Married . . . With Comics @ Comic Book Festival

The Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival is part of the annual Vegas Valley Book Festival, which runs the first week of November in various locations across Las Vegas. This year’s event was the biggest (and longest!), special guests, more panels, free films, a bevy of the city’s most popular food trucks, tons of great merchandise from local comic shops, and all sorts of other geek-tastic awesomeness!

I went on Saturday afternoon and attended the presentation, "Married with Comics." Paul Tobin writes extensively for Marvel Comics (Spider-Girl, Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man, Spider-Man & the Secret Wars, Black Widow & the Marvel Girls, Super Heroes, Models Inc., and many more) and has worked for DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and several other companies. He presented with his wife, illustrator Colleen Coover. Their previous work together was Banana Sunday, which placed on YALSA’s list of best graphic novels for teens. I asked him if in the digital revolution had an effect on his career. He said as a wordsmith (writer), not really. He submitted his content to the artists and they interpreted it. He developed a 13 panel plot point and one time got back the entire sequence in six panels. He works with artists around the world. He, in some cases, has not even met some of them!

I asked him what it was like the first time he got a check from Marvel. He said it was really cool... but just that. I was surprised how calm he said he took it. I would have been jumping up and down and calling everyone! He said the check it self had a Spider-Man on it with a "thwip like sound image". He said he and his Marvel buddies called the checks (they are all contract, work for hire, freelance) "Thwips.

Great Food Trucks in Vegas

Food trucks are a culinary trend. They are suddenly everywhere. Trucks move constantly, "broadcasting" their location by Twitter, parking wherever they can find enough space, and drawing as many as 800 people.

In the world of food, the food truck has a kind of celebrity standing. It is where the action is. As the LA Times said:

“The truck and its staff of merry makers have become a sort of roving party, bringing people to neighborhoods they might not normally go to, and allowing for interactions with strangers they might not otherwise talk to.”

In marketing class summer quarter, we developed Marketing plans for food trucks. I think there were some pretty good ideas presented with some great creative material.

Keri Neal said: “The product of the Wrap Shack is quite simple. Anything that can be folded into a wrap or a crepe is possible. Thus, developing a unique product item will keep my business on the consumers "top of mind" and meet their demands and needs as the market changes.” This photo of the wraps is her original photo:

Sara Philips said: “Starting out with a plan, then turning it actions can be one are the hardest things to do. Though implementation the Underdog needs to take its strategies and plans and turn them into actions to accomplish its goals, objectives, and uphold its mission statement. Above all, we need to exemplify our main concept and keep customers satisfied.” This website, to the left, is her creative work:

For Joscelyn Reyes, " The internet is a blessing or tragedy for all businesses, especially for the beginners that are struggling to find new consumers. For my bus truck I have opened a website and a twitter account. (http://electricitytruck.blogspot.com/) I have realized just how important the social media has grown to be, one post can determine your reputation and your business carrier.

This week at SIGGRAPH - AILV Professor

Our own Michael Baker of the Art Institute of Las Vegas spoke this week at SIGGRAPH. Now in its 38th year, the SIGGRAPH conference is the premier international event on computer graphics and interactive techniques. The SIGGRAPH conference attracts the most respected technical and creative people from all over planet Earth.

Michael was on the panel titles Destruction and Dynamics for Film and Game Production. He spoke on Authoring Destruction with the Dynamica Bullet Maya Plugin. The course was focused on “rigid-body and particle simulation and collision techniques used in breaking objects and large-scale destruction. He gave a brief introduction to the basic theory, and then the course continued with examples from specific films and games. Other topics included production aspects such as authoring tools (including the open-source Bullet physics library used in both game and film production) and computational and algorithmic issues.”

Though organized by Advanced Micro Devices, other members of the presentation committee included people from DreamWorks Animation, Industrial Light & Magic and Disney Interactive Studios.

http://www.siggraph.org/s2011/

A great time to start a business in Amrica

I think this commercial is wonderful for a lot of reasons. Certainly a lot of content is revealed in only 30 seconds and the little actress is terrific, but the message is really clear also. This is a great time to start a business. Yes, the economy is down, but that is the time for the entrepreneur to take advantage of the low costs of starting your own business. You can use social medis, constant online contact, gps and cell phone technology. You can use a cell phone to accept charge cards anywhere you can get a signal - I saw this in action just this past weekend at the Rock-a-billy festival.

