Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy

Hi Again. I think this explains it all pretty well.

PeterH

By Mark Caro, Tribune reporter

1:33 p.m. CDT, April 13, 2010

Tribeca is the name of a Lower Manhattan neighborhood, film festival, institute and production company, and now it has a strong Chicago association as well.

That's because the company founded by actor Robert De Niro, his producing partner Jane Rosenthal and her investor husband Craig Hatkoff has taken a 50 percent interest in the Loop-based two-year digital media vocational school Flashpoint: The Academy of Media Arts and Sciences. The school now will be known as the Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy as it opens a virtual pipeline between the 75,000-square-foot Clark Street facility and Tribeca's New York headquarters.

"It really means amazing opportunities for our students," Flashpoint president/CEO Howard Tullman said, noting that his school was "looking for a strategic partner as much as an investor."

"It's state of the art," Rosenthal said of Flashpoint. "It's really an amazing place. It just happened to be the right fit for what we were looking for."

Tribeca has been in expansion mode of late, overseeing not only the Tribeca Film Festival (launched in 2002 and running Apr. 21-May 2 this year) but also a virtual version of the festival, a cinema, a production facility and an institute involved in community outreach and education. Rosenthal said her company has worked with middle-school and high-school students before, but Flashpoint represents the first such partnership with an institution for more advanced students.

Built out in a high-rise kitty corner to Daley Plaza, Flashpoint welcomed its first students in September 2007 and has seen its enrollment grow from 110 students to the current 450, Flashpoint Dean Paula Froehle said.

"What Howard has pulled together in a very short period of time, it's almost hard to believe," Hatkoff said.

The school takes a contrasting approach to the film program at nearby Columbia College, which offers a traditional four-year liberal arts degree. Flashpoint is a two-year immersive program designed to prepare students, college age or older, for work in the digital media world.

Local-based filmmaker Harold Ramis has close ties to Columbia College, and also appears in Flashpoint's promotional materials. He said he still values a four-year liberal arts education, but he's also impressed with Flashpoint.

"It's a really cool facility," Ramis said. Calling Tribeca an institution that "does things right," he added, "I can't imagine this is a moneymaking enterprise for them, but as a pipeline for talent and well-trained students, it's probably a good thing."

To Rosenthal and Hatkoff, the partnership is less about bringing Flashpoint students into the Tribeca fold than boosting an industry in a state of wild flux.

"I've been in the industry for over 25 years, and I've never seen the industry change more," Rosenthal said. "The jobs and the skills (needed) are changing dramatically, and you need to stay forward thinking. The students that do come out of this program will help us keep our industry healthy."

Hatkoff cited a question posed by a Gates Foundation report: "How do we prepare students for jobs that don't yet exist?" Flashpoint, Hatkoff said, is poised to do just that.

Tullman said he envisions Tribeca Flashpoint students getting involved in various aspects of the film festival, such as working with filmmakers and helping them develop marketing materials and trailers. (Flashpoint students already have done such work on projects such as "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," distributed by Chicago's Music Box Films.)

Rosenthal said the specifics of the interplay have yet to be determined. "It's too soon to say what students at Tribeca Flashpoint will be doing at Tribeca," she said. "If students have the opportunity to work at Tribeca and if we have the opportunity to work with students, that will be fantastic."

Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune

No Subtitles Necessary

This past weekend Oscar winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond was in Chicago speaking with filmmakers and on Sunday holding a master class for students and industry professionals.

That's Vilmos on the left and director and cinematographer Jim Chressanthis on the right at yesterday's master class, and those are my Flashpoint students there in the front row.

There were two events on Saturday. On Saturday morning from 11-2, in an event only open to students and industry professionals, Vilmos and Jim screened clips from their work, discussed their techniques and choices and took questions from the audience. It was really fascinating, especially if you are a filmmaker.

