Ex’pression College | All Access

MGD Students Create Doritos Commercials

digitalsoup — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:53:31 +0000

Students in the Advertising Concepts & Strategy 2 class in the Motion Graphic Design program recently created commercials for the Doritos brand as a part of the annual “Crash The Super Bowl” advertising contest.

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Graduate spotlight: Captain America: The First Avenger

digitalsoup — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:31:28 +0000

Congratulations to the multitude of Ex’pression College Alumni who worked on Captain America: The First Avenger!

Many of our Animation & Visual Effects alumni worked as stereoscopic rotoscope artists for The Base Studio, converting this movie from 2D to 3D. In all, The Base Studio converted about 1000 shots from 2D to 3D! Alumnus Dylan Jutt, Class 65, is also the Resident Maya Generalist at The Base Studio. Check out his company bio on their website. For more info about the 2D to 3D conversion process for Captain America: The First Avenger, read the article with Jordon Freda, Producer at The Base Studio, on ComicBookMovie.com. The Base Studio is located in Foster City, CA.

For many of the graduates that worked on this film, it marked their first feature film credit. We caught up with a couple of them and this is what they had to say.

Melissa Flores:

“It was amazing just knowing that something I was working on millions of people would be viewing. I consider it a great stepping stone for my career in the industry.”

Airyque Ervin:

“Stereoscopic rotoscoping is a little different from traditional rotoscopoing. Typically when we roto, we go 1-2 pixels inside the silhouette. Stereo roto is 1-2 pixels outside the silhouette. Speaking of “silhouette”; that is the name of the program we used. It was a little challenging learning the new software, but thanks to the education from Ex’pression, I was able to adapt and learn it very quickly. Through much hard work and my diligent efforts on the project, I was able to land my first official credit on a feature film.”

Ex’pression College Graduate credits on Captain America: The First Avenger

Nick Alixopulos, Class 57
Alyson Asami, Class 78
Taylor Blete, Class 86
Edward Brugge, Class 70
Nicole Burch, Class 86
Kathy Carlston, Class 80 (uncredited, Evil Eye Pictures)
Nathaniel Chung, Class 83
Dominic Constantine, Class 74
Airyque Ervin, Class 77
Anthony Evans, Class 74
Olivia Fernandez, Class 82
Aaron Fetherkile, Class 64
Melissa Flores, Class 64
Travis Gorman, Class 80 (uncredited, Evil Eye Pictures)
Scott Gudahl, Class 78
Sebastian Guerne, Class 86
Warren Hirsch, Class 76
Alex Kasten, Class 67
Brian Malmstrom, Class 70
Nereyda Pimentel, Class 83
Brian Salcedo, Class 84
David Schrijn, Class 75
Jonathan Scion, Class 78
Phillip M. Shaw, Class 85
Keith D. Simpson, Class 74
Ryan Soule, Class 77
Matthew Suggett, Class 86
Thomas Sydnor, Class 81
Barry Tuttle, Class 74
Jeanette Vera, Class 76

Student spotlight: Motion Conference ’11

digitalsoup — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 23:41:27 +0000

The Motion Conference is an annual event held in Albuquerque, NM, highlighting the best the motion graphics and visual effects communities have to offer. At the conference, seasoned professionals mingle and present alongside students and aspiring visual artists. Since it’s inception, Ex’pression College has sent students of the Motion Graphic Design program to the conference to network and learn about current trends in the industry.

This year, Ex’pression MGD students Andrew Bauer, Charles Lee, Lauren Patterson, and alumnus Lydia Baillergeau showed off their stop-motion Jello™ masterpiece. The students were asked by the conference organizers to produce a motion graphics piece that embodied the feeling of “celebration”, as this was the 5th birthday of the Motion Conference. They chose to use famous, historical graphic design compositions (Piet Mondrian’s “Broadway Boogie Woogie” and El Lissitzky’s “Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge”) and “break” those design rules, to emulate how designers need to get together and break the mold sometimes. They presented their piece on the main stage at Motion, and were part of a Q&A panel with the other presenters from the segment of the conference, entitled “Now THAT’s Creative!”.

