Page 277 – NYFA

DO MOVIES ENCOURAGE DRUG USE?

Since the dawn of modern film, the MPAA, FCC, and concerned mothers everywhere have argued over the harmful and direct effects of seeing drugs on film and television. This videographic, which was created by the New York Film Academy from our previous infographic on the subject, investigates the relationship between drugs, film, and society and how each influences the other. Ultimately, movies and drugs make up a two-way street: while movies undoubtedly shape our popular perceptions of drugs, social and governmental forces also influence how drugs are portrayed on screen and how often.

From early drug films such as Mystery of the Leaping Fish to modern classics such as Requiem for a Dream, we’ve found that the frequency of drugs appearing on screen often mirrors the popular and governmental trends of the time. However, over the past twenty years, there has been a surge of drug films and drugs appearing much more often in movies, at a rate that is more than triple of that just twenty years ago. While drug use is on the rise in the U.S., on film, it’s an outright epidemic.

So join us as we delve into the extensive and evocative world of drugs and film and decide for yourself: Do movies encourage drug use?

NYFA Australia Acting Chair and Alumnus Appear in ‘San Andreas’

san andreas premiere — One-Year Acting Grad, Nick Allen-Ducat and NYFA Australia, Gold Coast Chair of Acting, Brad McMurray picture by David Clark; Gold Coast Bulletin

It’s no coincidence that the New York Film Academy Australia’s Gold Coast campus is situated on the backlot of Village Roadshow Studios adjacent to Warner Bros Movie World in Queensland, Australia.

Similar to our Los Angeles campus, NYFA Gold Coast students have access to the movie studios, giving them a truly hands-on, real-world experience.

Given the unparalleled access to the filmmaking community in Queensland, it came as no surprise to find two of our very own in front of the camera for the upcoming blockbuster film San Andreas, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Paul Giamatti. NYFA Australia, Gold Coast Chair of Acting, Brad McMurray and One-Year Acting Grad, Nick Allen-Ducat had roles in the film, and walked the red carpet at the Queensland premiere, which took place at the Roxy Theatre.

roxy — pic by David Clark; Gold Coast Bulletin

“Being on the backlot leaves it wide open to massive possibilities as many of our current and former students had on set experience as extras on San Andreas and Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken,” said McMurray. “Having international blockbusters shooting on NYFA’s doorstep creates an industry pulse that is felt by all of the students at NYFA. This creates a hunger that will drive them into this vibrant exciting industry. In securing a role on something as big as San Andreas, it enables me to get in the room face to face with the students and share this valuable experience with them. The class experience then becomes a session of artistic osmosis where the students beliefs and expectations are ramped up ready for the industry.”

In addition to Brad and Nick’s roles in the film, NYFA Australia filmmaking students were able to intern on the production of the film.

Having filmed on the Coast, The Rock, who was in attendance at the premiere, had this to say about his experience: “I had the best time — amazing time — shooting the film on the Gold Coast.”

Look for Brad, Nick, and The Rock in San Andreas, which opens in theaters today!

NYFA Cinematography Instructor Piero Basso Works on NAT GEO’s ‘American Genius’

For the history buffs and science nerds in all of us, National Geographic Channel has created a new television series called American Genius. Produced by Stephen David Entertainment, the series captures the story of the unseen forces behind the greatest races for innovation, the moments when the brightest minds were given the rare opportunity to change the world. Be it a problem, opportunity, or call to arms: when key events in our history launched a wave of innovation, genius prevailed in a neck-and-neck competition for technological superiority. Each show is a combination of re-enactment and documentary footage, plus interviews with experts and historians. An example of a show is a discussion of the Wright Brothers vs Curtiss on the invention of the airplane.

New York Film Academy Cinematography Instructor Piero Basso worked on four episodes as director of photography over a four week period in West Virginia last September.

“The production was very challenging and demanding, which made it even more interesting,” said Basso. “We shot 22 days for 4 episodes, which makes it pretty clear why speed was a necessary trait for the DP. I found myself surrounded by a great number of highly trained professionals working very efficiently as a team, and that made everything easier.”

Basso has shot nine feature films — four with very low budgets — showing a great capacity for managing the problems of limited equipment and crew while maintaining a distinctive visual character. His films have screened in major international festivals, including Cannes and Locarno and have received international recognition, including nominations at the European Film Awards & at the David di Donatello, as well as several victories at Festivals around the globe (including Oberhausen, Edinburgh, Turin, and Huesca).

