“Thanks for providing me a great education!” These were the first words spoken to me by School of Communication Arts grad, Pierre Chastain. I had not seen Pierre since 1996.

“The greatest thing about my 12 year career…mainly at Digital Domain and Sony Pictures Imageworks has been the people that I have met and worked with. I have worked with Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie and my favorite, Tim Burton.”

Pierre has visual effects and animation credits for such well known movies as: “Alice in Wonderland”, “Beowulf”, “Monster House”, “Stealth”, “The Polar Express” and “Mummy 3”.

“I’m a graduate of School of Communication Arts, now Living Arts College. I benefited from the cutting-edge technology that the School of Communication Arts implemented when I was a student. The College has implemented the Greenlight concept. This principal should help the students in the fast-paced production environment that we have today…

…One of the benefits of going to the School of Communication Arts was the high quality of the instructors. I personally wanted to become a technical director. I had many technical questions. The instructors were able to give me specific instruction for the techniques I wanted to learn.” – Pierre Chastain.

“It was an amazing and gratifying experience.” – Darrick Ingram

TriangleBlvd launched the company’s animated logo at the Ruth’s Chris restaurant in Cary, NC on
Thursday July, 22 2010.  They introduced Darrick Ingram, a current animation student at Living Arts College
who designed the 3-D animated logo.  Darrick began his internship with TriangleBlvd in April of 2010 while juggling a full time job, an internship and going to college full time.  The animation he designed may open doors for him to many of TriangleBlvd’s Advertisers and the public.

The animation can be viewed on the front page of their website at http://www.triangleblvd.tv/

“Darrick has done such a great job building our new animated character and has impressed us. He is a genuine, creative and talented person. Everyone at TriangleBlvd loves his work and appreciates his enthusiasm.”
- Geri Butner, Director of Communications, TriangleBlvd.

TriangleBlvd is the video production and new media advertising company with the largest WebTV network in the Triangle.  They provide full-service video marketing solutions for organizations of all sizes featuring high definition, professional videos that are promoted and distributed across an entire network of partner websites.

“Great machines don’t make money, great people do. “ – Beau, Airiel Down

Airiel Down rocks LAC, not literally though! Alumni and current film students assisted in an all day shoot in the making of Airiel Down’s music video. Students were excited to see a video produced right here at the College. “I worked the camera and got a job out of it”, says Christopher Koch who is currently pursuing a degree in digital filmmaking at LAC.

In addition to the music video, Lead Singer Beau spoke on Wednesday, July 21 at 10:30am to discuss the importance of branding and how to use creativity vs. money. Each band member has a primary role in the day-to-day operation and business of the band by each taking on roles such as marketing, booking, public relations, web design and maintenance, finances and even driving the tour bus. Beau discussed the rules of the road and how to successfully promote yourself as an artist.

Rules of the Road

1. Love what you do!
2. Do not get discouraged when you are criticized for doing something you love.
3. Do you want to be in a 9 to 5 job you hate or something you love?
4. Take jobs and projects whenever you can.
5. Help out your fellow artists as networking is key in the industry.
6. Think big! Go where the crowd is!
7. Save money!
8. Market your creativity.
9. Be unique, “What makes you different, how do I stand out in the crowd?”
10. Have a good work ethic.

Last but not least, Beau’s final words of wisdom were, “Keep doing what you are doing, achieve your goals, be realistic and honest with yourself.”

Airiel Down is a nationally touring, independent rock band based out of Raleigh, NC. Having played over 300 shows in 30 states in the past 3 years from the east to the west coast and gaining radio airplay in North and South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia, the band prides themselves on their hard work, relentless attitude, and high energy live show. The band incorporated Autumn Rain Records, it’s very own production company and record label in 2003. Many critics such as Benjamin Ray claim, “Airiel Down is one of the hardest working Indie bands in the country.”

Living Arts College graduate Bill Haller can answer “Yes” to that question. I recently visited with Bill while attending BDA/PROMAX and we went down memory lane. Bill recalled that at age five or six he knew he wanted to follow one of two career paths. He wanted to fly jets or be an animator. Animator he chose to be…and a very successful animator he is. Bill stated proudly, “I am as passionate and excited about my career today as I was 15 years ago when I got my first job at CLIX 3X”.

Bill worked at CLIX 3X where he “cut his teeth” then moved to Wild Rain to work on features. Giant Killer Robots persuaded him to leave Wild Rain. He had a great deal of fun working on “Scooby Doo I and Scooby Doo II”, “Blade: Trinity”, Son of the Mask” and “Fantastic IV” while at Giant Killer Robots.

