Page 240 – NYFA

NYFA Movie Musical “Start-Up.Com” Earns Laurel of Excellence Award

Each year, the New York Film Academy produces movie musicals as the culmination to its 2-Year Musical Theatre Conservatory. These films consist of entirely original material (story and music) and are produced by industry professionals who come onboard and create a story and musical platform that is tailored around the 2-Year students featured in the film. This year’s film, Start-Up.Com, was written by NYFA Screenwriting Chair Melanie Oram and NYFA Musical Theatre Chair Mark Olsen, who also directed the film. Additionally, NYFA alumnus Sean Robinson was the producer, NYFA Cinematography Instructor Piero Basso was the Director of Photography, and NYFA Musical Theatre Instructor Bobby Cronin wrote the original music, which is a seminal part to the movie musical apparatus.

In the film, a small but inventive start-up company named Big Apple Orchard develops a program using facial recognition software that they hope can find missing children and aide in the fight against human trafficking.

Given the talent and hard work that went into the production, it came as no surprise when a Laurel of Excellence Award was presented to Start-Up.Com. The accolade came from the Tampa Bay Arts & Education Network, which will be broadcasting the film on-air August 6th from 9pm-Midnight on Brighthouse Network 635 and Frontier FiOs 32 to an audience of 1.3 million viewers in the Tampa Bay area.

START-UP.COM_TRAILER (NYFA MOVIE MUSICAL) from SEAN ROBINSON on Vimeo.

“The accolade was awarded to everyone at NYFA involved in making the film — students and crew alike,” said producer, Sean Robinson. “It takes a village to make a film of this caliber and everyone’s role is an integral part in the process and should be equally celebrated. The students are fortunate to have a team of veteran filmmakers spearheading this level of exposure for them in the professional arena.”

The team is already making plans for their next movie musical, which will focus on “freedom of expression.” Blanche Baker, a senior instructor in the Acting and Musical Theatre Programs, is directing and Robinson will be producing once again. The new movie musical, which has social and political undertones and features Musical Theatre’s 2-Year Summer 2015 students, puts an emphasis on examining graffiti as an art, as opposed to vandalism.

NYFA Los Angeles 2nd Annual Summer Spotlight

The New York Film Academy College of Visual & Performing Arts (NYFA) hosted its 2^nd Annual Summer Spotlight at its state of the art facilities in Los Angeles. The Summer Spotlight is designed to build cross-educational platforms between NYFA and other schools nationwide for students who have an interest in learning in a world class, hands on environment.

Over the course of the two-day event, NYFA representatives provided tours of the campus including the Universal Studios backlot, educated counselors about NYFA degree programs, and spoke with current students, and alumni. The event showcased a special screening of the student film The Moment I Was Alone (2016), directed and produced by NYFA students Kellen Gibbs and Rochel Goldsmith, which has won several awards on the film festival circuit. A student panel followed the screening where NYFA students shared their experiences at New York Film Academy. Panelists included two veterans, Adam Teitelbaum (MFA Screenwriting student) and Michael Teitelbaum (MFA Screenwriting student) who said, “Being invited to share my experience as a veteran student at NYFA was a major privilege and I was thrilled to see so many great people and administrators who were excited to learn about NYFA’s academic programs.”

More than 30 high school counselors from various states and regions attended the event. Included in the attendee list was Edith Disler, who serves as the Director of External Relations for the Texas Veterans Commission. The New York Film Academy has an extensive history in supporting the military and veteran communities. Edith was invited to talk with NYFA veteran students about their experience at the College and their experience transitioning from military to higher education.

“In addition, working artist (painter/sculptor) Arjan Zazueta joined the group. Mr. Zazueta works at the Institute of International Education (IIE) and works closely with Fulbright Foreign Student Program awardees in the creative art fields. Ms. Emma Stone also works on administering the Fulbright Program as a Program Officer at AMIDEAST.”

Authors: Eric Brown, Michael Kunselman & Patrick Stinich

Broadcast Journalism Grad Nour Idriss Hired by CBS News

Nour Idriss, a recent NYFA Broadcast Journalism graduate, has been hired to work as a Broadcast Associate at the CBS Evening News.

Nour came to NYFA to make a major career change. After being stranded in New York by the ongoing civil war in her homeland of Syria, she set out to “reinvent” herself as a broadcast journalist. Her goal was to learn skills that would allow her to be competitive in an always-challenging job environment.

In addition to learning to report, shoot, write, narrate and edit, she also had the opportunity to network with the guest speakers who visit NYFA.

