Page 340 – NYFA

NYFA Dance Teacher Tours Asia

The Musical Theatre Program at the New York Film Academy is proud to announce that from October 6 – 13^th one of our esteemed dance teachers, Chad Austin, is traveling to Seoul, Korea and to Tokyo, Japan! Starting in Korea and then after a few days going to Japan, Chad will visit numerous schools and arts academies to introduce interested young performers to the New York Film Academy programs. While there, he will offer acting and dance workshops, and view auditions from perspective students.

Chad has traveled extensively, however, this is his first trip to Asia and he is very excited to have this opportunity. Consistently one of our most loved and most valued teachers, we are thrilled to be able to share his teaching and his talent with all those he will meet on this trip.

If you come across Chad on his tour, you are in for a treat. He has high professional standards and teaches a challenging, rigorous class that is fueled by his huge heart and spiced with a wry sense of humor. We will miss him while he is gone, but we wish him all the best on his whirlwind trip – knowing he will represent the best of what our programs have to offer.

Chad made his Metropolitan Opera Ballet debut, in 2008, in John Adams and Peter Sellars’ Grammy award-winning, Doctor Atomic. He has worked in over 10 different productions at the Met including Richard Eyer’s Carmen, Bartlett Sher’s Le Contes De Hoffman, Hansel and Gretel, Aida, La Traviata, and Stephen Wadworth’s Boris Gudinov. New York City and Regional productions include, Cinderella, Play About the Naked Guy, Cabaret, The Man Who Came to Dinner, and Street Scene.

Chad teaches and choreographs around the world for companies including Ballet Arts, Hampton Ballet Theatre, Kiyone Ballet Brazil, and Arabesque Lebanon.

What Makes Up a Broadcast Journalism Student?

As a successful broadcast journalist, with more than 25 years of network television experience, I’m accustomed to seeing New York Film Academy students shooting throughout Manhattan. Now, as the new Chair of the Broadcast Journalism department, I’m learning a lot about who those students are and why they chose to attend NYFA.

There is no “typical” Broadcast Journalism student. They are a remarkably diverse group, with many holding undergraduate degrees. They discovered that they needed to enhance their hands-on production skills, in order to succeed in a highly competitive job market.

While many want to pursue careers in network or local news, others are interested in sports, entertainment or fashion programming. Some want to take the skills they have honed at NYFA and start their own media outlets, a prospect now possible thanks to the growing influence of online program distribution.

Roughly half of the participants in the Broadcast Journalism program are international students. They quite literally come from around the world. Some are staff members at well-known national broadcasting companies. They enroll in NYFA to learn the “state-of-the-art” in digital journalism. Often they find out about us from colleagues who used experience they gained at NYFA to advance their careers back home.

Once broadcasters hired young people for so-called “entry level” jobs, positions that afforded the opportunity for on-the-job training. By and large, those jobs don’t exist anymore. Today you have to be ready to work on day one, and the successful applicant is someone who can demonstrate superior hands-on skills before they are hired.

That’s where graduates of the NYFA Broadcast Journalism program shine. They have already built their own “demo reel,” with stories and segments they researched, shot, wrote, edited and narrated themselves. This includes students taking both the 4-week and 8-week Broadcast Journalism courses.

Students enrolled in the one-year program are able to study and practice in-depth production techniques. This includes working on all aspects of NYFA’s own, studio-based newscast. It’s a learning experience that has the look and feel of a nightly news program. The deadlines are real and so are the challenges.

All of this takes place in New York City, a global hub for politics, government, culture and the arts. Everyday news is made in New York, and the impact of that news is felt worldwide. NYFA students live and work in a fast-paced environment that offers once-in-a-lifetime possibilities right on their doorstep.

One of the key skills our students learn has nothing to do with cameras, editing software, Teleprompters or video switchers. Instead, it is a process. At NYFA, students learn how to collaborate with others. On-the-job, it is common to work with people from different backgrounds, different specialties, different outlooks and different opinions. NYFA Broadcast Journalism graduates experience that firsthand.