You can prepare a business plan and get the proper government forms online. You can interact and get "Face-time" with people from around the world for free with Skype.

You can do things - today - that were not even dreamed of just a few yars ago. This commercial celebrates all that... in only 30 seconds.

Story Boards = Excellent Planning

This team did quite a great job.


Here are the story boards for the Three Wolves Super Bowl commercial. You will find the commercial in the previous post. Note how well the students planned the shoot before they even reserved the camera!

Here is a bit more of Hsiao-Hsien Ryan Ching's work on another project. This is the Math Cruncher!

Banned Super Bowl Commercials

The Project Management class this quarter did one of my favorite projects!

We built Super Bowl style commercials and posted them to youtube to try and take advantage of all the hype surrounding the big game. I think they did a great job. Keep in mind that the time constraints were really tight - only two weeks to create, shoot and edit a one minute commercial - and them post it and get hits. In the past we got as much as 800,000 hits, but I think my original idea of banned Superbowl commercials has been over-saturated and maybe even stolen by actual advertisers (hey GoDaddy).

But enjoy, anyway......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klTrLtxbcjs



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deKldnc9nRk



Impressive work, even if they did not get the hits!

Jerry Metellus in the classroom....

In the Fundamentals of Advertising class, we welcomed Jerry Metellus to give a presentation and show his work.

He is a former entertainer (model, dancer, actor) who traded the limelight to setting up lights and shines it on others. He prefers to work with people but will also shoot food and architecture. “I can handle, but they're not the best humorous communicators...”

From his MySpace website: My motto is “DO IT SERIOUSLY, DON'T TAKE IT SERIOUSLY!!! Easy going. Open minded. Beyond Patient. Energetic. Love: Life, People, Laughter, Open minds, Creative Spirits, Caring Souls, Warm Hearts, Talented people of all kinds.”

In this sample image, he shot it without any special effects. These are principle dancers with the Nevada Ballet... with their son, who is not actually in the company. Click on that image to go to his website.

Movie Obsession Websites... WOW!

In the web marketing class, we apply marketing theories and strategies to the World Wide Web. Our goal is to identify the major distributors and online outlets for content in the present marketplace, delineate the various current models for making money on the Internet and the requirements for an effective Web site design.

This Spring, the following students did a great job on their projects. You can access their websites through their blogs.

Gail put her site on the AILV servers. Click here to see if it is still "Up and Running"

http://2popsiclesproductions.blogspot.com/ David
http://rgbvisual.blogspot.com/ Gail
http://psfilmstudios.blogspot.com/ Paul
http://motion702.blogspot.com/ Tamaki

Treasures

I get feedback from both students and staff about why I teach. The following is a letter that helps to explain why. I will treasure it.... wouldn't you?

I thought you said you were creative....

If you say you are creative, well you got to be creative....

He Even Waxed His Ears!

I nailed it!!!

I got this from Steve Scott. He is in my Career Development Class this quarter:

I was at lunch with my wife the other day with my wife, when I received a phone call from an employer looking for a graphic designer. I was surprised by the call because I really wasn’t looking for a job at the time. It just so happens that career services sent over my resume. This employer had a few resumes to look at so I knew I had to get in there as soon as possible to be his first interview. I had to battle my first instanced to just run over there right away and meet this person. This is how I used to do it, and it never seemed to work out. I asked, “how about tomorrow morning?” and then I asked what time would he be getting to the office, and he told me around 8:30 am. I knew that it would be best to give him time to get situated so I made an appointment for 9:30 am. This seemed to please him. He stated that he has quite a few people to look at, and I stated that after he meets me he will look no farther.

I think that this whole interview would have never been this good without the guidance of my teacher Frank Pinto. He is my Career Development teacher at the Art Institute Las Vegas. I thought to myself about how truly I would be prepared for this interview thanks to his class.