On Saturday evening, in an event open to the public, they screened Jim's film No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo and Vilmos and took questions from the audience. The film is excellent- it appeared at Cannes last May and is on the festival circuit now. It depicts the friendship between Vilmos and Laszlo Kovacs from their escape from Soviet controlled Hungary in 1956 to their arrival in Hollywood, and how they helped shape the look of American films from the late 60s to today.

After the screening I was lucky enough to get to go out with them and have a drink and talk film. It was my personal highlight of the weekend.

Here's a quick list of some of the films Vilmos and Laszlo has photographed.

Vilmos:
McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Deliverance, Scarecrow, The Sugarland Express, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (won the Oscar), The Deer Hunter, Heaven's Gate, Blow Out, The Witches of Eastwick (where Jim Chressanthis was his intern). To date he has shot over 80 films.

Laszlo ( mere 70+ films before his death in 2007)
Targets, Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Shampoo, Frances, Ghost Busters, Little Nikita, Say Anything.

This will be the first of several posts about the weekend. More to follow soon.

Peter H

Sundance Short Documentary Program

This post was lifted from an email I sent my Flashpoint Academy Documentary students after seeing the Short Doc. program yesterday.

Hello From Sundance,

I have been to six screenings so far and by far the best one was the short documentary program. There were 8 films selected out of 1200 entries. Just think about that 8 out of 1200. The only one you will be likely to see is an HBO Documentary on the actor John Cazale- Fredo from the Godfather. It was great, but it was also the longest and by far the most expensive, and it didn't seem to fit in with the other seven films as it was the most commercial.

A few trends I noticed:

Lots of graphics. Two films were originally designed for the Internet and were all graphics and/or found footage- one about nuclear weapons and the other about Internet censorship.

A third film was about a Canadian artist and they shot an interview, but the entire piece was animated. Very beautiful and poetic.

Another trend- recording dialog and interviews separately and shooting B-roll. No on camera interviews. Two films I saw- one was shot with a digital still camera and the other about people who store their belongings in public storage in Scotland- recorded their interviews on a digital disc recorder separate from shooting.

This is very interesting to me because of the emphasis it puts on the B-Roll. The Scottish storage locker film was great because of the images they shot, and perhaps because there were no talking heads or faces.

There was a fascinating film called Utopia Part 3 about the world's largest shopping mall- in China. The mall is a bust, no one goes, there are only a few stores open, but it really illustrates some of the problems China is having with growth and capitalism.

After the HBO/Cazale film perhaps the most traditional doc. was about high school kids in New Orleans post-Katrina. The filmmaker followed three students who were attending school even though they were living by themselves- their parents and siblings had moved or been taken to foster care. The filmmaker said that 20 percent of students at the school lived without their parents.

The final film- and one I hope I don't have to see again- is called Chop Off. It's about a performance artist who chops off body parts as his art. Very tough to watch- no amputations on screen- and full of medical and media ethics questions.

Those are the 8 films out of 1200 that made it. Just seeing them makes me want to explore some of these techniques and shoot more film.

PeterH

Sundance Film Festival

Hello from Park City, Utah. I am at the Sundance Film Festival with Flashpoint Academy Academic Dean Paula Froehle. It's my first Sundance experience and so far it has been a lot of fun, very informative, and we even got some business done.

Details and pictures will follow- the dumb filmmaker can't get his pictures off his camera until he returns to Chicago. Here is a quick rundown of our first 36 hours.

• Two film screenings- a bad collection of shorts, and great Korean documentary called Old Partner about a farmer and his 40 year old ox.
  
• Two very interesting panels- one on new ways independent filmmakers can self-distribute their films, the other hosted by Variety and the Illinois Film Office- 30% tax breaks to shoot in Illinois!- about 10 directors to watch.
• Lots of hanging out talking film, talking film business.
• A great debate, about the film Doubt, though I think it was determined (I determined) that Betsy Steinberg, head of the Illinois Film Office, and I were right about what happened to Phillip Seymour Hoffman's character and everyone else is completely wrong.
• Celebrity sightings: Pierce Brosnan, Susan Sarandon, Perry Farrell, Paris Hilton, Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
  

More later, more specifics and pics.