The ability to work as part of a team is essential to success as a broadcast journalist. I have seen that time and time again, working on assignments throughout the United States, Europe, South America and the Asia-Pacific region.

I’ve also seen the profound impact experienced mentors can have on the careers of young journalists. The staff at NYFA includes award-winning journalists with extensive national, even international production credits. They enthusiastically share this knowledge with their students, providing unique insights and perspectives.

Students graduating from the NYFA Broadcast Journalism program aren’t just ready for the “real world,” they are also prepared to change it.

– Bill Einreinhofer, Broadcast Journalism Chair

The 6th Annual Imagine Science Film Festival

Ever experience a film live-edited by a computer? How about a program of shorts on experimenting with nature? Next week, Imagine Science Films will hold its 6^th annual film festival in venues spanning Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and New Jersey, October 11-18, 2013. Films will range from documentary to experimental and will explore the theme of data visualization.

On Saturday, October 12^th at 8pm The Museum of the Moving Image will host a unique screening whiteonwhite:algorithmicnoir, a film live-edited by a computer, followed by a conversation with the director Eve Sussman. Please RSVP for complementary tickets using the login information below.

Code: ISFFWHITEONWHITE

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/482390

We will close the festival on October 18^th at 7pm in collaboration with the Tribeca Film Institute with a series of shorts titled Experimental Nature. Films range from a documentary on the Gowanas Canal to a film on genetically archived plants. Following the screening will be a panel discussion with the filmmakers moderated by TED Fellow Ellen Jorgensen. Please RSVP for complementary tickets using the login information below.

Code: ISFFEXPERIMENT

http://www.imaginesciencefilms.org/events/program-experimental-nature/

For a full schedule of screenings, please visit: http://www.imaginesciencefilms.org/festival/2013-showtimes/

Instagram Contest: Submit Your Photos, Gain Exposure!

If you’re addicted to Instagram like the rest of us, then we have the perfect contest for you! The New York Film Academy will be hand picking the best photos and posting the winners on NYFA’s Instagram and Facebook page, providing major exposure to aspiring photographers. Plus, winners will receive a New York Film Academy T-shirt in the mail! So, put your creativity to good use and start snapping away.

Entries should be sent to [email protected]. Please include your name, address, and any information about the photo in the email.

We look forward to seeing your work and don’t forget to follow us on INSTAGRAM!

Photos submitted may be used exclusively by NYFA with photographer credit

NYFA Instructor Paul Warner to Direct 9th Annual OUTmusic Awards

Award-winning film and stage director Paul Warner has been commissioned to direct the 9th Annual OUTmusic Awards, as well as to produce the Academy’s music documentary film For Which WE Stand (One Queer Music Nation In The Visible).

The Academy has launched a campaign to back the completion of the film For Which WE Stand and live production of the 9th Annual OUTmusic Awards slated to take place MLK weekend January 16th – 20th in Las Vegas, NV.

Warner has directed more than fifty stage productions and numerous films, including the award-winning In the Name of the Father as well as his feature Fall Time, starring Mickey Rourke, Stephen Baldwin, and David Arquette, which premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for The Grand Jury Prize. In the Name of the Father also premiered at Sundance and garnered the Cine Golden Eagle, the Gold Hugo Award from the Chicago International Film Festival, first place at The British International Film and Video Festival, and best cinematography at The Atlanta Film and Video Festival. Warner has directed Fall Time, with “sadistic relish,” says the Hollywood Reporter. TV Guide refers to Warner’s work as “more repellently scary than most horror films.” Most recently, he directed the world premiere of a new dance-theatre opera, Women: The War Within, composed by Du Yun with a libretto by Matthew Maguire, at The Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City featuring the Chinese Opera Star Qian Yi and New York City Principal ballerina Wendy Whelan. He produced the film The Puritans, directed by Robinson, which has been the recipient of numerous honors on the festival circuit.

