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December 15, 2010 Pluff in the Middle East Interactive Media Used to Help Children with Autism On November 27, eight SCA faculty and staff traveled to Doha, Qatar to conduct a weeklong workshop in digital storytelling and assistive technology at the Shafallah Center for Children with Special Needs.
December 2, 2010 In Memoriam: Gene Polito, ASC Respected Cinematographer, Professor and USC Alumnus Cinematographer and USC professor/alumnus Eugene "Gene" Emmanuel Polito passed away on November 28 after a three-year battle with esophageal cancer. “Gene’s reputation for excellence still lives on at the School,” said Dean Elizabeth M. Daley. “Though I did not have the pleasure of working with him, I have heard from numerous alumni, along with past and present faculty members, who had nothing but respect and admiration for him and for his work. He will be greatly missed.”
November 30, 2010 In Memoriam: Irvin Kershner Director of The Empire Strikes Back SCA alumnus and faculty member Irvin Kershner, who directed the Star Wars sequel, The Empire Strikes Back and the James Bond film Never Say Never Again, died at his Los Angeles home following a three and a half year battle with lung cancer. He was 87.
November 24, 2010 Students walk across America for gay rights A group of six graduate students from the School of Cinematic Arts will embark on a seven-month walk across the country in hopes of cultivating an open dialogue about same-sex marriage while documenting their journey on film.
November 17, 2010 Jack Epps Honored with Comedy Chair SCA Endows Chair for Legendary Actor and Philanthropist Jack Oakie As most comedy performers and writers would agree, getting laughs isn’t an exact science. But Jack Oakie, who excelled at eliciting chuckles from film, television, radio and vaudeville audiences will now have his name permanently linked to the academic study of comedy through the establishment of the Jack Oakie Endowed Chair in Comedy at the School of Cinematic Arts.
November 16, 2010 ‘One Lucky Elephant’ Picked up by OWN Will Screen in Monthly Documentary Club SCA faculty member Lisa Leeman’s documentary, One Lucky Elephant, has been picked up by OWN, the Oprah Winfrey network, and will run as part of OWN’s monthly documentary film club, debuting in spring 2011.
$Not Your Mama\'s Film Industry$ November 15, 2010 Not Your Mama's Film Industry Women of Cinematic Arts Hold Forum October 9 marked a celebration of the myriad contributions of women to the entertainment industry and a look toward the future, with the Women of Cinematic Arts’ 2010 Industry Forum, entitled Not Your Mama’s Film Industry: 21st Century Entertainment.
November 10, 2010 Harris to Receive Documentary Award Two Time Oscar Winner Honored by IDA School of Cinematic Arts Distinguished Professor Mark Jonathan Harris will receive the IDA Preservation and Scholarship Award at the 2010 IDA Documentary Awards.
November 4, 2010 Student Wins Princess Grace Award Animated Short Honored in New York City SCA Graduate Student Willie Williams is the recipient of a prestigious Princess Grace Award undergraduate film scholarship. The 28th annual awards gala will be held in New York City on November 10, and will include the presentation of 21 awards to emerging artists in theater, dance and film as well as the Prince Rainier III Award to be presented to Denzel and Pauletta Washington, and the Princess Grace Statue Award to be presented to Anna D. Shapiro.
October 29, 2010 CU: Michael Fink "Learn to trust your sense of taste." Many students choose to attend film school because of the amazing worlds they experienced in the movie theater growing up. Chances are, visual effects artist and new SCA faculty member Michael Fink had a hand in creating them. Fink has visual effects credit on over thirty films including Tropic Thunder, X-Men, Braveheart, and Blade Runner. In 2008, Fink won the Oscar for Best Achievement in Visual Effects for The Golden Compass, and was nominated for the Oscar in 1993 for Batman Returns.
October 19, 2010 Next Generation Entertainment Microsoft Endows IMD's Latest Initiative With a substantial gift, The Microsoft Corporation has established the Microsoft Next Generation Entertainment Initiative at the School of Cinematic Arts’ Interactive Media Division (IMD), as announced by Dean Elizabeth M. Daley and Phil Spencer, corporate vice president, Microsoft Games Studios.
