So maybe your hook-up for those OSCAR tickets fell through at the last minute. Perhaps you waited too long to purchase a flight to Los Angeles, and balked at the lack of available window seats. Or maybe you never had any intention of actually attending this year’s 84th Academy Awards, and instead want to watch it in the company of other Full Sail students and faculty right here on campus. If this is the case, you’re in luck.

Our Academy Awards celebration kicks off this Sunday, February 26 in the Full Sail Live Venue, with the red carpet beginning at 7:00 p.m. Join us for an exciting night as we celebrate the 98 Full Sail grads who have been credited on 29 OSCAR-nominated projects. This event is open to all staff and students with a valid Full Sail ID. And make sure you come dressed to impressed, as the evening will include a prize for Best Dressed, as well as other giveaways.

You can also stay tuned to the event on Twitter using the #fsoscars hashtag. See you on Sunday!

The annual NBA All-Star Weekend has been a basketball tradition for over 60 years, and the 2012 festivities are set to kick off in Orlando today, bringing athletes, celebrities, and fans to Central Florida for three days of events celebrating the sport and its best players.

The highlight of the weekend is the All-Star Game, which will be held at the Amway Arena, home court of the Orlando Magic. The Arena is also the workplace of Full Sail grads Justin Garand (Graphic Design) and Geoff Krohmer (Film, Entertainment Business), who help produce the motion graphics, signage, and print materials during the Magic’s season.

Obviously proud about All-Star game being held on his home turf, Justin explained, “The thing I’m most looking forward to this weekend is having people come to the Amway Arena and just experiencing what the venue is like. It’s just a great place to see something like this, and I can’t wait to watch all the events that are lined up.”

The NBA handled the majority of the graphic design for the All-Star game, so the grads are free to enjoy All-Star weekend as fans. Some of the notable events include Friday night’s Rising Stars Challenge, and Saturday’s Three-Point Shootout and Slam Dunk Contest – Justin’s personal favorite. “I’m always excited to watch the Slam Dunk Contest,” he says. “It’s interesting to see how they’re going to outdo each other every year.”

Justin is also pleased about the attention the weekend will help bring to Orlando as a hub for sports entertainment. In addition to the Magic, the Amway Arena hosts the Orlando Predators football team, and the area is also know for its USGA golf tournaments, MLB spring training, and a variety of water and action sports.

“It’s going to be really nice to have all eyes of Orlando this weekend, and what the city has to offer besides theme parks like Disney and Universal,” he says. “We have an awesome downtown area, it’s just a great city for sports.”

Those catching the All-Star Weekend at home can stay tuned to ESPN, TNT, and NBA TV for coverage of the events. The All-Star Game will be broadcast live on TNT at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, February 26.

Martin Scorsese’s Hugo was among the biggest surprises of 2011 – a 3D family film from a director primarily known for his gritty dramas (Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, The Departed). The level of craftsmanship and affection for the subject matter resulted in a timeless work on par with the filmmaker’s best, which garnered it 11 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Visual Effects.

Eight Full Sail alumni contributed to Hugo’s production, and we recently spoke to 2008 Computer Animation grad ZhuoTao Zhang, who worked on the film’s Oscar-nominated effects as a character modeler at Pixomondo in Shanghai, China.

“We knew that we were on a very special movie from the start,” he says. “It was one of the biggest things Pixomondo was working on at that time. To our surprise, we never expected it to get so many positive reviews and even get nominated for Oscar.”

Hugo was ZhuoTao’s first major film credit, and while only on it for a little over a month, he created a number of the character assets you see in the final film. Most notably, he helped with the character modeling and texturing for the digital doubles created for three of the leads – Hugo, the station inspector, and his dog.

“My part mostly involved modeling the character’s faces and additional body parts,” he says. “I played a small role in the process, and it was the work of so many talented artists at Pixomondo that made it possible. The experience I gained was enormous, I’m really lucky.”

Pixomondo has branches across the world, including Berlin, Los Angeles, and London, and will take home the statue for Best Visual Effects if Hugo wins the award on Oscar night. ZhuoTao has been with their Shanghai studio for almost a year, and is understandably thrilled that his first feature out of school has received such recognition.