In 2011, Warner directed the actors and served as Executive Creative Consultant for acclaimed photographer and visual artist David Michalek’s Portraits in Dramatic Time–a series of slow motion cinematic shorts featuring seminal performers of stage and screen, including: Holly Hunter, Patti Lupone, Lily Taylor, Alan Rickman, Liev Schreiber, Wendy Whelan, and William H. Macy, as well as seminal multi-disciplinary international artists. Portraits premiered at The Lincoln Center Theatre Festival. The LA Weekly has referred to Warner’s direction of Nelson Rodriques’ The Wedding Dress as “A phantasmagorical odyssey–a nonstop, mind-bending roller-coaster ride that is as haunting as a nightmare, while also being a touching affirmation of life.”

paul warner alan rickman — Paul Warner with Alan Rickman on Portraits In Dramatic Time

Next, Warner will direct a new feature film, Reclaiming Eden, co-written with Sean Robinson, which is to begin principal photography in the summer of 2014. Warner has won numerous awards and fellowships including a Statue Award and a Works in Process Grant from the Princess Grace Foundation, which enabled him to serve as The Artistic Associate/Resident Director of New York’s Second Stage Theatre and The Baryshnikov Arts Center, as well as a directing fellowship from the Drama League of New York. He is a graduate of Harvard University and has an MFA in filmmaking from The American Film Institute. Paul currently teaches directing courses at the New York Film Academy.

Paul is thrilled to be working alongside his longtime creative colleague, Sean Robinson, who will direct the documentary as well as Chairwoman/CEO Diedra Meredith, whose exceptional leadership at LARA has brought about enormous changes for LGBTQ artists that will be felt for decades to come.

Warner says: “I am honored to both direct the 9th Annual OUTmusic Awards and produce For Which WE Stand as I feel strongly that the LGBTQ Academy of Recording Arts’ mission is essential to the LGBTQ equality movement,” says Warner. “While experiencing considerable gains, there has also been an escalation of bullying and continued discrimination, so the pursuit of equality is far from over. Of equal importance, I am excited to collaborate with music and media artists from all disciplines whose passion for and undying dedication to their craft will shape our future cultural and political landscape.”

The film will feature live performances from the OUTmusic Awards with behind the scenes footage, interviews with pioneers, recording artists, activists, industry executives and various creative industry professionals.

Diedra Meredith, Chairwoman/CEO of LARA says, “I am equally honored to have Sean Robinson and Paul Warner on board. This film and the live production of the OUTmusic Awards is integral to the Academy’s mission to document and archive our movement and history. Our goal is to create more opportunities for LGBTQ recording artists and ensure that Queer Music Culture will continue to be included as an integral platform in music and media history.”

Women: The War Within a new dance-theatre opera by Du Yun, Matthew Maguire, and Paul Warner from Paul Warner on Vimeo.

Literary Agent Says TV is Where it’s At

Once again, producer Tova Laiter put together an exclusive event for New York FIlm Academy students in Los Angeles. One of the toughest obstacles coming out of film or acting school is landing the right agent — or landing any agent for that matter. Given the full house at Warner Bros, Theater 4 for this event, students were anxious to get some inside information from Melinda Jason and her business partner Simon Ore. Melinda is a prominent literary agent at Conspiracy LLC – with her partner Simon Ore – a production and management company based in Los Angeles. As a former lawyer at 20th Century Fox and former Head of Literary Department at Gersh, Melinda has also established producing deals with Universal Television, Disney and Sony Pictures, and has produced five feature films. Some of the talent she is most famous for discovering are Michael J. Fox, Dean Pitchford (writer of Footloose), Ron Bass (writer of Rain Man and My Best Friend’s Wedding), and David Saperstein, whose manuscript Cocoon she sold to Fox. Melinda and Simon Ore are currently developing an animated series, several feature films, and several television pilots, including one in partnership with Producer Nick Welchsler (The Road, Requiem For A Dream, Sex, Lies & Videotape, Drugstore Cowboy).