PeterH

Got Film If You Want It

As Chair of the Film/Broadcast Department at Flashpoint Academy it has been a personal mission of mine to have our students shoot film. Typically we shoot HD, but this fall, thanks to Kodak, our advanced cinematography students shot some super 16mm. After seeing the rushes I felt confident that we could shoot our own film, so last Wednesday production began on October Surprise, Flashpoint Academy's 3rd Production-in-Action.

October Surprise is a film set in a TV news room on the eve of a presidential election. Some mysterious photos of the leading candidate have appeared and there is a rush to see if they are real or fake.

Our advanced students are doing the heavy lifting on this film. Supported by key professional crew members, our students are shooting film. Production wraps this Thursday, then a much deserved winter break. More details and photos to follow.

PeterH

BTW Got Live If You Want It was the name of the Rolling Stones first live record, so I borrowed the title for this post for our first film.

Even More Witch

Just a brief update.

Team Flashpoint has been named one of three finalists in the Experimental Witch Project. A PAL HD version of the film has been shipped to Italy at their request. We will know more on August 24.

PeterH

More Witch

Yesterday I blogged about the Experimental Witch project and today I am giving this space over to Lori Bohner the Flashpoint student who directed the film. That's her in the center between the two leads and amongst the rest of the Flashpoint crew. I'm going to let Lori tell the story of how the film came to life.

As a reminder the film was made by students who had been in the program less than six months before production began. I am proud of their effort and how they collaborated and worked as a team.

PeterH


The moment you informed us of the Experimental Witch Project I fell in love with the idea. So did many other students. About 35 students began brainstorming ideas for our adaptation of the character Heron. My intentions were to be one of the writers and possibly co-write a script. The group began monthly meetings in January. By March our numbers had dwindled as students were be called toward various other projects. In April we began weekly meetings with about 7 students to discuss a shooting script. I had read The Witch of Portobello cover to cover by this time and my script was the most finished and was chosen by the group to produce. By consensus of the students I was elected by the group to become the director. I felt honored.

I was drawn to the project because I feel a connection with this story. Immediately I thought of two actor friends of mine I felt would be perfect for this role. I had also had been a volunteer for the Romanian Film Festival in the fall and loved the old building the Festival took place in and thought it would be perfect for this script.

Things started coming together.

I asked Adam Darin only two weeks before shooting to be my producer. Without him I would have been lost. He was the ambitious leader I needed to assemble the rest of the missing crew and help organize my thoughts. I held two rehearsals with the lead characters and had no time to hold a casting session for the extras. I decided to create several Craig's list ads searching for different profiles. I had about 15 responses from various actors and had detailed phone conversations and 'hired' them from the conversations and head shots they had emailed me. I even met one actor on the train. I was creating a 'to do' list that he read over my shoulder and he happened to have a head shot on him. He was perfect!

My only complaint was tardiness. The day of the shoot not one single person (except myself :o ) was on time. Even with the chaos in the beginning we quickly pulled the ship up-right and got our first shot off. Adam had made a wonderful shot list and floor plan for us to follow which gave us the perfect check list to accomplish our 117 shots in one-days-time! The atmosphere was very professional and the crew and cast rolled up their sleeves and worked their tails off.

I was recommended a composer and met with him to give him my thoughts on what type of score I was looking for. We had many other meetings following that initial. He was absolutely great. Meanwhile two students, Kyle Krause and Vlad Sava, created two unique cuts. Kyle's on Final Cut and Vlad's on Avid. We ended up with Kyle's as his was more complete.

We got a late start on the editing process and I felt rushed at the end but was happy with the final result. Our sound designer, Ian had two days to finish the final sound mix ...and voila...Love and Lovelorn. We had a great team and great crew. I am pleased.

Sincerely,

Lori

Witch of Portobello redux

In January I blogged about how Paulo Coelho was allowing his book The Witch of Portobello to be adapted by filmmakers and allowing them to compete for a $3,000 Euro prize. Each filmmaker had to apply and if selected, had to create a short film about one character. I applied and was given the character of documentary filmmaker on the search for Athena.