“Everyone I’m working with was really excited to hear the news [of the nomination],” he says. “For the most part its not about the movie for me, its the experience of working with a such great team, especially here in Shanghai. I feel like I’ve become a part of a family and am learning new stuff everyday.”

When you sit back to watch the Academy Awards this Sunday take special notice of the graphics and logos on your screen – they were created with the help of Digital Arts & Design graduate Ian Kemp. Ian is a designer/motion graphics artist at ABC Digital, part of the network’s creative team, and caught up with us before this year’s ceremony to talk about his part in Hollywood’s biggest night.

For this year’s telecast Ian produced a collection of motion graphics spots, transitions, intros, and lower third graphics that will be displayed during the live show and online. As quick as these images fly across your screen, he explained that each 5-10 second clip can take up to 40 hours of work to create.

“The Oscars can definitely be a bit of a challenge, but it’s a great experience,” he says. “Their branding guidelines are very strict, but I definitely try to put my own flair on there when I can. Just recently I created a transition and they expressed that it would be used everywhere throughout the night, so I was pretty stoked about that. Just to know that so many people will see it during the show is a great feeling.”

Ian has been with ABC since August of 2010, and the majority of his time is spent creating television and web content for their lineup of shows, from Modern Family to The Bachelor. This year will mark his second Oscar broadcast, and follows the success of their 2011 efforts, which saw the ABC Digital team win an Emmy for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media.

“Last year we built the Oscar website in-house and had really cutting edge features like the ‘Red Carpet Experience,’” he says. “We constructed a map of the red carpet, and people could click on each video camera stationed on it at the actual event and view the footage in real time. I didn’t even expect to win anything, but it was definitely a treat.”

As a viewer it’s easy to get wrapped up in the spectacle of the presenters, fashions, and nominees on Oscar night, but speaking with Ian about his work is a reminder of the number of talented artists working behind the scenes to help bring cohesion to the look and feel of the presentation.

“It’s a surreal feeling to be here and to work on something so big, especially coming from a small town in Georgia where your dreams are simply just that, a dream.” he says. “I used to look on Full Sail’s website and see what all these graduates were up to, and it always seemed so far out of reach. Now I feel so blessed to be able to be here, and share these experiences with my family and friends.”

New York-based DJ and GRAMMY-nominated electronic music producer Danny Tenaglia will be on campus tonight at 5:15 p.m. in FS3B-131 to discuss the vibrant history of his decades-long career in the music business.

Danny is well-known for his tracks “Music is the Answer” and “Elements,” which went all the way to #1 on the Billboard Dance Charts in the late 1990′s. In the 2000′s, Danny gained attention for his headlining performances at the Ultra Music Festival with artists like Carl Cox and Fatboy Slim. He continues to remain prolific, keeping the party going in clubs around the world (in fact, last night he performed here in Orlando at The Beacham).

Danny will be discussing his first steps in the music industry, the events that led to his success, and the technical details of how he produces his tracks. He’ll also be joined by his manager Kevin McHugh, who will talk about his experience managing both headlining and emerging artists, as well as the important aspects of conducting business in the electronic music world.

“Danny simple wants to pass along the knowledge he has acquired throughout his 30-year long career to the next generation of producers, artist managers, and music industry executives who are blossoming at Full Sail University,” says Entertainment Business Master’s Associate Course Director Homer Berkowitz. “He’s one of the most legendary and elusive DJs of this generation. Students who come to this presentation will get a rare glimpse of what goes on inside his head when he produces and mixes his tracks.”

This is an event that you won’t want to miss. Be there!

Today at 2:00 p.m. in FS4E-103, Full Sail students can learn more about career opportunities at Radio Disney. Studio Manager Michele Bastone – who has spent the last 20 years in broadcast media, including stints at Lincoln Financial Media’s two radio stations in Miami and at WJNO Radio in West Palm Beach – will talk to students about the operations of Radio Disney and offer up insight from her career in the industry.

Based in the Disney Channel’s headquarters in Burbank, California, Radio Disney broadcasts music and other content targeted at children and young teenagers under 16. The station’s format can be described as a youth-targeted contemporary hit radio. Since its launch in 1996, the Walt Disney Company subsidiary has helped propel the careers of artists such as Chrstina Aguilera and Aaron Carter, as well as Disney Channel-related artists like Hilary Duff, Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, and more.

