UCF - Center for Emerging Media

Flying Horse Editions

10.19.09

- Home Movie Day Returns to CEM’s STUDIO 500

The UCF FILM Department ran it’s third successful HOME MOVIE DAY event this past weekend at the Center for Emerging Media’s STUDIO 500 soundstage.

Part of a national movement of similar events, HOME MOVIE DAY allows amateurs and professionals alike to share their 8-millimeter, Super 8 or 16-millimeter home movies. Decaying images from family vacations, bar mitzvah celebrations, long forgotten family members and other ephemera were the order of the day, with the prevailing ethos that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

For more information on other Home Movie Day celebrations, visit their website: www.homemovieday.com.

10.19.09

- Terrific Article About STUDIO 500 In St Pete Times

The St. Pete Times, FLorida’s largest and most-widely read paper, just ran an excellent article about STUDIO 500 and the new state university revenue model we’re helping to create. Check it out here.

10.14.09

• JUST ANOTHER DAY To Screen At Orlando Film Festival

The UCF Center For Emerging Media is pleased to announced that JUST ANOTHER DAY, a feature film shot in downtown Orlando and based at Studio 500, will screen at the Orlando Film Festival

JUST ANOTHER DAY will be showing on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 3:00pm at the Plaza Cinema Cafe located at 155 S. Orange Ave. Orlando, FL 32801. After the showing a Q & A session will be held. The event like all showings at the Orlando Film Festival are FREE. Check out a trailer below!

09.08.09

• OUT Wraps At Studio 500

Nils Taranger, a senior at UCF FILM, has wrapped production of his Capstone short film OUT at STUDIO 500, in UCF’s Center for Emerging Media. Says Nils of the project, “This was my first experience directing a film on a soundstage. We were lucky enough to be able to shoot at the UCF Center for Emerging Media, which has a perfectly sized, state of the art soundstage with brand new gear. We would never have been able to pull off making this film on location, because of camera angles and lighting. It’s awesome that UCF Film has provided us with everything we need to make quality, indie shorts of all shapes and sizes.”

Two pics here show the films final shot from both sides of the camera. DP Alex Boyle “blew out” a 12 x 12 silk with several thousands watts of light (left) to create a washed-out effect as the young male star walks into the bright lights of his future (below).

The film, explains Taranger, is “a personal metaphor for coming out as a gay man and coming out of an oppressive religion. I made the film not only for myself, but for anyone who has experienced coming out in it’s many forms - a bad relationship, an oppressive regime, etc. I also hope to inspire people who have yet to take the first step out, into a world that can be frightening and unwelcoming, but also full of hope and love.”

08.19.09

• UCF Grad Art Track Moves Into CEM

The MFA in Studio Art & the Computer is pleased to announce a new off-campus location in the heart of downtown Orlando. Master’s degree candidates will begin occupying the 7000+sq/ft space when classes begin fall 2009.

New facilities include a state of art digital imaging lab and private studio spaces located in an interdisciplinary environment, which fosters MFA research and collaborative projects. The new facilities are located inside UCF’s Center for Emerging Media and join the already extant UCF programs: FIEA, UCF FILM, Visual Language & Create which are all a part of the city’s greater vision of a Creative Village for Orlando. In addition, UCF’s Flying Horse Press Editions and the University of Florida’s Citylab-Orlando join the MFA Studio Art & the Computer as occupants of the new facilities at CEM.

Click on the picture below to check out the latest expansion at the Center for Emerging Media.

08.11.09

• Brady Robinson Photo Exhibit Starts August 27th

The UCF Center for Emerging Media kicks off their fall exhibition season with “Shift”, a series of color photographs by E. Brady Robinson.

Opening reception is Thursday, August 27, 2009 at 6:00pm. The installation is a mapping of geography encountered and time lived as the artist drifts from landscape to landscape both in her home country and abroad. Exhibit is curated by Chan Chao. Elizabeth Brady Robinson is Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the UCF MFA in Studio Art & the Computer.

More Information:

Gallery Hours: Monday through Friday, 9 to 5pm or by appointment

Contact: Elizabeth Brady Robinson (407-823-3108, ebrobins@mail.ucf.edu )

06.08.09

• UCF’s Studio 500 Brings Big Names, Bigger Opportunities to Orlando

New Hannah Montana game highlights a string of successful projects

Just down the hall from their classrooms, University of Central Florida (UCF) students and faculty helped to choreograph and create the new Hannah Montana video game (”Hannah Montana - The Movie”) and have worked alongside celebrities such as Tiger Woods and Derek Jeter.

UCF’s Center for Emerging Media in downtown Orlando features one of the largest motion-capture studios on the East Coast, an adjacent sound stage, production offices and editing suites. Collectively known as Studio 500 — a play on the building’s 500 W. Livingston St. location — the facilities have attracted a steady stream of entertainment companies from around the continent in the first 18 months of operation and have hosted more than 25 UCF student film shoots.

The complex provides students with invaluable production experience rarely offered on a university campus while bringing name recognition to Orlando’s booming simulation and entertainment industry.

Working with studio partner Vicon Entertainment’s House of Moves, faculty and staff from UCF’s graduate game-development program, the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA), typically operate the cameras and sensors in the motion-capture studio with assistance from students.

“Studio 500 provides our students and faculty with exceptional opportunities to work with the latest technology and collaborate with top professionals in the entertainment industry,” said Ben Noel, FIEA’s executive director. “From making their own films to helping to create video games and commercials, students are gaining experience that makes them even more attractive to potential employers.”

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05.06.09

• JUST ANOTHER DAY Feature Film Wraps At STUDIO 500

Just Another Day, a hip-hop feature film co-produced by Ralph Clemente and his crew from Valencia Community College, recently based their month-long production at STUDIO 500, part of the UCF Center For Emerging Media. The crew - filled with locals and imports from around the state and LA - keep a wing of offices busy here as well as edit facilities, our entire rear parking load and loading dock even shot a scene on our sound stage.

The film is about a rising young rap star (Jamie Hector of TV’s The Wire) and a veteran rapper trying to hang on to the top (Wood Harris, also of The Wire) as they go through “everything a rap artist goes through in a day,” says Oscar-nominated director Peter Spirer (Rhyme & Reason). The drama is set in Miami, but downtown Orlando was the location, with filming in the Parramore neighborhood, the H2O church (formerly the club 8 Seconds) and the Drop Shop record store. Rappers such as Ja Rule, Trick Daddy, Young Dre, Petey Pablo, Little Scrappy and Big Daddy Kane make appearances in the film, which Spirer wrote.

In the picture above, Director Peter Spier talks to rapper Young Dre.

02.20.09

• Producer Christine Vachon Visits UCF FILM

Movie producer Christine Vachon (HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, HAPPINESS, I SHOT ANDY WARHOL, FAR FROM HEAVEN and many more) recently visited the UCF Center for Emerging Media by to share her knowledge of the film business with UCF FILM students. Hosted by professor Lisa Cook, Vachon took an hour of questions from students in the program’s junior-level, Directing 3 class. A variety of topics were discussed, ranging from where students might consider living (Answer, in states with production tax incentives) and the problems she sees with young people trying to join the film business (Answer, they lack basic skills like taking a phone message because they haven’t worked real jobs). It was an illuminating, frank and funny discussion for all.

The evening prior, UCF FILM hosted a screening of Vachon’s film INFAMOUS at the CEM, which was followed by a reception and audience Q&A. Ms. Vachon’s visit, which included speaking in several other UCF FILM undergrad and Graduate classes, was part of a Visting Artist Series sponsored by UCF FILM.

11.21.08

• Home Movie Day Rocks Studio 500

On Saturday, October 18, for the first time ever, Orlando joined a list of cities around the world by hosting a HOME MOVIE DAY event, where amateurs and professionals alike shared their 8-millimeter, Super 8 or 16-millimeter home movies. Decaying images from family vacations, bar mitzvah celebrations, long forgotten family members and other ephemera were the order of the day, with the prevailing ethos that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. The only rule was that the movies had to be movies, not video.

The day-long event - organized by UCF FILM and produced by UCF FILM alumni Danny Daneau and Laura Lopez - occured on the STUDIO 500 soundstage and enjoyed an audience of over 150. Quite a hit for this kind of show, huh? For more information on other Home Movie Day celebrations, visit their website: www.homemovieday.com.