Ex'pression Students at Motion 11'

Student Charles Lee’s highlight from Motion ’11 was listening to William Lebeda¹ from Picture Mill speak about failure in the industry and how to turn that into a positive. “Overall, it was really insightful to see how professionals deal with clients, their design process, and other aspects of what it takes to be a working motion graphics artist,” said Charles.

Creating the jello inspired video took 2 weeks to complete and presented some unusual challenges. The jello would melt under the hot lights or it would become crisp when exposed to cooling fans for too long. The group also was mentioned for their work on the popular CGNews blog!

Portfolio sites:

¹_{William Lebeda spoke at an Ex’pression College Ex’pert Series on May 23rd, 2011.}

Ex’pert Series: Al Schmitt

digitalsoup — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 01:57:27 +0000

Ex’pert Series with 21-Time Grammy Award Winner Al Schmitt

Engineering in Today’s Music Market

Brooklyn-born Al Schmitt, a 21-time Grammy-winning engineer and producer, possesses a work ethic that consistently produces pristine, innovative and inspiring recordings, spanning four decades, with no end in sight.

Schmitt has worked with some of the industry’s most legendary artists, representing a variety of musical genres, such as Henry Mancini, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Jefferson Airplane, Neil Young, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers, Steely Dan, Barbara Streisand, and Madonna. Today, Schmitt is perhaps best known for the sonically exquisite recordings of Natalie Cole and Diana Krall.

Al Schmitt with Shiloh Hobel, Sr. Director Industry Relations - Sound Arts

Faculty focus: Eric Arvai wins Emmy

digitalsoup — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 00:03:07 +0000

Congratulations go out to Ex’pression College Common Core Course Director, Eric Arvai. Eric won an Ohio regional Emmy Award for his music scoring work on the film, The Last Dance. The Last Dance is a documentary film about the sculptor and artist, David Hostetler. The film was completed in 2008 and became well known after airing on PBS stations in 2010. The collaboration was an extension of work Eric had done at the School of Dance at Ohio State University in partnership with his mentor, concert pianist Andre Gribou, where he provided live improvised piano accompaniment for modern dance classes. Producer, acquaintance, and Ohio University faculty member, Keith Newman, immediately thought of Eric when it came time to score the film. The Last Dance is available on Amazon.com and periodically airs on PBS.

Film website and trailer:

www.hostetlerfilm.com

What’s your background in music?

I started taking piano lessons at age 5. I formally studied music at Berkelee College of Music for one year. I also play the bass, trumpet, drums, and didgeridoo.

Future projects:

Scoring Rick Giachino’s documentary Forgiving God for submission to the Sundance Film Festival.

Ex’pression Session | Antiserum

digitalsoup — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 23:27:38 +0000

Not sure what dubstep is? Read this article from Spin Magazine:
Dubstep 101: A U.S. Primer.

Antiserum, the Bay Area’s very own leader in the dubstep movement, will be killing it live at Ex’pression College on Wednesday, October 19th. Guests will be given a rare sneak peak inside the creative process and production techniques that Antiserum implements. In an open forum with Q&A, Antiserum will demonstrate live how he sculpts his bass sounds using a hardware synth. After the Q&A, he will play exclusive new unreleased material followed by a hot student DJ performance.

Antiserum also colloborates with friend and Ex’pression College instructor Vince Santora (a.k.a. Vinja). Together they have released music on the True Score Theory label and Stop/Start Records. They are currently producing material in a variety of styles and will be divulging information about their collaborative process at the event. Vince will also be moderating the Q&A session. Connect with Antiserum on Facebook.

See you on the dance floor!

Antiserum | Ex’pression Session
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
7pm, Meyer Hall
RSVP

Listen to more Antiserum tracks on SoundCloud.

^{A vital contributor to the San Francisco dubstep movement, Antiserum’s Bay Area roots emerged through the fog in 2008 when he produced one of the top 10 best-selling dubstep tracks of the year. His most recent release, The Swarm EP, (on Excision’s Rottun Recordings) topped charts within the first week, putting him on worldwide rotation. Widely known for his innovative and meticulously crafted sounds, rich euphoric beats, and vast futuristic soundscapes, Antiserum’s style of West Coast bass music truly resides in a class of its own.}

We recently sat down with Antiserum to answer a few questions.