That night I went home to check out this businesses web site. Man was I surprised to see that it was right up my ally. I knew this job was for me. I knew that this was the place I wanted to work. So I started to take big steps to ensure this job was going to be mine.

My and me wife started to shop. I knew I needed to dress to impress, so we went out to look for some nice cloths for me to wear. We spent 3 hrs shopping around before we came to Wal-Mart, the last place I wanted to go to find cloths. But to my surprise I found everything I needed. I looked pretty good, maybe a little over dressed. But I looked really professional.

The day of the interview I showed up 15 minutes early dressed to impress. I had to wait in the waiting room for 20 minutes so I busted out my GD USA magazine and read. When I went into the interview I was ready. I knew what I needed to say, and I had an idea of what they wanted to hear.

When they asked me what amount I was looking for I threw them a story of how I have been going to school for 4 years preparing me for this job They told me that they were looking for somebody to work with another designer and the postion paid a modest amount an hour. I also told them I would settle for significantly more as long as they agreed to look at a raise in the future. But since I seem to have so much more experience I would be hired as the other employee’s boss. He offered me $5 more and asked if that would be good to start for now? Then he said we could talk about more in a couple of months. So already I have made $9,000 dollars extra because I knew how to walk into that interview prepared. Not to mention when he sat me down behind the computer he was even more impressed. I rocked that interview. I start work next Tuesday. I gave my old employer two weeks notice and I am off to start my new career as a Graphic Designer. Thanks Frank Pinto and your Career Development class.

By Steve Scott Graphic Designer

Super Bowl Commercials

I challenged my Project Management class to create a super bowl style commercial and post it to youtube.com and get 5.000 hits. They did this under tight constraints. They formed groups of four people of mixed degrees including film-making, animation and game design. They had just two weeks to create, film and edit the one minute (plus five seconds of credits) and then post it to youtube at one minute after midnight Friday before super bowl. Then they had seven days (incuding Super Bowl Sunday) to get the hits. They did a project on guerrilla marketing to develop ideas to spread the word.

One project was weak and had hits that proved it. Another was a good effort, and they learned a lot, but the hits were a miss. One group did a fine job on the commercial and had over 6,000 hits in less then seven days. It had grown since: 7,625 views as of today. I think if they put the effort in, they might be able to cross 10,000. Alas, the project is over. We have moved on to a way more challenging set of projects for the second half of the quarter. Enjoy!



If you want to check out the other projects, go to youtube and search on ailv and stress. The class chose the search terms!

Excellent website - Fall Web Marketing

I think Keily did quite a terrific job on this site.

http://fagabeefee.com/lasvegasfilmstrip/flash.html

The challenge was to apply marketing theories and strategies to the World Wide Web, recognize the requirements for an effective Web site design, create content for a Web page, apply financial management concepts and theories and summarize the major components of marketing using push technologies.I think he did just that! Check it out and see what you think. You can access all other class projects through his site. His MySpace is pretty terrific, too. Find the link here or on the far left side.
http://www.myspace.com/parknessmonsta

VELOUR Vodka is an ordinal innovative product - and a marketing project!

VELOUR VODKA
Crafted in Las Vegas and inspired by the fruits of France and the timeless taste of The Great Russian Vodkas. Offers a unique carbonation and blend of extracts of straberry’s, peaches, and lemons that delivers an original, drinkable, glamorous Vodka.

Lucky Bug Productions by Jessi Corsa http://luckybugproductions.blogspot.com/

"From a young age I was taught I could be anything I wanted to be. This belief has stayed with me through out my life. It is my hope that this will translate through in Lucky Bug Productions. I have never seen myself as just one thing nor have I been inspired by just one type of art. Therefore, I don’t see Lucky Bug as just a TV or Film company but as an Art Company designed to “Create, Innovate, and decorate!" "

Marketing and the Holiday Spirits

In Marketing class in the summer, the students had to develop a new vodka brand. Well vodka is just distilled grain, but creating a new brand is for a marketer. Minnie came up with a great idea and some fine visuals, don't you think?

St. Nick's Spirits wants to be right there with you and yours during the holidays as you shake presents when no one's looking, attend "white elephant" parties and wrap those special presents at the last minute in newspaper funnies. St. Nick's will be there lubricating your senses as you watch in horror as your parents barrage your fiance with anecdotes of Christmases past complete with pictures of you in your Underoos unwrapping presents. St. Nick's Spirits will become the beverage of the holiday season.