October 5, 2010 USC Team Wins First Lady Michelle Obama's Apps for Healthy Kids Competition Trainer, a game developed by a team of USC students, has won the Grand Prize as well as the GE Healthymagination Student Award, and a total of $20,000 at the Apps for Healthy Kids Challenge, part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign.
September 9, 2010 Out of the Archives USC Warner Bros Archives and Warner Bros Photo Lab exhibit 85 Years of Treasures For over a year, curators at the USC Warner Bros Archives have been working with the Warner Bros Photo Lab to uncover and gather rare photos for an upcoming exhibition at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Grand Lobby Gallery on Wilshire Blvd.
September 2, 2010 USC Alumns Matthew Weiner and Erin Levy take home Emmys Mad Men" writer Erin Levy shared her writing win with boss Matt Weiner on Sunday. But that's not all she owes him.
August 16, 2010 Lee Unkrich Q&A Leonard Maltin Goes In-Depth With Toy Story 3 Director On June 13, the USC School of Cinematic Arts was treated to a special screening of Toy Story 3, along with an in-depth Q&A with the film’s director, SCA alum Lee Unkrich, conducted by Leonard Maltin.
August 12, 2010 CU: Christophe Nassif "Don’t try to tell a story you do not connect with." Chances are that as you read this, Christophe Nassif, 3rd-year M.F.A. Production, is hard at work. In addition to recently completing an eight-week sound internship at Larson Studios through the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation, Nassif has been in pre-production since April for a 546 production he’ll be directing in the fall, and finds time to work with QueerCut, the LBGT cinematic arts group he helped found.
August 11, 2010 In Memoriam: David L. Wolper Legendary Producer, "Mr. Documentary" David L. Wolper, producer of the groundbreaking 1977 miniseries Roots, along with over 300 other films, died Tuesday, August 10. He was 82.
August 4, 2010 In Memoriam: Robert F. Boyle Acclaimed Art Director/Production Designer Robert F. Boyle ‘33, acclaimed production designer, with credits including North By Northwest, In Cold Blood, and The Birds, died in Los Angeles on Sunday. He was 100.
July 30, 2010 CU: Ryan Piers Williams USC Alums Collaborate on "The Dry Land" We speak to Piers Williams via email about the film "The Dry Land", the challenge of getting it made and how SCA has influenced him.
July 28, 2010 CU: Alice Brooks ‘A Passion for Light’ Being a dancing superhero is hard. Filming a dancing superhero? Just as hard, but it’s also a lot of fun, according to Alice Brooks, SCA alumna, and director of photography for the groundbreaking new webseries, The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers (The LXD).
July 14, 2010 Wins for ‘Wild About Harry’ Collaboration of SCA Alums and Faculty Wild About Harry, an independent feature written, directed, produced and lensed by SCA alumni and faculty members, took home two awards at the 14th Annual CineGear Expo. Director and co-writer Gwen Wynne ’94, accepted the award for Best Feature, and SCA senior lecturer Chris Chomyn won the award for Best Cinematography.
June 22, 2010 Medal for Multiply SCA Student Wins Academy Award SCA Division of Animation and Digital Arts (DADA) student Emily Henricks took home the Silver Medal in the Alternative category at the 2010 Student Academy Awards on June 12. Henricks’ film, Multiply, utilizes a minimal amount of cycling frames to create a dizzying array of motion.
June 11, 2010 Red Sea Institute Graduates First Class Only Cinematic Arts School in Middle East The Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts (RSICA) celebrated the graduation of its inaugural Masters of Fine Arts class in a ceremony held at the Movenpick Tala Bay Resort in Aqaba, Jordan, on May 21, 2010.