EX: How did you get started making music and when did you get into producing dubstep?

A: I started getting serious about making electronic music around 2004-2005 when I bought my first synth, a Virus C. I was really into nu skool breaks and drum & bass then – focusing mainly on producing and deejaying breaks. My initial experience producing dubstep however was quite unexpected. While working on a breaks tune one day with my two buddies Vince & Jason, we made the drums half-time during the breakdown, chucked a couple of nasty bass sounds in there and BLAM – little did we know we had our first taste of dubstep! We really had no idea what we stumbled upon, but we loved it. It was right around that time I was then introduced more officially to dubstep through the Surefire Sound shows in San Francisco and through Lorin (DJ Ripple), who was the first to release Antiserum dubstep tracks on his label, Full Melt.

EX: How have you seen dubstep evolve in the US?

A: Dubstep is huge now! It’s grown so much since I first heard it. In San Francisco, we’ve gone from having a dubstep show every month or two in 2006 to one nearly every night of the week now. When I first started playing gigs, we’d be amazed to see 100 heads show up! Through all the shows I’ve performed at though, it wasn’t until I toured with Excision & Downlink earlier this year that I really got an up close and personal look at just how big dubstep is in the States. We traveled the country for six weeks, literally jumping straight off the bus into jam packed shows full of diehard dubstep addicts nearly every night. It was the most amazing experience I’ve had yet. The sound is so big now it has crossed over into the mainstream, with artists like Jay-Z, Kanye West, & Rhianna incorporating it into their music and performances. The structure of dubstep music has evolved quite a bit from the old school sound that originated from London, which had a lot more space for the music to breathe. Dub and reggae also had a much bigger influence in the sound when it first hit the States. Today, there’s a large focus towards creating the heaviest, most advanced production and the craziest bass sounds. I enjoy the many styles of dubstep that have evolved since day one and encourage anyone to explore its roots. There’s a lot of history there that is often unheard nowadays.

EX: What have been some of the big rewards for you on your journey?

A: I am so grateful for everything that I’ve experienced because of music. I’ve been able to travel all over the USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. I got to meet some of my favorite musicians and work with some of them too! I think my biggest reward from making music and performing is seeing a dance floor packed with smiling people, all going crazy to a song that I just made in my studio the night before!

EX: What are some of the challenges you face as an independent musician?

A: As far as gigs go, the amount of work I get isn’t always consistent. When I agree to play a show, I’m putting all of my trust into a promoter who sometimes, I’ve never even met before. It’s also a challenge to spend time with family and friends because most of my time is spent in the studio. But the biggest challenge of them all is staying fresh, consistent, and most importantly, inspired! I have to keep my focus as inspiration isn’t always around – and when deadlines have to be met, you just have to make it happen!

EX: What are your 3 favorite synths?

A: Virus TI, Nexxus, Omnisphere

Student reaction:

Sound Arts student, Tosh Ridgeway, first discovered dubstep during renegade forest raves near Nevada City, CA, in 2005. Tosh first heard Antiserum slay the crowd in New Mexico in 2008 and was impressed by the sets extremely energetic and dark vibe. He’s excited to have the chance to hear some oozing bass emanate from Meyer Hall and see one of his music idols.

Faculty focus: Brian Andrews | Siggraph 2011

digitalsoup — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 02:18:54 +0000

Brian Andrews

Now in its 38th year, SIGGRAPH is the premier international event on computer graphics and interactive techniques. Course Director for Animation & Visual Effects, Brian Andrews, visited the esteemed SIGGRAPH conference this year in Vancouver, BC, along with instructor Joe Daniel, to represent Ex’pression College and to participate in the industry and conference events.

Brian’s highlights from the conference were (in no particular order):

The Foundry’s Geek Fest. Geek Fest was held in an old Chinese movie theater turned night club and presentations were made on the new developments for Nuke, WETA‘s deep compositing platform, and the Mari texturing application.
Cory Doctorow, editor of the popular Boing Boing blog and online free speech advocate, talked about sensible changes to copyright that support the artist.
Pixar‘s amazing short La Luna screening and panel discussion.
Disney Animation Studios education summit where they shared insights and resources for placing graduates with their company and a critique of successful job applicant reels.