Everyone has their favorites on Oscar night, the movies and performances that most resonated with them, as well as the ones they think will actually take home a statue. With so many Full Sail alumni featured on this year’s Academy Award nominees, we checked in with grads Joe Harkins (Computer Animation) and Christian Labarta (Film), who worked on two of the major contenders – Hugo and War Horse.

Both contributed to Hugo, which is nominated in 11 categories. Christian was on set as additional crowd third assistant director, while Joe came in during post production as a CG supervisor. Following his work on Hugo, Christian joined Steven Spielberg’s War Horse as additional third assistant director. The film is nominated for six awards, including Best Picture and Best Cinematography.

Taking a break from their current projects, Joe and Christian spoke with us about their thoughts on this year’s range of nominees, and their own picks in three of the major categories.

There’s a really interesting lineup of films nominated, is it hard to pick a personal favorite?

Christian: It is because there were a lot of really good movies made in 2011. I was definitely proud to work on Hugo and War Horse, so it’s great to see those movies get nominations. Both were really special, and I’m hoping they get something.

Let’s turn to your Oscar predictions. Joe, who gets your pick for Best Visual Effects?

Joe: At the end of the day I think the film that deserves the most recognition is Rise of the Planet of the Apes, with Joe Letteri and his crew at Weta, and what they did with Caesar (the film’s animated chimpanzee). I don’t think anything else that we saw last year came close to that level of CG work. So I’m hoping that they win, but you never know with the Oscars.

Christian, who do you see going home with Best Director?

Christian: I think it’s between Scorsese for Hugo and Michael Hazanavicius for The Artist, but then Marty just got it for The Departed a few years ago. So it’s one of those things where it’ll either go to Hugo or The Artist, but I really think that Hugo is just much more of a masterpiece.

Finally, who do you both think is going to win Best Picture?

Joe: I wouldn’t be surprised if The Artist takes that, just because of what kind of film it is. Also, if you look at who won the BAFTAs, that’s usually a pretty good indicator of what’s going to happen at the Academy Awards – and it won there.

Christian: I really think The Artist is going to win it. It’s one of those movies that doesn’t come along very often. I think the way that it was shot – black and white in the old Hollywood era – will help it take the award.

Full Sail’s Internet Marketing program has been consistently bringing some really interesting and informative guest speakers to campus (and online) recently, and tonight’s webinar continues the trend.

Tom Cannon is the CEO and co-founder of BungoBox, an Orlando-based moving company that has become the largest and fastest growing moving box rental franchise in North America. He’ll be talking to Full Sail students about the lessons he’s learned from starting and growing his company, as well as how BungoBox has benefited from using social commerce and social media marketing. The GPS event is at 7:00 p.m. and is open to all Full Sail students. You can reserve your seat to this limited event here.

In just two years, Tom and his partner Bob Cannon have expanded BungoBox into 12 locations, and they’re on track to have over 25 locations in the United States by the end of 2012. Tom has recently been nominated to the Orlando Business Journal 40 Under 40 list, and appointed to the Board of Directors of Orlando, Inc. BungoBox also won the 2010 B.I.G. Award for Business Innovation and Growth, as well as the “Most Investable Company” in the Shark Tank Competition hosted by Kevin Harrington at the 2011 Orlando B.I.G. Summit.

Are you ready to get your game on? We certainly hope so, because today is this month’s Structure of Game Production Project Expo. Come on over to FS3B 304 today from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. to get a look at student-made game Legend of the King’s Baron.

Sir Theadore, the King’s newly appointed Baron, has been tasked with creating a thriving city to expand the Kingdom’s influence. Players must help him in this mission, while fending off hordes of wild beasts dead set on destroying the new city.

The Expo presentations are an open floor environment where guests can play games and developers can share their insight (and sometimes war stories) with students who are earlier in the degree program.

See you there!

When Full Sail grad Nick Bozzone began his sound career in Sacramento, he was just an intern – answering phones and auditioning music selections for commercial ads. However, it only took a month on the job for his employer to recognize his work ethic and technical knowledge, and soon Nick had landed a full-time position in the studio.