Be sure to check out Basso’s work on American Genius, which begins airing on the National Geographic Channel this upcoming Monday, June 1st.

Documentary Students Produce Promo for Burbank Arts for All

New York Film Academy’s Los Angeles Documentary Department was on display Thursday, May 21st, when their Community Film Project concluded with a presentation at the NYFA theatre, celebrating the MFA Jan ’14 class production of a promotional film for the Burbank Arts for All Foundation (BAFA). The event highlighted the work of writer-director Michelle Flores, sound recordist and mixer Raed Salagoor, and DP-cameraperson Alejandro Talens, who, along with June Zhou, producer, and Omar Monge, editor, created a 3 and ½ minute promo for BAFA as their client.

The Community Film Project was designed to give students real-life experience with a non-profit organization by having them pitch an idea, receive a client’s feedback, and then create a film according to the client’s needs. The class used their documentary film training to create a piece both informational and emotional, as the goal was to educate the public on BAFA’s multiple role in raising awareness and funds for arts programming in Burbank’s public schools.

This very ambitious project involved shooting ten interviews and activities in several public schools over 10 days. “There were several script changes and film revisions along the way, which is typical in a client relationship,” states instructor Denise Hamilton, who supervised the project. The results — a pleased Executive Director of BAFA, Trena Pitchford, who will be using the promo in an upcoming fundraising gala.

MFA Filmmaking Grad Produces Feature ‘El Freeman’

Since graduating from his MFA in Filmmaking at the New York Film Academy Los Angeles in 2012, Antonio Chavez Trejo has established himself as the Director of Production and Creative Services for a 360 production and social media marketing company based in LA, called Supersonix Media Inc. Having come from a film school background and being well versed in the many facets of filmmaking, Antonio served his hand as producer, co-director and camera-op on his feature film entitled, El Freeman. Antonio and his team are now handling distribution, marketing, and crowd funding.

The film is about El, an immigrant from Kazakhstan who is trying to raise money to hire a lawyer to get his papers in order. He ends up meeting the wrong set of people, and works at a moving company with a few low life criminals who steal from the owners of the homes. During one of his jobs, El meets a man who will become his mentor and help him correct his path. In addition to his eventual brotherhood with his fellow criminals, there’s also a love story that pushes the interior motives of El and his connection with his values and his family.

“Working on El Freeman taught me something very important,” said Trejo. “Im up for the challenge, and I have acquired the leadership I need to run any film I want to make.”

Trejo had been assembling the team for about two years, which includes former classmates of his, director Yelhas Rakhimbekov, director of photography Erik Kjonaas, and 1st AD Carolina Sandoval. This tight group of filmmakers worked arduous schedules to complete production of the film.

“We had days when we had to shoot 6, 7, 8 or 9 pages a day,” recalls Trejo. “With their eyes and ears and my directing keeping the vision of Yelhas, we shot something that looks as beautiful as the script is.”

Trejo and his team finished principal photography, and are currently in post-production.

Aside from this project, Trejo has been showcasing a few of his short films and has a feature script which he hopes will see a green light soon.

NYFA South Beach Open House with Ralph Gibson & Col. Jacobs

This upcoming Saturday, May 30th, 2015 the New York Film Academy South Beach will be hosting an Open House with special guests: award-winning photographer Ralph Gibson, Medal of Honor recipient Colonel Jack Jacobs, as well as Director of Performing Arts Enrollment, Roger Del Pozo and NYFA South Beach Filmmaking Instructor, George E. Fernandez.

Ralph Gibson, who was recently appointed to Chair of the Department of Contemporary Photography at the New York Film Academy, is that rare artist who has touched the masters of the past half century—from the Beat Generation in San Francisco to the vigor of yesterday’s born-digital, cross-media creations. He began his professional career as an assistant to Dorothea Lange and, to date, has published over 40 photography monographs and his photographs are included in over 170 museum collections around the world. Gibson’s awards include fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the Leica Medal of Excellence, the Lucie Lifetime Award and the Silver Plumb Award.

ralph gibson photography — photography by Ralph Gibson

Colonel Jack Jacobs, the Chair of the New York Film Academy’s Veterans Advancement Program, served in the U.S. Military for more than 20 years and his gallantry in Vietnam earned him the Medal of Honor — the nation’s highest combat honor — two Silver Stars and three Bronze Stars. Colonel Jacobs is currently a military strategist and on-air analyst for NBC and MSNBC News.