^{*click images to view large}

Brian personally exhibited at SIGGRAPH in 2005 in the art gallery with a series of photo composites made from human and veterinary images creating hominid creatures (pictured above). He is now using those same images as concept art in an upcoming AVE Group Project Class; making a fully modeled 3D short film.

Brian Andrews is a contemporary artist, critic, and visual effects supervisor currently living in San Francisco. To learn more visit: brianandrews.org

Student spotlight: Zooppa Contest Winners

digitalsoup — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 19:43:30 +0000

Congrats to Daniel Brunt, Danny Wang, and Kai Tang for these deserving awards!

Daniel Brunt 2nd Place in the Verizon competition for his video, “Steve Flies Faster”.

In the Zooppa.com “Wholly Guacamole” contest:

Danny Wang 2nd (overall from the client) and 5th Place (voting award from Zooppa users), with “Guac Squak”.

Kai Tang 8th Place (voting award), with “The Best”.

All students in the Motion Graphic Design program at Ex’pression College have the opportunity to work on real world projects as part of actual class assignments. These Zooppa.com winners made their pieces in Motion Graphics 1 & 2. Students also make dedicated commercials in Ad Con 2. View the full MGD Curriculum here.

High School Summer Camp 2011

digitalsoup — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 22:21:24 +0000

Thanks to everyone who participated in this year’s high school Summer Camp! The projects all turned out amazing! Stay tuned to the Ex’pression website for information on registering for the 2012 Summer Camp!

Video created entirely (including all pre- and post production) by the participants from this year’s Digital Filmmaking Summer Camp at Ex’pression College.

Watch more Summer Camp projects here.

AES Chapter Event: Leslie Ann Jones

digitalsoup — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 17:28:13 +0000

Leslie Ann Jones & Performances by Lowell Trio

Saturday, July 9th
SSL 9000, Ex’pression College
Presented by our student AES chapter

Grammy-winning audio engineer Leslie Ann Jones (credits include Apocalypse Now, Dead Man Walking, video games God of War 3, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Infamous 2), hosted a seminar on classical instrument recording techniques. The event featured a discussion of the approach to classical music recording that she has developed as both a successful independent recordist and head of Skywalker Sound‘s Recording & Scoring Department. This was followed by a performance and recording of the Lowell Trio (piano, oboe, and cello), where attendees had the opportunity to compare the live experience to the recorded balance created by Ms. Jones. The intimate event was attended by 20 plus Sound Arts students and Ex’pression Alumni combined.

Leslie is no-nonsense when it comes to her craft. It was educational and equally enjoyable just watching her work and recount some of her experiences. The music was wonderful, accessible, and educational, too. Classical music isn’t always portrayed to be as exciting as say rock n’ roll or hip-hop, but as future audio engineers, our students still need to critically think about some of the issues in this genre as they may very well be working on a project in the future that calls for it.

Faculty focus: Rick Schmidt on filmmaking

digitalsoup — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:11:57 +0000

Rick Schmidt

Ex’pression College is home to a host of industry veterans like Rick Schmidt, a walking history book of filmmaking whose work has influenced countless numbers of Hollywood hit-makers and film students across the globe. Most notably is Rick’s book titled, Extreme DV at Used-Car Prices: How to Write, Direct, Shoot, Edit, and Produce a Digital Video Feature for LessThan $3,000. All incoming students in the Media Sound & Visual classes have the opportunity to learn with Rick.

Rick Schmidt has written, directed, shot, edited and produced more than twenty award winning features since 1973, which have been screened at over 50 film festivals world wide. Rick has received four grants from the National Endowment for the Arts for his film works. His feature, A Man, a Woman, and a Killer, directed with his then roommate Wayne Wang (Joy Luck Club, Smoke, etc.) won ‘Director’s Choice’ at the Ann Arbor Film Festival and secured him an American Film Institute Independent Filmmaker’s Grant for his second feature, 1988:The Remake (London Film Festival, Rotterdam Film Festival, Channel Four/England, etc.). His fourth feature Morgan’s Cake, made for just $15,000, was screened at the Sundance Film Festival/Dramatic Competition, Berlin International/Panorama, New Directors/New Films, San Francisco International Film Festival, and others.