It was a quick journey for Nick, who admits that before enrolling at Full Sail, his knowledge of the audio industry was pretty thin.

“I had no idea there were jobs out there other than mixing records,” he recalls.

However, in the years following his graduation, Nick’s skills allowed him to delve into several different areas of sound recording, working on everything from music videos (Usher and Hollerado), to video games (The Darkness II and Spec Ops: The Line), to commercials for both radio and television. Recently, he did the sound design and mix on Harold’s Bad Day, an award-winning short film starring comedian Doug Benson, which was featured at the Slamdance Film Festival.

With these types of projects coming Nick’s way, in addition to his normal workload of commercial mixing, he admits the days can be long, but “never boring.” He has pulled a few 9 a.m. to  2 a.m. shifts throughout his career, and rest doesn’t always come in standard eight-hour blocks. “When that happens, I’m telling you, my mind goes back to those lab times [at Full Sail] and the fact that I’ve already gone through them and succeeded,” he recalls.

Now at POP Sound in Santa Monica, Nick’s advice to those entering the audio field after graduation is straightforward: “Realize that you’ve been given the basic tools you need to finish the job, based on your diploma,” but keeping that knowledge fresh and current is important.

“I still, to this day, constantly learn new things, because the progress of technology never stops.”

Ah, it’s Oscar Week here on the FSBlog. We’re awfully excited about all of our graduates who worked on Oscar-nominated projects this year, but, even beyond the awards, we love it when it seems like everyone is talking – and sometimes arguing – about movies. And, boy, is there a lot of talking this year. With the big changes to categories like Best Picture, Best Animated Feature, Best Documentary Feature, and Best Visual Effects, we thought it would be fun to ask the wise and tasteful readers of this blog what your thoughts were on who will prevail in these newly expanded and modified categories? Give us your Oscar picks in the poll below (poll closes at 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 26 and the only prize is the satisfaction of knowing you’re right), and, if you’ve got any more thoughts on this year’s Oscars, let us know in the comments.

The 84th Annual Academy Awards are notable for the diversity of films nominated, with Best Picture contenders featuring a range of subject matters that include comedic dramas The Help and The Descendants, sports biopic Moneyball, World War I epic War Horse, and two tributes to the golden age of filmmaking, Hugo and The Artist, among others.

Of this lineup of nominees we’re pleased to see that many of the year’s biggest films featured the efforts of Full Sail alumni. In total, 98 graduates worked on 29 Oscar nominated projects – including eight of the nine nominees for Best Picture.

Seven of these grads worked on director Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, the year’s most recognized project with 11 nominations. This group includes Film graduates Lauren Astore (office assistant), Christian Labarta (additional crowd third assistant director), Jason Richardson (production assistant), and Sharellis Tatis (administrative assistant), and Computer Animation grads Christopher E. Brown (digital effects artist), Joe Harkins (CG supervisor), and Rob Price (digital artist).

Five Film graduates also worked on the year’s second-most nominated feature, The Artist, which had 10 nods. This surprise hit – a black and white silent film – featured the work of Joe Crowder (rigging grip), Jennifer Ann Henry (first assistant “A” camera), Michael Krikorian (production sound mixer), Nathan Lewis (camera trainee), and Joseph Mason (art department assistant).

On the post-production side, alumni contributed to each of the five nominees for Best Visual Effects. Hugo was again nominated, and was joined by Real Steel (eight grads), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II (five grads), and Rise of the Planet of the Apes (four grads). Finally, the effects-heavy blockbuster Transformers: Dark of the Moon had an impressive 30 graduates across its different departments.

Three of the five nominees for Best Animated Feature also had alumni contributions – Rango (Chuck Choi, Daniel Kresco, Dee Selby, Sebastian Zuleta), Kung Fu Panda 2 (Shawn Bohonos, Chuck Choi, Jack Geckler, Benjamin Robinson), and Puss in Boots (Shawn Bohonos, Benjamin Robinson). Recording Arts grad Oliver Benavidez and Film grad Stephanie Sousa also worked on The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, nominee for Best Animated Short Film.