June 3, 2010 In Memoriam: William Fraker Renowned Cinematographer and SCA Alumnus/Instructor William A. “Bill” Fraker, ASC, BSC, legendary cinematographer/director, and SCA alumnus and instructor, passed away Monday at the age of 86.
June 2, 2010 First Impressions Student Work Wows Sociologists, career advice experts and speed daters agree: you only have one chance to make a first impression. Fortunately, SCA students are making exceptional first impressions through an eclectic array of projects put on display as part of the School’s end-of-year programs.
May 19, 2010 2010 School of Cinematic Arts Commencement Day Class of 2010 is go for launch “Launch control, this is Houston. We are go for launch.” These words from 1995’s “Apollo 13” boomed over the sound system of the Shrine Auditorium on Commencement Day 2010 as the School of Cinematic Arts (SCA), along with industry friends Jeffrey Katzenberg and Jon Landau, celebrated the new graduates on the eve of their coming journey.
May 6, 2010 CU: Jacqueline Schaeffer and Rikki Jarrett Indie Filmmakers Ask If True Love Comes With a Guarantee What if a clock could count down to the moment you meet your soul mate? The new film, TiMER, by writer/director Jacqueline Schaeffer ‘04 and producer Rikki Jarrett ’06, examines this question and finds that the answer, as with most matters of the heart, is far from simple.
May 3, 2010 First Look Struts Indie Style SCA Students Amp up the Indie Factor at First Look 2010 USC School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) students amped up the indie factor at this year’s First Look festival with entries including an animated foreign-language documentary and an official 2009 Sundance selection.
April 28, 2010 Presidential Medallion Goes to George Lucas SCA Animation student Juan Camilo Gonzalez honored for his film Mecanismo Olvidador USC alumnus, filmmaker and benefactor George Lucas ’66 was awarded the USC Presidential Medallion, the university's highest honor, by President Steven B. Sample on April 26 at the annual Academic Honors Convocation.
April 27, 2010 Meet Kelly And Cal Offbeat Tale Takes Wing With First Team Over the past year, SCA’s First Team program has had much success bringing together alumni writers, directors and producers in its inaugural run. Setting out this month under the First Team banner is Kelly & Cal, an offbeat dramedy about an unlikely friendship between a new mother struggling with her identity and a 17-year old in a wheelchair who’s been spying on her.
April 2, 2010 To Protect and To Serve Ann Biderman Returns to SCA with her Southland Cast and Crew Members of the cast and creative team of the acclaimed TNT series Southland joined SCA students for an in-depth discussion and Q&A session, as part of Howard Rosenberg’s 467 Television Symposium, on February 22.
March 23, 2010 Katzenberg Named Commencement Speaker Landau To Receive Mary Pickford Alumni Award DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg will deliver the commencement address at the 2010 USC School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) graduation ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium on Friday May 14, Dean Elizabeth M. Daley announced today. Jon Landau, producer of Avatar and Titanic and USC alumnus, will receive SCA’s prestigious Mary Pickford Foundation Award.
March 2, 2010 The Power of Yes Ron Howard Speaks with SCA Students A standing room only crowd packed the Ray Stark Family Theatre for an evening with Academy Award-winning filmmaker and SCA alumnus Ron Howard on February 25. The acclaimed director/producer spoke for over two hours, relating anecdotes from his lengthy career and emphasizing the importance of creative collaboration.
$We\'re # 1$ March 2, 2010 We're # 1 IMD Listed as Top Game Design Program SCA’s Interactive Media Division ranks as the #1 game design program at U.S. and Canadian universities, according to The Princeton Review and GamePro Media.
March 1, 2010 Summer Program Student Testimonials Former students weigh in on their experiences Former students weigh in on their experiences at the USC School of Cinematic Arts Summer Program.
February 25, 2010 Summer Program Student Stories: Janey USC/Warner Brothers Producing & Directing; Directing Intensive “It gave me confidence as a filmmaker,” says Janey. She originally followed her brother to the USC SCA Summer Program as both were interested in filmmaking.