^{Kevin Smith, director of Clerks, endorses Rick’s work.}

You can find Rick’s books on Amazon and learn more about his consulting at lightvideo.com.

“It’s not the equipment that makes a good movie, it’s what you do with it. [With Extreme DV] Rick Schmidt shows filmmakers how to use these new tools to realize their visions.”

– John Lasseter: Chief Creative Officer, Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios Principal Creative Advisor, Walt Disney Imagineering

“I wish I could have read this book thirty-five years ago, before I made my first low-budget features.”

–Vilmos Zsigmond, cinematographer, Deliverance, The Deer Hunter, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Crossing Guard

AES Student Chapter

digitalsoup — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 00:07:19 +0000

“All Access” recently sat down with current Ex’pression Audio Engineering Society Student Chair, Ian Duran.

1. Why did you get involved with the AES student chapter and what positive things do you get out of being the Chair person?

I got involved because I had been an AES member for a while and the campus chapter wasn’t currently active, so a few of us teamed up to start the chapter again. It’s a nice way to get professionals to talk about their expertise and network with students.

2. What’s on the horizon for future events?

We are looking for more post-production and interactive audio events in the future. Leslie Ann Jones from Skywalker Sound will be here this Saturday from 1-3pm followed by a performance from the Lowell Trio. There will be a Dead Kenny G’s performance workshop on July 16th.

-Ian Duran, Ex’pression AES Student Chair

Being a part of AES affords students access to educational resources, exclusive events, networking opportunities, and more! Learn about all the benefits of membership and join through the AES website ($25 annually).

In this photo: Spencer Roberts, Brad Christenson, Jackie Minor, Dale Jurie Smith, John Cheatham, Alex Petersen, Ian Duran, Lauren Heminez, Will Squire-Rogers, Andy Hendriksen

AES Ex’pression section members at a Meyer Sound tour in Berkeley, CA. (photo)

Recent and upcoming events:

Dead Kenny G’s performance - July 16
Leslie Ann Jones and Lowell Trio - July 9
AVID HD I/O Converter Demonstration - June 23
Revolution of High-Tech Musical Instruments with Roger Linn - June 18
Transcending the Acoustic with David Bowles - June 4
Mastering Discussion with Mike Wells - May 7

You can keep up with the Ex’pression AES chapter through their Facebook group.

Student spotlight: Kai Tang

digitalsoup — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 23:59:35 +0000

Kai Tang wins Zooppa.com contest!

Zooppa.com held an online contest in celebration of the 10th anniversary of THE WEEK. Contestants were asked to create a video or print advertisement for a chance to win a cash prize and year’s subscription to the magazine. The top 5 video and print entries were awarded. Ex’pression College Motion Graphic Design student, Kai Tang, placed 3rd in the video category.

Apple Authorized Training Center

digitalsoup — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:59:04 +0000

Ex’pression College is an Apple Authorized Training Center, Gold Level. Get certified today with Ex’pression Pro.

Posted via email from expression’s posterous

Student spotlight: Phillip Shaw – 3D Modeler

digitalsoup — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 19:11:03 +0000

Philip Shaw created this reel at Ex’pression College in the Animation & Visual Effects program.expression.edu/animation_visual_effects

Film Festivals and Beyond

digitalsoup — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 00:18:30 +0000

Ex’pression College has always been a creative incubator for independent filmmaking. From the moment students start, they make a short film in the Media Sound & Visual class. The best projects are then sent around the world to various festivals and competitions and the winning film posters are displayed around campus with their accolades. With the advent of the upcoming Digital Filmmaking Degree, we look forward to an ever higher quality of student films and even more film festival winners!

Student spotlight: Scott Moelich – Compositor

digitalsoup — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 22:29:44 +0000

Scott Moelich created this showreel in the Animation & Visual Effects program at Ex’pression College for Digital Arts in Emeryville, CA.

expression.edu/animation_visual_effects

Step on stage!

digitalsoup — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 20:26:22 +0000

Learn more about Ex’pression College’s unique hands-on approach to arts education.