Melinda wasted no time in getting straight to the point, “In order to get yourself out there nowadays you have to be a great writer, get a producer, make content and create experiences!” Melinda, who has a first look deal with Fox Television, thinks television is where it’s at today. “TV is great now, it’s on a higher level intellectually, you can get your writers paid and once they are respected there they really get to show what they’ve got. These writers really think, they do research. The arch is different than in film, the characters have a lot of potential. TV is about being strategic.” Melinda clearly cares about her writers.

Simon spoke in terms of what young writers tend to do when getting off the ground. “Sell your passion!” exclaimed Simon. “Once you are in, find the happy medium in compromising with your work.” Don’t sell out, don’t be unreasonable and inflexible.

Melinda continued on, saying how a good writer must constantly read. “Read good stuff and bad stuff, lots of it. Go to places like www.simplyscripts.com and do the work.” Simon added that a writer needs to be patient. “Some of it is not over when you’re done. Take a break. Come back to it.”

One thing the pair really stressed is how in today’s market, writers need to MAKE CONTENT! “Create something, put it on the internet.” However, once you get the ball rolling with credibility, it is important to know where content belongs. “Know the networks, they want different things,” said Melinda. “You have to know where content could live.”

Her final words of advice, “You have to be really careful to never make a choice based on money. Follow your passion. You must feel strongly about it!”

Nigerian Filmmaking Grad Wins 2 African Oscars

Filmmaking student John Chuka graduated from the New York Film Academy with the goal of revolutionizing the African film industry. Thus far, John is on the right track with his short film, The Fetus, winning Best Short Film/Trailer and Best Original Score/Soundtrack at the Nollywood and African Film Critics’ Awards (NAFCA) – otherwise known as the African Oscars. Two other NYFA alumni, Jason Mohan and Jessica Garza, who contributed to the making of the film’s theme song, were also on hand to receive the awards at the NAFCA Ceremony in Washington D.C.

John Chuka on set of "The Fetus" — John Chuka on set of “The Fetus”

The Fetus is about Catalina, a religious undocumented teenage immigrant, who worked at a nursery in Arizona, but relocates to California as a result of her sexual abuse experience that left her pregnant. Now, working in a Californian sweatshop, trying to climb out of her horrible living conditions, Catalina’s destiny unfolds as she struggles with immigration laws, religious dogmas, abortion laws, and the fetus in her womb. “The film cuts across a wide range of hot topic social issues – immigration, abortion, and religion,” says John Chuka. “Being an immigrant that went through all kinds of hoops to get to where I am today, I’m hoping that somebody will watch my film and decide to do things a little bit differently in regards to how immigrants are treated around the world.”

John is originally from Nigeria. After acquiring a business degree, he tried his hand at a few businesses, but realized that he didn’t quite have a product. While living in the United States, it dawned on him that he comes from a country with an emerging film industry. While at the time he understood business, he did not know film. It was at this point John decided to attend the New York Film Academy. “Considering the fact that I wasn’t going back to school to acquire just a degree, but a product, I chose NYFA because of its hands-on approach to teaching filmmaking. And moreover, NYFA is highly recognized as a credible film school in my country of origin, Nigeria.”

With the success of his short film under his belt, John is working diligently to start a film production company that will generate and develop African story ideas into screenplays, transform the screenplays into films, and ultimately distribute the films to the worldwide African films enthusiasts.

NYFA Screens James Dean with Director Mark Rydell

Mark Rydell with NYFA Acting Instructor Cathy Gianonne Russo

Academy-Award Nominated director & actor, Mark Rydell, was a recent New York Film Academy guest speaker at Warner Bros, following a screening of 2001´s television movie, James Dean. As a Veteran of the US Military, Mark studied with Sandy Meisner on the GI Bill for his first full year, until Meisner gave him a scholarship to continue into the second year. From that point on, Mark has had an incredible career spanning decades, which include directing the films The Cowboys with John Wayne, On Golden Pond with Katherine Hepburn and Henry Fonda, and The Rose with Bette Midler. The NYFA Q&A event was moderated by Filmmaking Chair Mike Civille and NYFA Acting Instructor Cathy Gianonne Russo, who happens to be a friend of Mark’s.