So instead of making the film myself, I opened it up to my students and supervised their production. They did the heavy lifting, I sat back and ate craft services. Click on the link to see the Team Flashpoint submission. On my next blog I will share comments from my students about the process.

PeterH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc0U9onOrc4

The Dark Knight

This past Wednesday Flashpoint Academy was one of the sponsors of the Chicago premiere of The Dark Knight. The film was shot in Chicago last summer and the premiere was held at the Navy Pier Imax theater.

As one of the sponsors Flashpoint was allowed to be on the red carpet, in the screening and at the party afterwards. I was elected to be the person interviewing the stars on the red carpet. We were able to get a couple of students out there with me- this is Matt and Joe, as well as our in-house producer Paul Matian. We interviewed Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, producer Charles Roven and others and our students got to meet and speak with director Christopher Nolan. A great time was had by all, and just another way Flashpoint is different from other film schools.

I'll let the pictures tell the story.

PeterH

We've Got a Winner!

About a month ago a group of Flashpoint students participated in the Chicago 48 Hour Film Project, and last Saturday night their film, Urn Doctor, M.D. won the Audience Prize for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.

Team Flashpoint was one of 30 teams that competed during the Chicago event held during the weekend of June 20-22. In 2007, some 30,000 filmmakers participated in the 48 Hour Film Project in 55 cities around the world. This year, 15 cities were added, the 48 Hour Film Project will tour 70 cities.

To compete in the 48 Hour Film Project, teams must write, shoot and edit a short film in just 48 hours. All teams are given the same character, prop, line of dialog and genre, and must finish their project 48 hours later.

This year’s elements were “Walter or Wilma Western Repair Person” (character), an urn or container with a deceased’s ashes (prop) and a line entitled “What’s the Password?” (dialog).

I am very proud of them because they exhibited all of the things we try so hard to deliver at Flashpoint-namely collaboration and communication. Team Flashpoint was comprised of students across all four disciplines. Those students are:

Bill Douglas-producer/team leader,
Matt Arauz-director,
Adam Darin-assistant director/ Lead Actor
Steve DaDouche-director of photography,
Ian Roelle - chief audio technician,
Pat Sokley - assistant producer
Tony Schiavone-Editor
Ben Cline-editor
Josh Gort-gaffer
Scott Fedor, Austin Johnson, Chris Janonis, Mike Rolfsmeyer -graphics/PA's

Vlad Sava - Additional Camera Support
Timothy Daniel - Wardrobe/Craft Service/ PA
Kyle Krause - Additional Camera Support

Kara Powell - Lead Actress

Check out their website. http://www.urndoctormd.com

Congratulations Team Flashpoint!

PeterH

Florida State University

Last weekend I went to Florida State University where I spoke with a group of film students working on their thesis films.  The dumb filmmaker likes nothing better than a road trip, and getting a chance to talk film with passionate film students was the icing on the cake- or perhaps the cake itself.  I think the cultural exchange-  visiting and lecturing at another institution- was very valuable.  

FSU has a good program.  There are only 60 undergraduates.  The program is set up like this- the first two years are general education classes and the final two years is hardcore filmmaking.  I really like the practical, hands on approach- something we do at Flashpoint.  I also liked seeing how the students really had to collaborate.  Each student must serve as a writer/director, producer, DP, a.d., sound, production designer or editor on a film.  There are some other hard rules as well- films cannot be more than seven and a half minutes- they will not be accepted otherwise.  For the thesis (B.F.A.)  films the school pays for 2000 feet of film and processing and gives each film a $250 stipend for food and production design.

Having taught only at urban campuses, I was envious that students had 24 hour access.  I was in the film department at 11pm Saturday night and there were probably 20 students editing, building sets, meeting etc....  It was great to see and reminded me of my own misspent youth hanging out making film at all hours.