The Oscars continue to be an annual touchstone for the film industry, and we’d like to congratulate those alumni who contributed to this year’s nominees. The 84th Annual Academy Awards will be held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday, February 24, with ABC broadcasting the event at 7 p.m. EST. Full Sail will be hosting an Oscar party on campus that night. The event will start at 7:00 p.m. in the Full Sail Live Venue, with prizes and giveaways for students.

We know it’s Friday and you’re probably focused on your weekend plans, but we’ve got a Monday morning event that you’re going to want to plan for now.

Nathan Morris, founding member of the award-winning R&B group Boyz II Men (you read that right – Boyz II Men!) will be on campus for an onstage interview about his experience in the music industry and his career at Full Sail Live 1 (off Forsyth Road). The event starts at 10:45 a.m., will be followed by an open Q&A session, and is open to all students and faculty.

Boyz II Men has sold more than 60 million albums worldwide, received four GRAMMY awards, and worked with music legends including Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. If you need any further convincing about why you need to be at this event, we’ll leave you with this:

And this:

And this:

See you on Monday!

The Motion Picture Sound Editors’ Golden Reel Awards are an annual Hollywood institution, honoring the best achievements in film and television audio. The ceremony recognizes projects released during the past year in a number of categories, including domestic and foreign features, documentaries, episodic television, and animated projects.

Among this year’s nominees is Tim Tebow: Everything In Between, which is in the running for Best Sound Editing, Short Form Documentary. The film was directed by Digital Media graduate Chase Heavener, with audio post production handled by a crew that included Recording Arts and Entertainment Business graduate Tim Alward (supervising sound editor/sound designer), and Full Sail staff members Tom Carrigan III (supervising dialog editor/re-recording mixer) and Michael Orlowski (supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer).

“The Golden Reel Awards are a huge deal, it’s the GRAMMYs for motion picture sound editors,” Tom Carrigan says. “They really respect audio – the editing, dialog syncing, Foley sound effects – and how everything fits with what the filmmaker was trying to convey.”

Everything In Between chronicles Tebow from the end of the 2010 Sugar Bowl through NFL Draft Day in 2010, highlighting his career as quarterback for the Florida Gators, Heisman Trophy win, and signing with the Denver Broncos. After principle photography wrapped and the picture was edited, the post team used our campus Dubbing Stage to create the final audio track.

“It was a fun project to work on, and just great that we were able to bring it here to Full Sail,” Carrigan says. “The Dubbing Stage is a really nice facility to work in, and I hope we get more films like this here in the future.”

The 59th Annual Golden Reel Awards will be held at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 19. The entire group will be flying out to attend the event, and as Carrigan explained, he’s already thankful for the attention their work has received.

“Once it gets to be of this caliber of an award, where you’re being considered one of the three best documentaries in the country this year in terms of sound editing, that’s pretty awesome,” he says.

This month’s graduating Show Production class will be hosting Orlando band Beebs and Her Money Makers for the Advanced Concert Media Design Final Concert in Full Sail Live. Doors are at 5:30 p.m.

Fearless songstress Beebs – armed with her wondrous kazoo – leads her money makers in captivating audiences with their high energy performances and special blend of psychedelic rock, funk, blues, and hip hop. This is definitely a show that you won’t want to miss.

These monthly concerts are produced solely by students, with help from volunteers and guidance from Full Sail faculty. Students are responsible for contacting the bands, doing all pre-production work involved with putting on a large format concert, transporting and setting up gear, and setting up and running the lighting, video, and live sound equipment.

Members of the student crew function in various production positions, including show marketing, production management, stage management, visual media, audio, video, and lighting technicians and engineers.

See you at the show!

So after months and months of honing your craft, putting your work out there, and trying to rub shoulders with the right people, you’ve finally landed your first art show. But therein lies the problem – you’re in no way prepared for what will be your first art show.

Have no fear – all hope is not lost. Tonight’s Preparing for an Art Show workshop at 5:30 p.m. in FS2-102I will help you get prepared for your big day. This demonstration will show you from start to finish how to frame your art yourself, using the most cost-effective tools possible. The presentation will also talk about showing your work locally, putting together an “art show hanging kit,” how to present prints, and where to get prints made.