Mark was especially qualified to direct the James Dean television movie, as he was close to him on a personal level. “I knew Jimmy very well, and working with him as an actor was very exciting. Jimmy was very alive…his motor was always running.”

At 84 years of age, Rydell had some thoughts about the business today. “Today it´s disappointing how much misplaced focus there is on monetary success. It´s like the ugly pursuit of the dollar as opposed to the art.” He finds that collaborating and being open-minded is key. Cinematography, for example, is a critical element. And just like acting, it´s important to be, “friendly, constructive, inspiring and to create an atmosphere of creative freedom.” Finally, he stated that, “You have to be open! Whoever it is on the set – even the catering guy – you never know where the next great idea will come from!”

‘The Devil’s Advocate’ Screening with Taylor Hackford

Last Wednesday, at the Warner Bros theater in LA, New York Film Academy students were treated to a screening of the classic Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves film, The Devil’s Advocate. Following the screening, director Taylor Hackford dropped by to talk about the film and his career on a whole. Taylor, who directed such films as An Officer and a Gentleman and Dolores Claiborne, says he developed an interest in film during his time in the peace corps in Bolivia. He saw many films there and shot his own on super 8 film. After coming back from the peace corps, he went to law school for two weeks, but then quit because he decided he really wanted to work in the film industry.

His first job was in the mailroom at the Los Angeles TV station KCET. He began writing copy, editing, shooting and reporting for their news program. Working as a journalist really helped Taylor develop as a director–learning how to tell people’s stories and make them feel comfortable enough to open up. He also learned how to “deliver on a deadline” with the high turnover rate in news. He eventually started making documentaries for the news station and became passionate about the stories he was telling.

Taylor also has a love for music and it’s no surprise that his films are known for their great soundtracks. In An Officer and a Gentleman, Taylor knew that music was important to the working class people the movie was about. Taylor went to great lengths to find the right music and especially in convincing the producers to spend the money on the soundtrack. His persistence didn’t stop there. In order to convince the studio to shoot the opening of An Officer and a Gentleman in the Philippines (which sets up Richard Gere’s backstory), he agreed that any expenditures that went over budget for the additional shooting would be taken out of his own salary. Paramount never realized what an amazing movie they had, until it sold so well and became such a success. “Nothing is ever predictable,” Taylor told the students. “All you can do is keep your vision. That is all you have.”

While shooting The Idol Maker, Taylor was not as experienced as a director. He came onto set with a very detailed plan as to how he wanted to shoot everything. However, his cinematographer and 1st AD had different opinions, and since they were much more experienced than him, Taylor ended up using their ideas. When he saw the dailies two days later, Taylor realized he had made a big mistake–the drama wasn’t there and the shots didn’t mean anything. After that, Taylor remained firm in following his own vision. There was a reason he was hired to direct the movie. “You have to make decisions. If you must, ‘get on with it’ and you can’t ‘take your time.’ Time is money with filmmaking. Preparation is key–you can work through most of your potential mistakes if you think it out ahead of time.”

Taylor now directs a scene without providing blocking instructions to his actors and tells them to “do the scene.” The actors typically find a few great moments that Taylor will incorporate into the scene. This way the actor feels like he is using their ideas and he’s able to include some spontaneous moments that he hadn’t thought of. Directors have to learn how to work with an actor until they can catch them in an authentic moment. Taylor used the example of working with Keanu Reeves who is not, at first, as spontaneous as Al Pacino. He would have to do eight takes with Keanu before he would break out of his preconceived notions of how to perform. This is a tactic that he had to employ as a director, which worked for this particular scenario.