Bill’s latest “Gig” for the past five to six years has been at Sony Pictures Imageworks. Bill “lights up” when talking about working at Sony Pictures Imageworks. He has worked on “Open Season I and Open Season II” and currently is working on “Open Season III”. “Hotel Transylvania” is his current project which is in its “infancy”.

He had to choose between flying jets or animating. He grins and smiles and almost looks like a five year old kid as he says, “I made the right decision. I am passionate about my work, my career, my company and most excited to have the opportunity to work on my next project.” His favorite word is PASSION. Passion leads to success.

Shaune Escayg, graduate of Living Arts College, did exactly that over the past 13 years. Within months after graduating, he was in New York working on the “Muppets”. I forgot to mention he moved from Trinidad to attend college in Raleigh, NC!

After a stint in New York, Trinidad was calling for him to return home. He made the move and opened up Blue Bottle Productions…soon to be the top Trinidad shop specializing in production, film and animation. The traveling “bug” hit again. He was ready to travel once again…

Wire Frame Animation in Venezuela was his next career move. Venezuela also changed his life as he met his lovely wife.

Once again, he wanted to grow his career and travel. Canada was ready for him. He worked at Red Rover, Spin, and Rainmaker Entertainment. Shaune worked in visual effects, feature films, directed, animated and was heavily involved in cinematics.

A “traveling man”, Shaune got the call from Los Angeles based BLUR. He packed up and headed to the West Coast. He has worked as an Animation Supervisor for the last two years.

He is getting ready to pack up the family again. I could play a guessing game…”Where is Shaune Going Now” but…I will give you the answer. In two weeks, Shaune begins another exciting career project. How about working on TRANSFORMERS! Industrial Light & Magic of George Lucas fame will welcome Shaune Escayg to San Francisco and their lovely facility in Presidio Park. Stay posted to continue to follow Shaune’s career.

Living Arts College @ School of Communication Arts (LAC) participated in the 48 Hour Film Project in which a team makes a movie, writes, shoots, edits and scores it in just 48 hours.   Thirty five current LAC students and alumni collaborated in producing, writing, shooting and directing “The Great Escape”, a comical silent film about children in School detention who escape with a little help from an unexpected friend. Out of 35 teams, LAC was one of the 22 teams who submitted their film in time for final competition on Sunday, June 13, 2010 at 7:30 pm.  How do you make a movie in 48 hours?   Here’s the story:

On June 11, 2010 at 7pm on a Friday night, Cole Russing, LAC Film Professor, waited in Greensboro for the festival kick-off. Along with him were LAC film students Terry Barnes and Fella Davis filming behind the scene footage.  The entire crowd waited anxiously to hear what genre their team would be assigned as well as the main elements every film would have to contain.  Meanwhile, David Acuff, LAC Film Professor and a team of about 15 writers stood by waiting for a call from Cole.  Once they received notice on what genre they were given, they would begin penning a story to shoot the following day. LAC’s chosen genre was a silent film using a character named Marla or Martin Dockery; a Clutter Coach/Professional Organizer using bandana props and the line of dialogue was “You think you know everything.”

As Team Russing raced back to Raleigh, Team Acuff began brainstorming high-concept ideas suitable for the silent film style.  By 11 pm they had a serviceable storyline and everyone went home to catch some rest for the big day on Saturday.

On Saturday at 9 am the crew assembled for three hours of pre-production.  Where would they shoot the film?  Who would be their actors?  Which students would be involved in which areas?  What lights and equipment were needed?  Jobs were assigned, locations were scouted and actors volunteered or were drafted into service!

With a pre-production plan in place, the crew headed to Body of Christ Church on Fox Road lead by Director Cole Russing where they would camp out for the next seven hours getting the shots they needed to make the story work. The final shot went down around 7 pm and the crew packed up and returned to LAC to offload equipment to begin the final phase — post-production!

Cole Russing took the footage home with him, edited it until 2am the night before the  deadline and returned to the cutting room four hours later with only a four hour nap…now that’s what I call a team player!   Once he had a locked picture Audio Professors, Craig Brandwynne and Jim Elenteny, scored the music for the seven minute short assisted by, Kaya Black, current LAC audio student.  As quickly as Craig finished the audio, Cole brought it together to the film print in Final Cut, pressed a DVD and ran out the door around 6pm for Greensboro in the pouring rain. Miraculously making a string of green lights in the final stretch may have helped Cole reach his destination and turn in the project with only four minutes to spare.  Screenings of all the films were held on June 16 & 17 at the Carousal Luxury Cinemas held in Greensboro and the Best of the 48 Hr Film Program was screened on July 8th at the Greensboro Wrap Party.