Students can also hear war stories about what not to do and what to watch our for when showing art locally. This event is open to all students, so don’t miss out!

Blogs have become an influential part of the way we get our news and entertainment, and the content creators behind these sites are recognized each year at the Weblog Awards. Also know as the Bloggies, the annual event was launched in 2000 and has continually sought to honor the best online coverage in a variety of fields, including sports, fashion, food, and politics.

Looking at the nominations for the 2012 Bloggies, we’re excited to see Mikiel Houser’s LA Music Blog as one of five sites chosen in the category of Best Weblog About Music. Mikiel is a graduate of both our Recording Arts and Music Business programs, and launched the LA Music Blog in 2009 with his wife Kristin.

“There’s a ton of music bloggers, especially out here in LA, so it’s awesome to be nominated,” Mikiel says. “We’ve worked on this site for awhile and it’s all been kind of a grassroots things. We haven’t really spent any money on marketing, it’s just networking and getting the name out there.”

Kristin is the site’s lead writer and editor, while Mikiel handles more of the business end – making contacts at music labels and meeting with artists and industry professionals. They also have a group of eight freelance writers who help produce the site’s news content, album reviews, and live concert coverage.

“I think what works for us is that we try to not stick to one specific genre,” he says. “These days if you grab someone’s iPod it’s not just going to have one style of music on it, it’s going to be anything from electronica to country. So that’s our mindset, and our writers are all people who have their own styles and passion for music.”

The 2012 Weblog Awards will be held on Sunday, February 26, with the winners announced on their Twitter feed and Facebook page. For Mikiel and his wife the nomination has been a validation of the hard work and late nights they’re put into developing their own unique presence in an industry they love.

“One of the reasons we got together was because of music, and I’m really proud of what we’ve done,” he says. “If you’re passionate about something you really have to be willing to put the time into it, and I think that Full Sail was actually a big catalyst for this. It helped me to focus what I wanted to do in life and go for it.”

Entertainment Business graduate Alyssa McCraw knows a thing or two about the entertainment industry. After graduating from Full Sail and moving to Nashville, she completed an internship with the creative department at Big Machine Label Group, and was recently hired as a publicist for the Nashville-based firm Cellar Door Publicity, which handles full service artist campaigns from all over the country.

Alyssa will be speaking to students about her post-Full Sail career today in the Entertainment Business Auditorium at 12:00 p.m. Online students can also attend the session by joining the EB/MB Guest Speaker Virtual Classroom on Wimba.

Alyssa designed the inside cover for the December 2011 issue of Billboard Magazine, featuring Big Machine artist Taylor Swift as the “Billboard Woman of the Year.” She has also designed single covers for artists such as Rascal Flatts, as well as a number of independent releases. She’s also worked on numerous photo/video shoots and edits projects for Big Machine. Alyssa is currently working on promotional projects with Chelsie Hightower, professional dancer on ABC’s Dancing With The Stars and alumni of FOX’s So You Think You Can Dance.

Learn more about Alyssa’s career here, and don’t miss out on this excellent opportunity to learn more about the music business from one of Full Sail’s very own! See you there.

Depressed at the prospect of working so hard for money and eager to learn how to have money work for you? Come check out a Personal Finance Presentation in the Entertainment Business Auditorium tonight at 5:30 p.m., hosted by accredited investor/debt-reduction strategist/Full Sail Entertainment Business Master of Science Program Director Ron Cook.

During this engaging 90-minute session, Cook will provide a simple, easy-to-follow 10-step plan to help you chart a course out of debt and focus on achieving financial freedom. What seems insurmountable today is absolutely achievable with the right debt-reduction and investment plan in place. This event is open to all students, so don’t miss out!

Attention Gamers: Join us for February’s LibraryLive event. On Wednesday, February 15 from 6 to 9 pm, we’ll be hosting the ultimate game tournament with three TVs, three different consoles, and three great games: Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and Mortal Kombat. Admission is one food item for the Student Food Pantry. There will be prizes for the winners, and plenty of refreshments on hand to keep you energized until the final round. Entry into the brackets is first come, first serve, so get here early. You won’t want to miss out on all of the fighting action!