In fact, it was one of those guests who encouraged Nour to apply for a job at CBS News.

Congratulations to Nour on her new role at CBS News. We wish her nothing but the best of luck on her career as a broadcast journalist!

New York Film Academy High School Camp Grad Spotlight: Oksana Kuzychenko

Two-time champion of the Russian National Hip-Hop Dancing Championship among junior teams, Oksana Kuzychenko, has always wanted to dedicate her life to the preforming and visual arts. In her early childhood she took dancing and singing classes and lately she discovered her new passion for photography. Last summer Oksana spent 4 weeks in Los Angeles learning Acting for Film at the New York Film Academy High School Camp.

Recently, we spoke with Oksana to catch up on her life after NYFA summer camp.

Can you please share with us what you’ve been up to since graduating from our summer program?

Currently, I’m finishing my senior year of high school, teaching stretching classes, and dancing. Last December our team won junior league in the Cheer-Hip-Hop Competition at the International Forum of Contemporary Dance and Cheersport. At the same competition, my sister and I took second place among junior duos.

Also, in May, our team finished fifth at the 13^th World Dance Olympiad in the “Teams Show” category among adults. For us it is a great achievement, because we moved into the adult league only last year and had to compete against teams who have danced in the adult league for more than 3-5 years.

Would you say your experience at NYFA was useful in terms of your dancing performances?

It helped me to become less shy and fearless. Now, when I perform on stage, I feel more confident. Also, when I teach stretching I use breathing exercises, which we practiced in my NYFA Voice & Movement class.

In addition, I learned at NYFA how to make short videos and now I often film different school events.

What was most memorable about your time at NYFA?

Acting in short student films on the Universal Studios backlot. Never in my life have I been so close to the real world of cinema.

Did you have any favorite instructors?

Andrew Bloch! He is very kind, cheerful and thoughtful. He cared about every single student and constantly encouraged us. My English wasn’t very good at that time and Andrew Bloch treated me with understanding and support.

In the future, do you plan on building a professional career in dancing or is it something you consider more of a hobby?

Since childhood, my dream was to become an actress—act in the theatre and movies. And of course, as an actress, it is a huge plus to be flexible and rhythmic. But if my acting dream does not come true, I will open my own dance school and will raise new champions!

NYFA Editing Instructor Heather Mathews to Premiere New Doc at LGBT Film Fest

New York Film Academy Los Angeles Editing Instructor Heather Mathews is the Editor and Producer of the new documentary Forbidden: Undocumented and Queer in Rural America that will premiere at the OutFest LGBT Film Festival on July 12, 2016 in Los Angeles.

Forbidden focuses on Moises Serrano, an undocumented gay man whose parents fled Mexico for the United States when he was just a baby. Although he grew up in rural North Carolina, where he graduated from high school at the top of his class, it took him seven years find a college that was willing to grant him financial aid because of his undocumented status. In response, Moises decided to publicly reveal his immigration status. Moises has shared his story to dispel myths about the undocumented community and unite the immigration and LGBTQ movements, seeing them both as a struggle for human rights.

Stories like Serrano’s are not widely covered by mainstream media that tends to demonize immigrant communities and rarely addresses rural gay issues. His narrative illustrates a different vision for young LGBTQ immigrants. By placing a human face on complex issues, Forbidden illuminates social problems that viewers might not know exist and is a call to action to seek permanent and humanitarian solutions.

NYFA Instructor Heather Mathews is an editor and producer. She produced and edited the award-winning short film, Miss This At Your Peril, and edited Spoonful, which premiered at Sundance in 2012. Having worked in film since before graduating from Sarah Lawrence College in 1994, she moved to Los Angeles in 1998 to continue this passion. She has worked in both production and in the office for such notable filmmakers as David Fincher, Tony Scott, Gary Ross, Wong Kar-wai, John Frankenheimer, John Woo and Alejandro González Iñárritu.

Designed to hone your storytelling and technical skills, our variety of digital editing programs teach students the fundamentals of digital editing through hands-on experience. Learn more about our program offerings by visiting the Digital Editing Programs page.

BFA Photography Student Delivers TEDx Talk on “Why People Matter”

In any work of art, or even in everyday life, it is important to emphasize with either the characters in a story or those around us. Recently, BFA Photography student, Brenda Cantu was invited by TEDx Talks to enlighten people to the fact that every individual that you cross paths with has struggles, dreams, and fears of their own and, most importantly, to make people realize that they do matter. Taking this into consideration, we should all be more aware of the attitude we choose to express towards strangers and acquaintances in our daily lives, because it truly does make a difference in the world.

