and then I made strong decisions like my teachers taught me to. Later on the day of the shoot, on set, the owner of the spot came up to me and told me he had made the decision of picking me, and he chose me because I was myself and he liked that and the strong choices I made.”

Maiztegui recently finished shooting a project for BuzzFeed, which will actually be the first Web-series for Snapchat. He also booked an Apple Commercial for their most recent App, “Clips.”

Maiztegui is currently repped by Debra Manners.

New York Film Academy Hosts 2017 Writers Guild Foundation Veterans Writing Retreat

katie buckland — Opening remarks by Katie Buckland, Executive Director of the Writers Guild Foundation”

The New York Film Academy (NYFA) was privileged to host the 2017 Writers Guild Foundation (WGF) ‘Veterans Writing Retreat’ at the College’s campus in Burbank, CA on April 29 and 30. NYFA’s media content team and an all-veteran student crew filmed the event, which provided the vet students studying Filmmaking, Documentary, and Producing at NYFA with the valuable hands-on experience of working a large-scale production event.

Now in its seventh year, the Veterans Writing Project pairs military veterans who are interested in writing for film and television with mentors who are members of the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW). More than 75 veterans from all branches of the military and across the country— including 12 NYFA students and alumni — participated in the retreat.

The mentors included seasoned film and TV writers such as Peter Casey (“Frasier”), David Isaacs (“Frasier”), Ken Levine (“M*A*S*H*”), and Ashley Edward Miller (“X-Men: First Class”). The two-day retreat consisted of workshops on developing story, structure, characters and culminated with a presentation on the elements of screenwriting from noted film writer Billy Ray (“Captain Phillips,” “The Hunger Games”).

The Writers Guild Foundation (WGF), a 501(c)3 nonprofit is associated with the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and supports programs that positively impact and empower unique groups and communities of creative individuals who want to enter the entertainment industry as writers.

“The Writers Guild Foundation retreat for Veterans was an informative and extremely positive experience for me. The mentors were all fantastic and forthcoming. The staff made us feel welcomed and comfortable. I am grateful I had the opportunity and would recommend it to any other aspiring veteran writers,” said Adam Teitelbaum, US Navy, MFA Screenwriting student (BFA Screenwriting alumnus)

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiK0NMFKkYw”]

The Veterans Advancement Program team at NYFA, which facilitated the production team tasked with filming the event, considered that aspect of the WGF event a huge success. Ed Gomez, MFA Documentary student exclaimed, “I had one of the greatest experiences and opportunities this past weekend at the New York Film Academy. As a Marine Corps Veteran and current NYFA Documentary student, I had the privilege of being part of the film crew responsible for filming the Writers Guild Foundation Veteran Writing Project. Not only did the experiences while taping this event reinforce what is being in taught in class, but more importantly I had the honor and prestige of meeting and hearing from some of greatest minds in the film industry. I hope to continue to be part of this experience next year.”

NYFA Welcomes Versatile Actor Christopher Meloni

On Tuesday, May 2 the Los Angeles Campus of the New York Film Academy welcomed a very special guest, actor Christopher Meloni, who is perhaps best known for playing NYPD Detective Elliot Stabler on “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.”

Meloni stunned audiences as Chris Keller on the gritty drama “Oz.” His vampire role as Roman Zimojic brought fresh blood to the horror opera “True Blood.” Not content with conquering the small screen, Meloni has given strong supporting performances in DC’s “Man of Steel,” the Jackie Robinson biopic “42,” and the cult classics comedies “Wet Hot American Summer” and “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.”

Meloni walked out to thunderous applause and a standing room only crowd. Tova Laiter, Director of the Q and A Series at NYFA, hosted the evening. She began the discussion by asking, “It seems like you have done every genre: drama, action, comedy. Was this by design or those were the breaks?”

Meloni responded, “It was by design. It was always by design. I’m a huge fan of physicality. I love really good action. I love Hong Kong Jackie Chan and I like early John Woo. I love the ballet of the motion and the beauty of the choreography.”

He continued, “I love comedy where you just get to blow out the pipes.” But comedy didn’t always come easy. Meloni described his first big studio comedy “Runaway Bride” with Julia Roberts was like “being at the big kid’s table.”

“I was on my best behavior and I was trying to be funny.” (Note to reader: he is very funny now!)

When asked about why he enjoyed studying the Meisner Technique, Meloni felt as though it forced away all the social niceties we have. Being reactive, whether it’s aggressively or subtly, is vital to the process. He described the repletion of the exercise as maddening but ultimately leading to truth and easier access to a range of emotions. “You have the ability to elevate moments and it makes working with the writer a more collaborative dance,” he said.

Student Justin Ardine said of the experience, “It was amazing to hear Meloni talk about all the jobs he worked, from waiting tables to bartending because I’ve done all those jobs, too.”

One NYFA student relayed a story of dismissive family and friends who thought his advanced age disqualified him from acting as a profession. Meloni didn’t think so. He recalled a friend question his choice to begin acting. “I don’t know if it’s cliché but it’s the God’s honest truth. It’s out of my hands. I had to act or I was going to die trying.”

NYFA would like to thank Mr. Meloni for his sage advice while grandly entertaining us at the same time! Meloni is currently starring in “Underground” as August Pullman, a morally conflicted man working as a slave catcher. He is also co–starring in big screen “Snatched” with Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn.