On top of that, their second music video collaboration, “Can’t Hold Us,” has racked up nearly 44 million views on YouTube in six short weeks. Both songs made it to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, and “Can’t Hold Us” is now four weeks into holding top spot.
But Augustavo sees that success in a more humbling light.
Dove Real Beauty Sketches, directed by John X. Carey, sets new record
Viewed more than 114 million times and counting, it became the most watched Internet commercial of all time in less than a month online, the New York Daily News reports. This week it surpassed the previous record holder, the Evian Roller Babies, notes Mashable.
What makes the three-minute video, directed by Art Center College of Design film alumnus John X. Carey for Dove’s Real Beauty campaign, so compelling?
A woman walks behind a curtain, where a forensic artist draws her based on her description of herself. What she doesn’t know is that another person will come in later and describe her as well. When the two sketches are placed side by side, there’s an obvious difference between how these women perceive themselves and how others perceive them. And when the forensic artist asks, “Are you more beautiful than you think?” the video captures their emotional responses.
Lizbeth Chappell, Tim Hendrix, Ellen Houlihan, Josue Lopez, Kathleen Lorden, Filippo Nesci, Carlo Olivares Paganoni and Justin Wells all walked away with College Emmys in hand at the awards gala on April 25, 2013.
Art Center swept the Commercial Category, with wins in 1st, 2nd and 3rd Place for Lorden (Kia Soul “Funeral”), Chappell and Lopez (“Uncomfortable Situations”) and Houlihan (“Todd Glass for GLSEN”). Lorden accepted her award for First Place in the Commercial Category and thanked her professors, classmates, cast, crews, parents and husband.
In the Alternative Category, Nesci and Hendrix received 3rd Place for their “KOAN Sound – 80′s Fitness” music video. Paganoni and Wells accepted the 2nd Place award in the Children’s Program Category for their short film Cardboard Camera.
On the Thank You cam, award winners got the opportunity to express their gratitude to everyone who helped their projects become a reality, from their families and supportive donors to Art Center teachers. Chappell thanked her crew for all their hard work, as did Nesci and Hedrix, while Paganoni thanked his mom, ”who came with all her friends from Mexico to cook for the shoot.”
The College Television Awards is a national competition that recognizes excellences in college student produced video, digital and film work, with entries from hundreds of colleges and universities every year. Winners receive cash award, the opportunity to network with top television executives and recognition within the industry. Entries are judged online by members of the Television Academy who work professionally in each respective discipline, and awards are based on excellence in overall production.
Installation image from LACMA’s “Stanley Kubrick” exhibition. Photo: LACMA
There’s art in a museum, and then there is going beyond the “art” to give museum-goers an experience that’s more than the art itself. That’s the goal film and television production designer and Grad Art faculty Patti Podesta (Memento, Bobby, Love and Other Drugs) achieved when designing the Stanley Kubrick exhibition on view through June 30 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
One man who’s made quite a name for himself in this burgeoning arena is Diego Porqueras, inventor of the BukoBot 3D printer and the president and founder of Deezmaker, a 3D printer store and hackerspace in Pasadena. Surprisingly enough, the path that led Porqueras into this brave new world began with an Art Center at Night (ACN) film course he took 13 years ago.
“I took Basics of Film with Robert Mehnert and that ended up being a big turning point in my career,” says Porqueras, who said he already had some experience making movies prior to the class but that the course provided him with a better grasp of the basics.
But that wasn’t the turning point. That happened when an ACN classmate who was working as a production assistant told the class he was leaving the country for two weeks and asked if anybody would be interested in taking his place on a few productions. “I was the first guy to raise my hand for that,” says Porqueras with a laugh.
Congratulations to the 20 Art Center students and recent alumni who won ADDY® Awards in the 2013 competition! Students received their awards at the ADDY® Gala on March 14 at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood.
Art Center student winners from the 2013 ADDY Awards
Many of the Gold and Silver ADDY winners produced their projects in Film/Sell, a 14-week class where Film and Advertising majors collaborate on spec ads for their reels. During the class, students go through tons of ideas before landing a concept they can take into production.
“We help them point out what works and what doesn’t, and how their concept plays into the overall brand identity of the product they’re promoting,” said Chris Gehl, who teaches Film/Sell alongside Clio award-winner Nir Bashan. “Our intention with Film/Sell is to create a class that we would have liked when we were students,” said Gehl. “It’s my favorite class to teach, and it is the first time in 20 years that a class like this has existed.”
Sponsored by the American Advertising Federation, the ADDY® Awards recognize excellence in the art of advertising, graphic design, web design, illustration and photography. The AAF Student ADDY® Awards Competition is designed specifically for college students.
UPDATE: On April 25, 2013 the 34th Annual College Television Awards awarded five College Emmys to Art Center students! Congratulations to everyone on their wins – below is a list of winners:
Alternative Category: 3rd Place, Filippo Nesci and Tim Hendrix, KOAN Sound – 80′s Fitness
Children’s Program Category: 2nd Place, Carlo Olivares Paganoni and Justin Wells, Cardboard Camera
Commercial Category: 1st Place, Kathleen Lorden, Kia Soul “Funeral”; 2nd Place, Lizbeth Chappell and Josue Lopez, Uncomfortable Situations; 3rd Place, Ellen Houlihan, Todd Glass for GLSEN
Art Center students have been nominated for the 34th College Television Awards, also known as the Student Emmys. This year marks the first time that six students have been nominated in the same year. The nominees will attend the College Emmys Gala Awards on Thursday, April 25, 2013 at the JW Marriot LA Live in Los Angeles.
Lizbeth Chappell, Tim Hendrix, Ellen Houlihan, Kathleen Lorden, Montana Mann and Carlo Olivares Paganoni were nominated in commercial, children’s and alternative categories. All students were nominated along with their respective production teams.
The College Television Awards is a national competition that recognizes excellence in student-produced video, digital and film work. Members of the Television Academy judged entries online, and will announce the winners at the awards ceremony.
Each student had their own story to tell. Mann’s “Obsession” spec commercial for the Calvin Klein men’s cologne examines the question, “what does it mean to be completely intoxicated by someone?”
Lorden’s spec commercial “Funeral” has already won 2012 CLIO® and ADDY® Awards, while “Uncomfortable Situations,” from Chappell, Jamie Yuen and co-producer Josue Lopez, wanted to create an ad for a difficult product. “It’s wild,” said Chappell. “Eagle suits are everywhere until you go looking for one.”
Hendrix created a music video for the song “80s Fitness” by Bristol musicians KOAN Sound with the commissioned help of OWSLA, the same music label as dubstep musician Skrillex.
Paganoni’s short film “Cardboard Camera,” co-produced with Justin Wells, focuses on creative 10-year-old Cameron. Hoping to enter a kids’ film competition, he uses his imagination and the help of two friends to create a movie.
“It was inspired by my own childhood,” said Paganoni. “I created a flat camera made of paper and start ‘imagining’ that I was shooting a movie with it. Since I couldn’t shoot anything, I started drawing the little frames of the movie like storyboards. This was the basis for our story.”
Even before being nominated, Houlihan’s “Todd Glass for GLSEN” PSA was noticed by The Huffington Post and Perez Hilton. Inspired by standup comedian Todd Glass and his decision to come out of the closet on a 2012 episode of the “WTF with Marc Maron” podcast, Houlihan asked Glass to take on the suicide epidemic in the LGBT teen community.
“I pitched Todd on doing a hard-hitting PSA unlike the typical anti-bullying messages we’ve seen before,” said Houlihan. “We wanted to shake people up and be honest about how serious the suicide epidemic facing LGBT youth is, and to show we’re all responsible for our words and how we affect one another.”
Congratulations to all of our Graduate Film Art Center students!
Zack Snyder Inspires and Credits Art Center for Lasting Friendships, Filmmaking Foundation
Faculty-Produced Movies are Hot Sellers at SXSW, Encourage Next Gen
Director Zack Snyder speaks at DIFF | LA
On March 16, 2013, the Dot Independent Film Festival (DIFF | LA) made a smashing box office debut at Art Center’s Hillside Campus. The daylong event featured award-winning student films from around the world, several prestigious entertainment industry speakers and many inspirational moments shared by the next gen filmmakers in attendance.
Man of Steel director and alumnus Zack Snyder FILM 89 kicked off the creative confab with entertaining comments about his days on campus. He called the experience “art boot camp” and said the attrition rate “was like Vietnam.”
Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris, Tom Kuntz and Matthew Rolston speaking at March 16 event honoring student films from around the world
Zack Snyder at Art Center. Photo by Chuck Spangler.
March 12, 2013, Pasadena, Calif.—Visionary director and Art Center College of Design alumnus Zack Snyder (Man of Steel, 300) is set to open DIFF | LA, the Dot Independent Film Festival, the premiere student-led film festival on the West Coast taking place Saturday, March 16, 2013 from 9 a.m. – 11 p.m. on the Art Center College of Design Hillside Campus at 1700 Lida Street, Pasadena, Calif., 91103.
In addition to screening official selections in the categories of Directing, Cinematography, Writing and Editing, the event will feature presentations by Snyder and the critically acclaimed directing team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine, Ruby Sparks), Emmy-winning commercial director Tom Kuntz (Old Spice, Skittles), and legendary photographer and filmmaker Matthew Rolston (Kelly Rowland, Christina Aguilera).
During a break on the set of Man of Steel, the upcoming Superman reboot directed by Zack Snyder FILM 89, Jack Foley, a teen actor whose character in the film bullies a young Clark Kent before the two become friends, started asking questions. “I began talking with Zack about how he became a filmmaker, and the conversation led to film school,” Foley says. “I asked him about where he went, and he spoke very highly of Art Center.”
Like many others, Foley is an actor who wants to direct. And in Snyder he saw his college future. “I was pretty much set to go to a different film school, but after seeing Zack’s methods and the way he controlled his set, it was clear to me that I was working with a true artist. I started looking into Art Center.”
The Visual Storyteller, Act One:
As befits a successful screenwriter (Rush Hour), novelist and, most recently, graphic novelist, Ross LaManna, chair of the undergraduate Film Department since 2006, has countless stories to tell. Many center on the program’s students, such as Dan Bartolucci FILM 10, who got a job on the graveyard shift at special effects house Lola, right after graduating.