“I hadn’t really acknowledged this until I started photographing and talking to strangers myself,” said Cantu. “I wanted to share that experience with the audience at hand.”

The Monterrey, Mexico native initially gained the attention of a woman from TEDx Talks through her social media accounts, which showcased her work. After a conversation over the phone, Cantu was invited back to her home country to deliver a TEDxYouth@ASFM Talk about this very notion: “Why People Matter.”

“I freaked out, of course, because I had never done anything like that, especially in front of such a big audience! On top of that, I was the only one being brought all the way from LA, and I felt really pressured to deliver something entertaining and great. But I took the opportunity anyway because I had to push myself out of my comfort zone and take this chance to expand my creative work and opinion with the people around me.”

Cantu hopes her talk will achieve a change of societal attitude.

"Chris" photo by Brenda Cantu — “Chris” photo by Brenda Cantu

“I personally feel that we’re at a time where we lack love and empathy towards individuals that we’re not as familiar with—and even those that we are with—and we lack the awareness of the fact that they feel as much as we do. I want nothing more than to see people being understanding, accepting, and supportive of other people even though they might share different beliefs and experiences, as long as these do not harm one another. It all really just starts with oneself.

Back at the New York Film Academy Los Angeles, Cantu is continuing a photography series called “Midnight Memories,” and is in the process of beginning a new personal project that should be released in the next six months.

"Josh" photo by Brenda Cantu — “Josh” photo by Brenda Cantu

“NYFA has not only made me grow in the technical and theoretical aspects of photography, but also in the humane, personal one. I’ve had the extraordinary opportunity of being taught and guided by overly talented teachers that have been nothing but inspiring and supportive to me and to my work. I’m deeply thankful for their insight and knowledge.”

“Men of Honor” Filmmakers Visit NYFA LA

Following a screening of Men of Honor, students at New York Film Academy’s Los Angeles campus welcomed Director George Tillman, Jr., Producer Robert Teitel, and Cinematographer and NYFA Cinematography Chair Anthony Richmond, for a Q&A. Men of Honor, starring Robert De Niro, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Charlize Theron, is based on the true story of Master Chief Petty Officer Carl Brashear, a man who overcame racism and the amputation of his left leg to become the first U.S Navy Master Diver. NYFA’s Dean of the College, Sonny Calderon, moderated the event.

tillman and teitel — Director George Tillman, Jr. and Producer Robert Teitel

George Tillman, Jr. is a director/producer/writer, best known for the Barbershop franchise, Notorious, a film about rapper Notorious B.I.G., Faster, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and the adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ novel, The Longest Ride.” Tillman also wrote, directed and produced the award-winning film Soul Food, with his producing partner, Robert Teitel. Teitel is a producer best known for his work on Tillman’s films, as well as Jayne Mansfield’s Car, and Nothing Like the Holidays (for which he wrote the story). NYFA Cinematography Chair and Cinematographer Anthony Richmond has had a long and illustrious career, starting in the 1960s with the Rock and Roll scene, working with, Jean-Luc Goddard, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, and then making his way into features on films such as The Man Who Fell to Earth, Legally Blonde, and The Sandlot, among many others. The tight-knit group reminisced about their experiences on Men of Honor, relating fascinating tales from the production, as well as invaluable words of wisdom.

Tillman spoke very fondly of working with Robert De Niro. He related one episode on set in which the legendary actor picked up a phone while acting and the heavy prop struck him in the head. De Niro quickly regrouped and yelled for the cameras to “Keep rolling!” and to start the scene again. Without missing a beat De Niro recognized that this incident provided him an opportunity and he used the unexpected emotions to give a better performance in the next take.

Cinematographer and NYFA Cinematography Chair Tony Richmond related a funny anecdote about his experience with the costume design for the film. A U.S. Navy ship provides the backdrop for the film, which of course means the story involves many sailors in uniform–white uniforms. Anyone who’s tried to film an actor wearing white knows that achieving proper exposure balance within the scene becomes very difficult. When Tony first got to set on the deck of the ship and saw a hundred extras wearing white under the blistering sun he said he almost had a heart attack. However, the highly skilled DP quickly found solutions to make all the shots work.