You can watch the LAC short film “The Great Escape” here:

Living Arts College (LAC) alumna Carol Housel is leaving for Hollywood for the very first time. She has been cast to work as a Second Assistant Director on a full length independent film called “Plans”. Since graduating from LAC in 2004, Carol has worked as a Production Assistant and shot and edited films on a freelance basis for companies such as Trailblazers and Carolina Broadcasting Systems. Carol is currently working with LULU.com as a Director/Producer and her most recent title is Marketing Communications Specialist.

Carol started her education in photography having exhibited in galleries throughout New York. Born and raised in Nyack, NY, her parents retired and moved to Raleigh, NC. Inspired by the late actress and family friend Helen Hayes, she grew up watching old movies already knowing what she wanted to pursue as a career – making movies!

“We have an impressive cast given the budget and this is my very first time working in Hollywood.” – Carol Housel

Included in the cast are actors Steve Banno from “Freeks and Geeks” and “40 Year Old Virgin” and Mark Fite from “2 Headed Dog” and “The Rudy Casoni Show”. If that’s not a cast, I don’t know what is!

This a great opportunity for one of our alumni who have studied within the Digital Filmmaking Program at the Living Arts College @ School of Communication Arts and we are proud of Carol Housel’s accomplishment and future endeavors.

For more information about the “Plans” independent film please visit: http://plansmovie.com/

Living Arts College’s annual trip to the PromaxBDA conference concluded on June 25, 2010. This year’s trip was one of the best! PromaxBDA, the association for promotional and design professionals, just wrapped on its 55th annual conference in Los Angeles June 24 with an incredible turnout, drastically higher than previous years. In attendance from LAC were School President Roger Klietz, Vice-President and Campus Director Debra Hooper, Assistant Campus Director Matthew Kelly, Interactive Media Arts Program Coordinator Vincent Gardner, and several LAC students and alumni along with four LAC students who were chosen to serve as PromaxBDA Interns for this year’s conference.

“The interns are rockin’ it!” said Jonathan Block-Verk, President and CEO, PromaxBDA.

The conference was kicked off by a speech by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, along with an introduction by ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. Top design and marketing awards went to Fox Broadcasting Co., bpg Advertising, CTV Creative Agency, Syfy, Showtime, and FX. The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Hugh Hefner, who was present for an exciting interview by Larry King.

The conference also introduced the Creative Educator’s Forum, a professional development event for creative educators. The forum’s board is made up of a small, select group of nationwide creative education leaders. Living Arts College’s own Vice-President and Campus Director, Debra Hooper was among this elite group.

This year’s conference had some real treats in store for creative professionals and students. Sessions were held by industry leaders such as David Carson, Jakob Trollback, Brett Ashy, Gordon Ho, Stefan Sagmeister, Seth Berkowitz, Patrick Burgoyne, Michael Walsh, Lee Hunt, Graeme Newell, Timmy Fisher, Garson Yu, Mark Kudsi and Will Travis – to name just a few!

When asked what their favorite part of the conference was, staff and students had a difficult time deciding. One thing common with everyone’s excitement about the event was all the national and international industry professionals and celebrities that attendees had the privilege to meet.

“Ryan Stout and Norm MacDonald were hilarious at the awards events – and a perfect way to wrap up en exciting day of meeting professionals and networking” said TJ Piper, LAC student.

“I met Larry King!” said LAC student, Shannon Chapman.

“I’ve met many big names in the creative arts in my career, but meeting David Carson and Stefan Sagmesiter all within a 30 minute window had to be the highlight for me!” said LAC Assistant Campus Director, Matthew Kelly. “This year PromaxBDA has done a perfect job of giving all the folks at the conference on both the business and creative side of things exactly what they wanted!”

Living Arts College @ School of Communication Arts (LAC) is proud to announce Michael Castro’s MMI Public Relations Telly Bronze Award. He competed on a national level and produced the video, “TCG Machines”. Why is this video different? Michael says he wanted to tell the story from a machine’s point-of-view. He adds, “It’s not impossible, it’s just difficult.”

The Telly Awards honor the very best local, regional and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video, film productions and work created for the Web. Since 1978, their mission has been to strengthen the visual arts community by inspiring, promoting and supporting creativity. The 30th Annual Telly Awards received more than 13,000 entries from all 50 states and five continents.

Bronze Winners are awarded a Bronze Telly statuette designed by the same firm that makes the Oscar® and Emmy®. In addition, each Winner is awarded a commemorative certificate. Judges evaluate entries to recognize distinction in creative work — entries do not compete against each other. Instead, entries are judged against a high standard of merit.

Michael is currently pursuing an Associate’s degree in Digital Filmmaking anticipating graduation in September 2010.