Tuesday, September 29, 2009

FLASHPOINT ACADEMY PRESIDENT/CEO HOWARD A. TULLMAN FEATURED IN CRAINS ARTICLE - ENTERPRISE CITY



Q&A: Howard Tullman talks up 'gee whiz' tech
Posted by Ann D. at 9/29/2009 11:40 AM CDT

The inaugural Chicago TechExpo is this Thursday, Oct. 1, at the UIC Forum. The event is designed to help small businesses learn how they can better implement technology to attract new customers and run their operations more effectively.

The technologies on display will range from the very basic (simple Web sites for businesses currently without a Web presence) to the very advanced — a demonstration of Augmented Reality technology, which overlays computer-generated imagery onto what you see in the real world. (Point your cell phone at a nearby building, for example, and the building’s address and a list of businesses inside pop onto your screen. Or point a webcam at a specially marked paper and a 3-D image will emerge.)

The Augmented Reality exhibit is hosted by Flashpoint Academy, a Chicago media arts college run by serial entrepreneur Howard Tullman, whose most recent projects — Kendall College and Experiencia Inc. — are also education-focused. Mr. Tullman tells Crain’s contributor Steve Hendershot why he’s excited about the prospects of both Flashpoint and the TechExpo.


Crain’s: Tell me more about this Augmented Reality demonstration. What’s the potential takeaway for a small business?

Howard Tullman: We’re demonstrating how it’s pretty easy for a business to take its logo on a business card and turn it into a 3-D object using Augmented Reality. It’s a low-cost way to make your business look a lot more high-tech.


Howard Tullman

The city approached us about demonstrating a "gee whiz" technology, and as you can imagine, being able to manipulate an object like that in 3-D space is quite interesting.

The iPhone alone has created another generation of entrepreneurs that are in position now to build a business in their basement or their bedroom. We’re almost back to the earliest days of the Web, where if you had a great idea and got your Web site out there and got it rolling, you could do that. The gates and gatekeepers are constantly shrinking, and there are opportunities out there along those lines.

Crain’s: A lot of the small businesses at the TechExpo aren’t so cutting-edge. What’s in this for them?


HT: This whole TechExpo is designed to address entrepreneurs and small businesses who are at the lower end of Internet savvy and the tech spectrum, and we’re trying to show them a vision of the future as well as some tools they can use right now.

I’m also doing a talk about social networking, which is another area (in addition to a Web site) where small businesses have to be in touch with customers and prospects. Facebook now has over 300 million users, which is larger than a lot of countries.


Crain’s: Getting the word out about how technology can help a business also helps build a market for Flashpoint grads. Describe the Flashpoint model and how it differs from media arts programs at traditional colleges.


HT: The rest of the industry is in the dark ages compared to what we’re doing. There are no other schools that have figured it out. Flashpoint is a two-year high-end vocational program for kids to go directly into work, and we’re finding that employers can’t get enough of these kids.

Our graduates have had a terrific reception, and honestly, this is the way the world really works. Because we’re an advanced technology hub, our students are trained to use technology that’s just being introduced in the commercial sector. So instead of an employer paying to train somebody up, our students are already ready to go.

Everything we do is team-based and cross-disciplinary. All of our projects use all skill sets and the resources you might need in the real world. You can’t go out and be a specialist in just this or just that, so the fact that our students are trained up on the technology and understand workflow is a huge difference from other schools that are just teaching in a single silo — just film, or just recording, or whatever.

Crain’s: It seems like it could be challenging to sell parents on a two-year program in Game Development or Recording Arts. What’s your reception been like?

HT: One of the very striking things has been how many parents are starting to get it. They see that, If this is what my kid wants to do, then instead of sending them to a four-year liberal arts school that is going to cost me a fortune and my kid doesn’t want to go there anyway, this is a huge opportunity.

Monday, September 28, 2009

FLASHPOINT ACADEMY HELPS SPONSOR IFP GALA AND HONORS FOR JONATHAN TOWERS












LATEST AD FROM FLASHPOINT ACADEMY

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FLASHPOINT ACADEMY GRADS RELEASE INDEPENDENT FEATURE FILM "COASTING"

THIS FILM WHICH WAS DIRECTED BY FLASHPOINT ACADEMY GRADUATE MICHAEL P. NOENS ALSO INCLUDED WORK BY FLASHPOINT ACADEMY GRADUATES Danny Crook, Dorian Weinzimmer, Monique DeVasquez, Alex Procaccio, Jeremy Patrick Hoen and Brooke Dahmen.




"Coasting" Review




STARRING
Jonathan C. Legat, Stephanie Wyatt, Emily Skyle, Christopher Weise

DIRECTED BY
Michael P.Noens

SCREENPLAY
Michael P. Noens, David B. Grelck

MPAA RATING
NR

RUNNING TIME
90 Mins.

DISTRIBUTED BY
Independent


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Love.

It changes everything, doesn't it?

We get in relationships, we go through the motions, we carry out our responsibilities and fulfill our duties both real and imagined.