Producer Robert Teitel related the importance of how film school supplies students with the opportunity to create a “calling card” with which to break into the business. This is what he did with his 30-minute short Paula, which won several awards, including the Student Academy Award. This is also when he forged what was to become his very successful long-term partnership with George Tillman, Jr., who directed the short. The short helped Robert and George raise $150,000 and produced Scenes for the Soul, a feature film that was shot in Chicago, using local talent and resources. Scenes for the Soul was sold to Jackson-McHenry at Savoy Pictures for $1 million.

We thank George Tilman, Jr., and Robert Teitel for visiting our school and wish them the best of luck in their careers!

written by Melissa Enright and Robert Cosnahan

NYFA Veterans Support Newly Created New York City Department of Veterans Services

Student veterans from the New York Film Academy (NYFA) were invited by Commissioner Loree Sutton (Retired Brigadier General) to again film the NY Department of Veteran Services’ Veteran Advisory Board meeting last week in Staten Island.

The Veteran Advisory Board meets quarterly to provide a public forum for discussion related to programs that impact veterans of the U.S. armed forces living and working within New York City. NYFA veterans trained as filmmakers, cinematographers, and producers use this opportunity as a way to enhance their skills and at the same time support the veteran community in NYC.

For nearly 25 years, NYFA has provided students with hands-on training to apply what they learn in class to the real world, making for an educational experience unlike any other. The immersive training prepares students for rapid entry into the professional world by focusing on a project-based curriculum of increasing complexity to hone skills into muscle memory.

COMMISH Caption — Commissioner Loree Sutton of the Department of Veteran Services proudly announces the new additions to the newly created NY Department of Veteran Services.

Veteran students of the New York Film Academy have many opportunities to practice their skills including participating in the annual New York Veterans Day Parade produced by the United Veteran War Council, as well as opportunities to film, edit, and create segments for the televised version of the Parade.

The New York Film Academy, one of the world’s largest and most prestigious visual and performing arts private institution, is a certified and award-winning Military Friendly School committed to supporting this newest generation of veterans. NYFA is proud to serve military veterans and service members in their pursuit of a world-class education in filmmaking—and related disciplines—through its Veterans Advancement Program Chaired by Colonel Jack Jacobs, Medal of Honor recipient.

-by Chris Paparis and John Powers

NYFA Los Angeles Hosts Open House and Mini-Workshops at Universal Studios

Over the weekend the New York Film Academy hosted an Open House for over a hundred people at Universal Studios, Los Angeles. Prospective students and their parents had an opportunity to meet our award-winning faculty, learn more about our programs, and even participate in mini-classes.

eric conner — NYFA Screenwriting instructor Eric Conner welcoming prospective students.

Each guest at the Open House took part in two different classes of his or her choice. They were introduced to 3D-Animation, Producing, Acting for Film, Cinematography, Filmmaking and Photography.

justin lareau — NYFA Instructor Justin Lareau talks about the importance of pitching.

Chair of the Cinematography Department, Tony Richmond, whose career spans well over six decades, welcomed our guests with a camera workshop. Some of Richmond’s credits include: The Sandlot, Legally Blonde, Candyman, Playing God, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, Stardust, Rough Riders, Silver Bears, That’s Life and Sunset, The Eagle Has Landed, and The Greek Tycoon. He also served as DP on Tony Goldwin’s directorial debut Walk On The Moon, Sean Penn’s directorial debut Indian Runner, and Anjelica Houston’s directorial debut Bastard Out Of Carolina.

Those interested in Acting for Film jumped into the Improv for Camera Workshop with Chair of Acting, Lynda Goodfriend, and Associate Chair for Acting for Film Studies, Christopher Cass.

Associate Chair of Animation, Matt Galuppo, discussed the role of the animator in the entertainment industry. An unparalleled animation institute, the animation school at the New York Film Academy provides students with state-of-the-art facilities and hands-on experience with the industry standard Maya, ZBrush, Mudbox, Motion Builder, and Nuke software and top-notch equipment.

Instructor Richard Friedman, who has over 25 years experience in directing and producing film and TV, including work in independent feature films, television movies, episodic television series, reality TV, and music videos, immersed the guests in a filmmaking workshop.

At the same time, Chair of the Photography Department, Michele Kirk, spoke about how the New York Film Academy offers students the remarkable opportunity to study under award-winning, professional photographers who remain active in the many genres of photography, from fine art to fashion, commercial work to photojournalism.

NYFA Open House at Universal Studios.) — NYFA Open House at Universal Studios.

We had a full crowd of interested people, many of whom are very serious about pursuing a career in the Film and Entertainment industry.

Visit our website to learn more about future open houses!