My lecture was about personal vision.  I bored them with my journey, then we talked about Tom McCarthy- writer/director of The Visitor and The Station Agent and his personal vision. Regarding both films we talked about what makes family and community and themes of connection.  It was a nice evening- the students were engaged and engaging and some even took notes.  Several asked me if they could send me their work so I could comment.  I look forward to seeing it.

I want to send a special thanks to Joey Daoud who found me, thanks in part to this blog, and brought me down to speak.  Check out his Coffee and Celluloid blog- a good taste of what it is like to be a hard working film student.   http:coffeeandcelluloid.com

Finally, despite the nice trip, it is nice to be home.  My own Flashpoint film students began their second productions this past Monday and I look forward to seeing what they produce.

PeterH

Details, Details, Details

"God is in the details," the architect Mies van der Rohe said. (Though I prefer the Devil is in the details, but you get the picture- details are important.)

The first class all Flashpoint students take is called Sound, Image, Time & Space (SITSP). I like to call it the "attention to details" class. Last September I co-taught the course with Flashpoint Visual FX chair Perry Harovas. The first thing we did on day one was to play a sound effect of a car driving. We then asked students what they heard. It very quickly went from "a car," to "a car on wet pavement, in the country, evening, microphone at a certain distance away, etc...." To me that is paying attention to details, and in good all art God (the Devil) is in the details.

This brings me to two films I saw recently. No Country for Old Men, the multi-Oscar winner from the Coen brothers, and Jeff Garlin's I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With. Forget the subject matter and the themes of the films, the difference in the attention to details was remarkable.

I must preface this by saying that I really like Jeff Garlin. I love him on Curb your Enthusiasm, and I think it was great he made this little movie in Chicago. In May he came to Flashpoint and gave a very inspirational talk. That said, I didn't much like his film and it was mostly because of his lack of attention to details. In short, too many scenes had little or no sound design, not enough extras, and overall it just looked like a thin film. I could go into detail- if you see it, look at the first scene with Sarah Silverman and you will know what I mean- but won't.

No Country... on the other hand was just terrific. Details are everywhere- look at the haircut Javier Bardiem wears. The pop tops on the beer cans, the language spoken, especially by Tommie Lee Jones. Everything is so clearly thought out and executed it is beautiful. Coincidently, John Murray chair of Flashpoint's Recording Arts department just screened it in his Aesthetics of Sound class as an example of how it is done.

I hope Jeff Garlin makes another film and makes it in Chicago. And next time I hope he follows Mies van der Rohe's ( a fellow Chicagoan- he moved here to head up the Illinois Institute of Technology's architecture program and designed many notable buildings here) advice and pays attention to details.

PeterH

Flashpoint Academy Year 1: that's a wrap!

Hello again, it's been awhile since I have written. Thanks for your patience and all the emails asking where I have been, I hope this helps explain somethings.

This past Saturday, May 31, Flashpoint Academy celebrated the successful completion of our first academic year with an event we called Flashbash.

During the afternoon we presented work from all four Flashpoint disciplines- Film, Recording Arts, Game Development and Visual FX & Animation. In addition we screened our two Production in Action films, The Collector and The Intruder, and a highlight reel of all the special events held at school during the previous nine months.

Here are some numbers from the Film Department:

62: Student film productions produced and edited.

32: Film Students that began and September and survived until June.

14: Film Students who began classes in January.

8: Making of The Intruder documentaries created by the fall film students.

4: Making of Not A Pretty Face documentaries produced by January students.

2: Weeks until June 16 when those January students return and begin the push through the summer during which they will make a second film, a music video, and learn Avid.

1: Tired Chair of the Flashpoint Academy Film Department.

PeterH

Film Production 2

The Flashpoint Academy film students just finished production on their second films. This is a picture from the set one day last week.

Before they embarked on these films I sat in on a series of production meetings and was struck by how much the students have grown since their first productions last November. I would like to chalk it up to brilliant teaching on my part, but in fairness I think the students did most of the heavy lifting on this one. Of course they learned from their first films, but then in January and February they observed and worked with professionals on the set of The Intruder, our Production-in-Action film, and finally in the weeks leading up to this production they pulled it all together.