Sometimes, love is pushed aside.

We coast.

In "Coasting," Wesley (Jonathan C. Legat, "White Out") meets Lauren (Stephanie Wyatt, "Off-Loop") in a hotel bar one late night in the small town of Stillwater, Illinois.

It is a chance meeting, not far removed from that of Bill Nighy and Kelly MacDonald in the magnificent "The Girl in the Cafe." The meeting is, at first glance, a largely innocent meeting filled with pleasant conversation, genuine laughs, heartfelt attention and, oh yeah, connection. Genuine human connection.

Wesley and Lauren return to their normal lives, yet their normal lives no longer feel normal...if they ever did.

Wesley is unsatisfied in a dead-end job he abhors, while Lauren's career as a photographer isn't going where she'd like it to go. Both Wesley and Lauren are married to, on the surface, seemingly idyllic partners who are stable, at least modestly attentive, functional and, yet, they are largely going through the disconnected motions of merely functioning in relationships that should be vibrant, passionate, energized and alive.

As time goes on, the memory of that connection lingers and, perhaps serendipitously, the two connect once again in, yes, that same Stillwater hotel bar.

This time, the passion will not be denied and the two succumb to their emotional and physical desires. After this encounter, both Wesley and Lauren face, with heartbreaking yet resonant authenticity, the remaining shards of their lives while defending these feelings for one another.

With "Coasting," director Michael P. Noens and co-writer David B. Grelck have that mixes the awkward discomfort of Zach Braff's indie gem "Garden State" with the tenderness and quiet intimacy of the aforementioned "The Girl in the Cafe." The resulting film is a film that simultaneously funny and endearing, heartbreaking and yet genuinely hopeful in the truest of ways that hope can be birthed out of our life experiences.

I remember after viewing Jonathan C. Legat's last film, the Grelck directed "White Out," this feeling of "If only Legat had really let go and offered a bit more vulnerability, this film would have truly soared." In "Coasting," Legat truly soars and takes the film right along with him giving a performance that is equal parts vulnerable, funny, raw and honest.

Fortunately, for audiences and Legat, co-star Stephanie Wyatt serves up an equally vulnerable, funny, raw and honest performance as the young woman whose true self has become stifled personally and professionally. Wyatt's Lauren is simultaneously a mature woman and innocent child, a young woman who seemingly longs for the intangible in her very tangible world.

"Coasting" is a deceptive film, much like Braff's "Garden State," in that the film occasionally feels off-kilter, uncomfortable and even distant. Yet, as the relationship between Wesley and Lauren develops it becomes clear how beautifully this works as it becomes painfully obvious how uncomfortable Wesley and Lauren truly are within their own lives and themselves. This "discomfort" begins to dissipate as they discover connection, an emotional truth to which most of us who've experienced unhealthy relationships seguing into healthy relationships would testify.

It becomes easy to understand, minus the usual Hollywood-style dramatics and histrionics, just why these two individuals feel so connected to one another and disconnected from everyone and everything else.

This patient development, a bold move cinematically, gives the film's closing scenes an emotional depth that drives the film home, though there are times when the move falls short as in Wesley's scenes in his office. The office scenes, which could and should reinforce the dissatisfaction in Wesley's life too often appear more like cartoonish deleted scenes from "Office Space."

Tech credits are solid across the board, with kudos especially going to Danny Crook's stellar camera work and truly killer original music from Geoff Shell.

There are moments in "Coasting" that feel very, very real.

Have you ever longed for something or someone?

Have you ever wondered "Why am I not happy?"

Have you ever, much to your own surprise, discovered a very real connection in the most unexpected of places?

We all have, I believe. The longing for and celebration of inward and outward connection are an inherent human experience with all its joys and sorrows.

With "Coasting," director Michael P. Noens and co-writer David B. Grelck along with their entire cast have captured those pristine moments of humanity in all their awkward and awesome vulnerability and brought them simply and beautifully to life.

"Coasting" is just starting its film festival run. For more information on "Coasting," visit the film's website.


© Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic

Saturday, September 26, 2009

FLASHPOINT ACADEMY FILM CREWS DOCUMENT COUTURE & COCKTAILS FASHION SHOW BENEFIT FOR JOFFREY BALLET

WATCH CANDACE JORDAN'S POST-SHOW INTERVIEW WITH PAMELLA AND HER DAUGHTERS

Candace Jordan Interviews Pamella Roland at the Joffrey Benefit from HOWARD TULLMAN on Vimeo.












PRE-SHOW AND POST-SHOW INTERVIEWS








SET-UP

STATE BALLROOM






LOBBY











RED LACQUER ROOM








REHEARSAL





VIP RECEPTION





INTRODUCTION OF THE JOFFREY DANCERS






FASHION SHOW - SPRING 2010 RUNWAY SHOW

















INTRODUCTION OF PAMELLA ROLAND




INTRODUCTION OF DIGNITARIES







LIVE AUCTION with LESLIE HINDMAN and BILL AND GIULIANA RANCIC





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