In addition to his work at NYFA, Roger Del Pozo has also been a casting director in New York for the last 12 years. In that time, he has cast over a thousand television commercials, as well as films, plays, voice overs, video games, music videos and industrials for many of the top Casting Companies and Advertising Agencies in New York. Some projects Mr. Del Pozo has cast include national campaigns for Apple, Microsoft, Dunkin’ Donuts, Sony, General Electric, AT&T, Fisher Price, Nickelodeon, Cheerios, Verizon, Ikea, Nintendo, Toyota, Mercedes and Heineken, just to name a few.

G.E. Fernandez started out as a writer. His play, Vietnam Trilogy, was a major hit at the Veteran’s Theater in Los Angeles, winning the Drama-logue award of Best Actor for Richard Chavez. His first feature film, Cease Fire, starring Don Johnson, Lisa Blount, went on to become a critical success. Through the 1990’s he started to make entry into the Television World, by creating and producing the European TV Series Pilot Night Screams. Mr. Fernandez has now moved back to South Florida and has created Magic City Distribution & Production, a marketing and distribution company for Indie Films.

The Open House is open to prospective students and members of the press. If you’re interested in attending or have questions, please email [email protected].

Business of Screenwriting Welcomes WGA’s Geoff Betts

New York Film Academy Screenwriting students were treated to Writers Guild of America executive Geoff Betts who visited their Business of Screenwriting class to discuss, contract minimums, protections, residuals and other union benefits as future professional screenwriters.

Betts came into Nick Yellen’s Business of screenwriting class to meet with soon to graduate screenwriters who are positioned to join the WGA in the coming years.

Also discussed were how their union protects them both here and abroad.

Students seemed very interested in the guild’s assistance program that reviews screenwriter’s options and other agreements at no cost to them.

‘Whatever You Want’ Wins Best Comedy at LA Independent Film Festival

Inspired in large part by Robert Zemeckis’ Who Framed Roger Rabbit, New York Film Academy One-Year Filmmaking alumnus Leonardo Bentes’ film, Whatever You Want, which recently won Best Comedy / Dramedy at April’s Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards, combines elements of film noir with slapstick comedy. Bentes even admits his protagonist has influences from the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Hong-Kong Phooey. Indeed, all the makings of a silly comedy.

Whatever You Want, which was Bentes’ NYFA thesis film, focuses on Benjamin Sherman, a clumsy private investigator who begins to work on a case for a beautiful young woman — the femme fatale. As usual, Benjamin doesn’t get things done right.

leo bentes — Director Leo Bentes on set of “Whatever You Want”; photo by Lucia Luben

“Except for some 3D animation training, I hadn’t had any filmmaking background by the time I started my first class at NYFA,” recalled Bentes. “So, basically everything you see in Whatever You Want — not only directing but also writing, producing, editing — came from what I learned in class, workshops and previous projects, classmates collaboration, and some self-study.”

Bentes feels strongly that his thesis film will serve as his business card into the professional world of directing. While he has began outlining a TV pilot for Whatever You Want, he hopes his next project will be a feature comedy with some musical influence.

Whatever You Want (trailer) from leo bentes on Vimeo.

NYFA Grad Alfonso Ribeiro From ‘Fresh Prince’ to Host AFV

Who can forget the lovable Carlton from the popular 90’s television series, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air? What most of you may not know is actor Alfonso Ribeiro took a filmmaking workshop at the New York Film Academy in 1999 to provide him with additional insight into the creative process that surrounds him on set.

Since coming off the hit show, Ribeiro has acted and appeared in a number of television series, including his most recent stint on Dancing with the Stars. Now, Ribeiro will replace Tom Bergeron as the host of the long running show, America’s Funniest Home Videos. Like the series showrunners, we think Ribeiro will be a terrific fit.

“There’s got to be a sincerity and a connection with the audience,” executive producer Vin Di Bona told Variety. “You’ve got to be someone who cares about kids. That connection you make with the audience is of the utmost importance to me. That’s something you just don’t get by reading copy. In our auditions, it just became very, very apparent that Alfonso is a genuinely nice man.”

Ranked as one of primetime TV’s most family-friendly shows, AFV wrapped its 25th anniversary season this past Sunday.