CineVegas is different than some film festivals – it has less movies! Ah, but the parties….

There were less than thirty movies this year. With working my real job (this!) and volunteering, I was under the gun to see the hits. I was pretty lucky. I saw three of the top festival films (Etienne!, Easier With Practice and Winnebago Man) and the almost impossible to get tickets to see closing night film, World’s Greatest Dad.

Winnebago Man was an odd film. I was unfamiliar with the youtube.com sensation. Seems that everyone (except me) was familiar with this crazy guy who spits and swears while making a twenty year old industrial film about how wonderful Winnebago’s are to own. A man named Jack Rebney is Winnebago Man. These are the outtakes and tirades pieced together by the video crew that Mr. Rebney had hired to assist in making a promotional video for marketing RVs. There are several versions of the original on YouTube. This one runs over 4 minutes and features Winnebago Man's hatred for flies and several long swearing and cursing montages. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSWUWPx2VeQ . It has millions of hits.

I did not quite get it. I think this because I was unsure through the first third of the film if it was a documentary or a mockumentary. It took a while for me to realize the scope of the impact of this “found” footage. To me, the film lacked structure. On the other hand, the audience certainly responded. It got the audience favorite. There was a Vegas connection in the film, also. Although the featured subject of the film was not at the festival, his best friend came. Turns out he lives in Vegas. I met him, but it took a few minutes for me to realize who he was. We chatted for a while. He is quite an interesting character in his own right.

I was not particularly impressed with Robin William’s World’s Greatest Dad. I spoke with the director, Bob Goldthwait in the theater after the Q&A. He felt the Vegas crowd was too mature for the film. Having been a comedian, only he could put Vegas and mature in the same sentence and still keep a straight face. He said he had just shown the film to a young audience in Maryland in a theater with 700 seats. They went wild and gave him a standing ovation. He was surprised at the cool reception the film got that night.

The highlight of the festival was the real closing night film. On Monday, after the festival supposedly ended, CineVegas set up an outdoor “drive-in” to show the 1958 sensation, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. It was a rare opportunity to see this B-film sci-fi classic the way the creators meant it to be seen. With popcorn, soda (unless you smuggled in a couple beers – and many did) and the balmy Vegas night, it was an only at a film festival treat! The after party at the Sidebar nearby capped a wonderful evening. Sponsored by Grey Goose Vodka and Stella Artois (read lots of free alcohol), the vibe was going strong in this festival wrap up.

I met Jim Turner at the party. He is the founder and director of the independent Film Society of Colorado. As a self-professed addict of independent cinema, he has worked at Sundance for a number of years. He leveraged that love of film into yearly festival in his hometown. He dismissed his day job (as a government contractor) as an excuse to fund his real love – festival films. He uses his limited vacation to work both Sundance and CineVegas. Working at these festivals has afforded Jim the opportunity to make contacts with filmmakers and film professionals from around the world. Check out his website, http://www.indiespiritfilmfestival.org/index.cfm . He is kind of proof that you can work your day job and still be actively involved in the industry.

There was also a party Saturday night at the Playboy Club, but for some reason, even after spending hours at it, I don’t really remember much. There are some pictures posted elsewhere on this blog. Apparently, I took them.

Oakley Sunglasses at Night Art Tour

Oakley Sunglasses at Night Art Tour joined AILV on May 21 at night in front of the school. In addition to a full Oakley gallery exhibit, beats being played by Oakley's resident DJ, and free food and drink, the event featured 40 pairs of Oakley sunglasses designed by students wanting to make their mark on the Oakley brand.

A week prior to the event, participating students at the Institute were given white Oakley Hijinx and very few guidelines. Leaving no material left behind, the students showcased their artistic talents on an Oakley eyewear canvas.