We had a group meeting before they set out where all the Film and Recording Arts came together and I told them how I was witnessing their transformation from film students into filmmakers. This transformation was evident all over the place; in their language- I have never heard as many people throw around the term "script lock" before and in their demeanor- they stood taller, they were more confident. They didn't assume anything, but sought out answers to problems. This attitude was a big difference from their last productions.

This week and for the next two the students are huddled around their Avids editing the films with delivery set for April 18. It's exciting to watch their progression, but at the same time I hope the students reflect on their own personal growth and development. They have come a long way in a very short time.

PeterH

Teen Parents

Readers of this page know that Jim and I have been working on the Teen Parent film for months and years. Yesterday, we recorded the final voice over with Kathy Brock, the ABC7 Chicago news anchor.

We recorded the session in one of Flashpoint's state of the art
studios. Three recording arts students engineered, produced and mastered the session and I brought in a film student to help me direct Kathy.

It was a great opportunity for the students to see professionals in action, and to be part of a major project. We got the same service and final product as if I had gone to a professional recording studio. It is another way Flashpoint is different.

Before and after the session, Kathy toured school, amazed at what she saw and wished there was something like it when she went to college. Thanks to Flashpoint president, Howard Tullman, for the pictures.

PeterH

School Security

When I was in college, Security was the name of the most popular band at school, and thinking of them was the only time I ever thought about security on campus. But now I am on the other side of the classroom and it seems every couple of months there is a shooting on a college campus. Last week at Northern Illinois University, just 65 miles west of Chicago, there was a shooting, killing five and injuring more.

Security on campus means something very different to me now.

Yesterday was parents' day at Flashpoint and I spent time telling the parents of film students that one of the things we do is create a safe environment for their children to work in. I was speaking about emotional safety, the safety to be vulnerable and explore, but I could have just as easily been talking about their physical safety.

I don't have anything new to add to the violence on campus discussion. Yes, it's sad. Yes, it must stop. Yes, the emotional well-being of students must be looked after and help given when and where needed. All of the same things I wrote about last spring after the events at Virginia Tech.

Today, I just wanted to take a moment and reflect on the events at a college just down the road from mine.

PeterH

The Red Camera

This is a picture of the Red Camera all stripped down. Not all that impressive looking, but it is a piece of technology which is going to change the film production process.

For eight days beginning Jan. 30 and ending Feb. 8 Flashpoint Academy produced The Intruder, a short Twilight Zone-esque film, using the Red Camera. It was the first time the camera had gone out as a rental in Chicago and it was yet another way Flashpoint is at the "bleeding edge" of both education and technology.

Since I am not the most technical person I'll give you the lay version. The Red Camera, captures a digital image at 4K resolution. That's more than double the image quality than the Super Bowl broadcast, while film itself is about 12K resolution. To my eyes you couldn't tell the difference between the Red images and 35mm film.

The camera will accept any 16mm or 35mm lenses with a PL mount. You can record to a 320 gb hard drive, but we chose to record to 8gb compact flash cards. Those flash cards would hold four minutes of "film." When filled they would be transferred to a computer and reformatted and reused. In short it was not much different from using your digital still camera except we were capturing 24 frames per second. As a point off comparison- the Panasonic HVX200 P2 camera shoots 16gb cards which can hold 42 minutes of film.

The Red Camera comes at a base price of $17,5oo and with all the accessories you will probably spend $60,000 to have a decked out camera. That's not a lot of money if you shoot a lot of film. And because of of the huge, file storage issues, you will probably need another $30,000 of computer technology and storage space. Cheap if you are making lots of film or working on a feature.

Check out the camera for yourself. http://www.red.com/
Here is a picture of it all tricked out.