February 25, 2010 Summer Program Student Stories: Gordon USC/Universal Producing & Directing; Advanced Screenwriting; The Insider “It’s not a summer camp, it’s a summer program,” says Gordon, a two-year veteran of the USC SCA Summer Program. Gordon first attended the program when he was 16, and wasn’t quite sure what to expect at first. “I’d learned about the program while looking at film schools,” he continues. “I had done the New York Film Academy, but felt like this was really the next level of production – I was really able to dig deep.”
February 25, 2010 Summer Program Student Stories: Tin USC/Universal Producing & Directing ; Internship in Film & Television Tin Pang, unlike the majority of the USC SCA Summer Program students, is not from the United States. Tin hails from Australia and came to USC based upon the SCA’s reputation as a film school. In his first summer at USC, he undertook the USC/Universal Producing and Directing course.
February 22, 2010 Tribute to Re-Invention USC Professors Honored by WIFTS USC School of Cinematic Arts tenured professors Judy Irola and Georgia Jeffries have been honored by the Women’s International Film & Television Showcase (WIFTS) Foundation with International Visionary Awards for their respective bodies of work.
February 19, 2010 A Conversation with The Odd Gentlemen SCA Gamers Launch Thesis Project On February 18, USC School of Cinematic Arts celebrated the launch of The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom. The brainchild of two recent SCA graduates Matt Korba ’08 and Paul Bellezza ’08, Winterbottom originated as Korba’s thesis project – and with an assist from Bellezza, it is one of several games born at SCA to find success in the gaming industry in the last few years.
February 9, 2010 Hedgehogs and Herons Legendary Russian Animator Visits SCA A rainy week in Los Angeles did not dampen the enthusiasm of hundreds of USC students and animation devotees who were treated to a rare visit by world-renowned Russian animator Yuri Norstein.
February 8, 2010 Shuffle Up and Deal First Team Trio’s Poker Pic Ready for Hollywood Last semester, First Team kicked off with dozens of SCA alums meeting and mixing toward collaborations that might someday hit the big screen. Fast-forward to 2010 and a number of those teams already find themselves in prime positions thanks to the new program and their own hard work.
$In Memoriam: D\'Marco Ray Smith$ February 5, 2010 In Memoriam: D'Marco Ray Smith Sound Expert, Class of '98 D’Marco Ray Smith, who graduated from SCA in 1998, and quickly forged a successful career as a sound supervisor and recordist, passed away Monday, February 1, following a long battle with cancer.
February 1, 2010 Q&A with Jason Reitman Award Winning Alum Returns to Campus Reitman returns to campus to drop in on Leonard Maltin's class CTCS 466: Theatrical Film Symposium.
February 1, 2010 Remarkable Documentary Premieres This Week "The Desert of Forbidden Art" Written, Produced, and Directed by Cinematic Arts Professor and Grad "The Desert of Forbidden Art", written, produced, and directed by associate professor Amanda Pope and cinematic arts grad Tchavdar Georgiev ’00 premieres on Feb. 6 and 12 at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.
January 22, 2010 A Stellar Start Semester Kicks Off With Guest Speakers The School of Cinematic Arts’ spring semester has begun with a bang: the month of January has already featured three remarkable evenings with industry leaders and innovators, who have provided valuable insight for capacity crowds of students, faculty and staff.
January 13, 2010 Osher Heads Alumni Council Veteran Exec Presides Over First Council Meeting of 2010 Bob Osher, president of the Digital Production division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, chief operating officer of Columbia Pictures Motion Picture Group, SCA adjunct faculty member, and newly installed chair of the SCA Alumni Council, conducted his first AC meeting on Tuesday, January 12.
January 13, 2010 In Memoriam: Mel Sloan SCA Faculty Member for over 50 Years Longtime School of Cinematic Arts faculty member Professor Emeritus Mel Sloan passed away, January 12, from pneumonia, at his home in Van Nuys, CA, at the age of 86. Sloan served on the SCA faculty from 1946 until his retirement in 1997.