Residing Judge Andrew Petterson, who last year designed 50 handcrafted Oakley Frogskins, held court over the festivities. He is a freelance artist with an Oakley connection. Though a bright and Red Bull (and something else) fueled conversation, he revealed that he had been raised in Boise, Idaho and moved to the West Coast at age 19. He makes his living in the automotive industry as a custom paint designer. He freely admits that he has no creative control over his day job, so he uses his Oakley connection to express himself. Living in Huntington Beach, he is connected into that snowboard, skateboard young guy lifestyle that inspires the Oakley brand. Although unschooled, he was inspired by both his parents who were artists and educators. Though laidback, at 28 years old, he admits to an intense commitment to his creative energies. “I live this,” he says, “but I love what I do.” Induced to share his body art, he says he worked in collaboration with the tattoo artist to blend his original designs with the artistic ability of the other artist. They hooked up though a chance meeting with a mutual friend who had a tattoo that Andrew admired. The tattoo artist needed a paint job to restore his car and Andres wanted a chest to knee tattoo and a deal was stuck. Visiting his third Art Institute, he admitted that for the first time that he was a little intimidated by the talent of the students at our school. The quality of the students work, both in the sunglass project and student work on display, impressed him.

Rett, the marketing manger from Oakley was equally excited about the school. He revealed that he like to continue our relationship. He suggested that he might be a good addition to our marketing classes. The target market for Oakley products is exactly the market that is hardest for current marketers to reach.

Try these site for more information and pictures!
http://oakley.com/community/posts/1377
http://www.944.com/nightsites/gallery/oakley-at-lv-art-institute/

Outstanding Job for a Couple Talented Web Designers

Above is the REAL LVMI, Nick's and them Lynn's.
To the left is the google search from today...

See the previous post! It seems that some of our student work is being confused with the actual websites they are redesigning. As an instructor, I have used this project a number of times. This confusion can be the result of a number of issues, but I think it clear that the students involved - Lynn and Nick - can be commended on well done work. Compare their proposed redo's of Las Vegas Movie Insider witht he actual website. Both Lynn and Nick came up as number 8 and 11 respectfully on a google search with the real LVMI coming up first.

CineVegas Cafe Series

I went to the CineVegas Café Series over the weekend. The featured speaker was Trevor Groth. I’ve known him for about seven years, although I am not sure he knew my name for the first few. As a long-term volunteer for the festival, I have seen many changes. I think Trevor was one of the best. He has been involved with the Sundance Film Festival for many years: first as a volunteer, then as staff, then programming and he was recently promoted to Head of Programming for Sundance. I told him that he was the first person that I had seen interview on the Sundance Channel that I actually know.

As Artistic Director for CineVegas, he discussed the upcoming festival and opened the conversation to questions. I asked him what he thought of the article in the WSJ about the tightening of funding for independent films.

According to the article “Indie Films Suffer Drop-Off in Rights Sales” from the WSJ April 20, 2009, “In the latest challenge to the American movie business, a crucial source of funding for independent films -- sales of foreign-distribution rights -- is rapidly drying up… But today, due to factors ranging from the credit crunch to burgeoning online piracy, even the biggest names aren't always enough to sell an American film abroad.”

Trevor said, “ With the challenges of the domestic economy combined with the paradigm changes brought on by digital media and downloading, the industry is trying to figure out how to monetize films and filmmaking. While this is going on, the festival circuit may offer an opportunity to get your product out and be seen by the marketplace.”

Once upon a time, records (now cd’s) were the focus of the recording industry. Artist toured to promote their record sales. Now it is just the opposite. Recording and downloads help promote the touring and concert industries.

Again, from the WSJ article, says Mr. [Graham] King [a Hollywood film producer who won an Oscar in 2007 for "The Departed]. “With credit drying up across the globe, many foreign distributors simply don't have the capital to buy… At some point these buyers have to find some product for 2010 and 2011, so Cannes and Venice will be interesting,"

Certainly, the conversation on Saturday supported this contention. Trevor said that the submissions for both Sundance and CineVegas have never been higher.

Eat Vegans - a Cookbook

I don't think that this group's presentation went especially well, but I cannot fault the quality and talent of the artist that came up with the concept and did the principle artwork. Here is a sample of Grant's skills. He was pretty funny in class during his presentation, too. Check out his site for more details:

http://eatveganz.blogspot.com/