PeterH

Internet, Films and Education Reform

There is an interesting interview in today's Wall Street Journal with Reed Hastings the CEO of Netflix. Netflix is partnering with a Korean company to create a (TV) set top box which will allow users to stream films from the internet directly to their TV. (It's about time, if I have to go to my mail box one more time to get a movie, my head will explode!)

When asked if he was worried that people would be willing to pile yet another box under their televisions (I have three, plus a small stereo nestled under and around my TV) he replied, "No, that's not my concern, and the reason is if you've got compelling content, people will hook up another box." Ah- the compelling content argument always one of my favorites, but he's right good content (almost) always wins.

So the question is begged, why not a Netflix set top box? "We looked at that and realized that customers also want this functionality that is embedded in other devices, like a game console, and that we should work purely on just being an incredible service." How refreshing someone wants to focus on delivering a much wanted product with incredible service. They aren't interested in doing everything.

Hastings is convinced Internet television is the future and he knows it will take a while getting there. "I think there's a huge category of people who will watch movies on laptops, and remember it's not the laptop of today. Think of the laptop in five years. People will continue to watch movies on TV no doubt about it. But laptop screens are improving and young people are living on laptops."

Perhaps a more interesting thing to me about Reed Hastings is his passion for school reform. After amassing his first fortune he began trying to "figure out why our education is lagging when our technology is increasing at great rates and there's great innovation in so many other areas-health care, biotech, information technology, movie-making. Why not education?"

This positive note is a good place to end. I think what we are doing at Flashpoint Academy is changing traditional education and looking to the future and new technology and finding a way to integrate them. And speaking of the future of education and movie-making technology, the next post will be about the Red One Camera- which we just used over the eight days of production of the Flashpoint Academy film, The Intruder.

PeterH

Let it Snow

I have been swamped with work and now a foot of snow. The dumb filmmaker apologizes for his absence from this page, but promises to return with all new exciting posts on viral marketing, Flashpoint Academy's production-in-action- film, The Intruder, the Red camera- which The Intruder is using- and much, much more.

I also want to thank all the people who commented on the cheating post, Chris Burritt, and Heath Ledger. I appreciate the loyal readers.

Enjoy the Super Bowl, go Pats!

PeterH

The Internet, Kids Today and Heath Ledger

This past Tuesday the PBS series Frontline broadcast a fascinating look at teenagers who have grown up with the Internet. The program focused on a small New Jersey town about an hour's train ride from Manhattan. It looked at a different families and shared stories about how being on-line 24 hours a day is shaping these kids' lives.

Among the things I learned is the following: Young people don't have the time to read. The go to Sparknotes.com and read that. My favorite quote, "If I had 27 hours in a day I would read the book, but I just don't have the time." As a result teachers teach with the understanding that the students aren't reading the text, just the sparknotes and teach to that. That's sad.

Other items of interest:

The reach of both My Space and Facebook. If a high schooler doesn't have a page on those sites they aren't anyone.

Cyber bulling. One boy was bullied via the internet and developed an on-line relationship with another boy who convinced him to kill himself. There is a website which teaches you how to hang yourself. Another website which helps you figure out the "coolest" way in which to kill yourself by giving you a questionnaire. Sort of the "Cosmo Quiz" for the suicidal. This 13-year old boy hung himself.

A group of high schoolers took a train into Manhattan and spent the night partying- and documenting it with their cell phone cameras. It wasn't long before their pictures of their night out was on the Internet and their parents found out. The kids weren't upset their parents learned about the partying- they were upset that the parents thought it was such a big deal.
(Note to self- make sure all pictures of me at the Kentucky Derby 1985-1987 have been destroyed.)

It was a fascinating program and very unironically you can watch the whole show on-line at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/.

Also on Tuesday the actor Heath Ledger died. I was in class when the news broke, but my computer was on and I received an e-mail and a text message telling me the news. At the end of my class I was talking to a guest speaker who came to another class. I asked him how it went, he said fine, "But when news of Heath Ledger's death came on-line we had to stop and discuss it. I thought they were taking notes with their laptops not surfing the net."

Kids today.

PeterH