International Digital Cinema Workshop

Under the direction of RANDAL KLEISER

Dates: July 8–28, 2012

This three-week workshop, centered in the Los Angeles area, is divided into two tracks:
The Digital Cinema Track and The Directing Track.

RANDAL KLEISER ’s first feature, Grease, remains the most successful movie musical ever made. Other credits include The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway, The Blue Lagoon, Summer Lovers, Flight of the Navigator, White Fang, North Shore, Getting It Right, Lovewrecked and the 1996 AIDS drama It’s My Party. Working in 70mm 3D, he directed Honey, I Shrunk the Audience for the Disney Parks in Anaheim, Orlando, Tokyo and Paris. This led to the U.S. government signing him to develop a 360-degree hi-definition simulator to train soldiers to deal with improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the current war in Afghanistan. In 2010, he was elected to the Science and Technology Council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. With George Lucas, he has just released an educational two-DVD set, The USC School of Cinematic Arts Presents the Nina Foch Course for Filmmakers and Actors.

View Randal Kleiser’s reel on Vimeo.

The three-week workshop divided into two main tracks:

THE DIGITAL CINEMA TRACK
addresses state-of-the-art developments in cutting-edge technology.

Lecturing and showing behind the scenes examples will be SUSAN ZWERMAN, co-author of the book, The Visual Effects Producer: Understanding the Art and Business of VFX.

FIELD TRIPS to Universal Studios’ new Smart Stage, using Virtual Sets; Evergreen Studios, to learn 3D technology; USC’s Light Stage, where digital character scanning was done for Benjamin Button and Avatar.

On the final day, particpants will visit the Directors Guild of America for the annual DIGITAL DAY. The program includes panel discussions, presentations and hands-on demos of all the latest digital production cameras. Following the Digital Day event, workshop participants will be invited to a wrap party held at a private location in Hollywood.

GUEST LECTURERS include:

• Dr. Paul Debevec, USC graphics researcher and Academy Award inventor of the Light Stage, used in Avatar, Benjamin Button and Spiderman

• Jeff Kleiser, visual effects artist, X-Men, Stargate and the 3D Spiderman ride in Orlando

(Guest lecturers subject to change.)

THE DIRECTING TRACK
exposes students to the teachings of the legendary NINA FOCH who was a top instructor at USC School of Cinema and the American Film Institute for 40 years. Her course was developed from her study with Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler and Uta Hagen, combined with her experiences being directed by such icons as Vincente Minnelli, Stanley Kubrick, Robert Wise, Otto Preminger, Blake Edwards and Cecil B. DeMille.

JAMES BONTEMPO was Nina Foch's teaching associate for more than eight years both at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and in her private classes. He is honored to be the only person to have taught under the banner of the Nina Foch Studio. Ltd. As a director, James won the Audience Choice Award for directing "Blue Tuesday" at the Attic Theatre in Los Angeles in the fall of 2010, and continues to teach and direct locally and nationally. James coaches working professionals in writing, directing and acting, and was acting consultant to Academy Award-nominated director/writer Walter Salles, Jr. for his narrative directorial debut, "Exposure," and coached for Disneyís "The Jungle Book" and other features and multiple television productions.

A graduate of the Neighborhood Playhouse under the direction of the legendary Sanford Meisner, Mr. Bontempo has performed on Broadway, off-Broadway, in national tours, and in Las Vegas. He has been teaching at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) in Los Angeles for the past seven years as well as at the USC School of Cinema-Television in both directing and writing programs, where he utilized Nina's lessons to great success. Working with Randal Kleiser, he recently conducted workshops in the Nina Foch Technique at Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts in Orange County.

As a writer, he is winner of the New Noises Playwriting Award at Perry-Mansfield, Steamboat Springs, CO, for co-writing "A Place at Forest Lawn," which was also a finalist in the Palm Springs International Playwriting Festival and received its world premiere at the Arvada Center for the Humanities in Colorado to rave reviews. His writing also earned him quarter-finalist honors with both Scriptapalooza and Zoetrope Studios. His latest play, "She's the Best," has been selected for a world premiere staged reading at the Open Fist Theater in Hollywood.

GUEST LECTURERS include:

• Carl Weathers, actor/director of Rocky, Predator and Happy Gilmore

• Martha Coolidge, former president of Directors Guild of America; director, Rambling Rose, Lost in Yonkers, Valley Girl

• Jonathan Sanger, producer of Vanilla Sky, The Elephant Man, Frances, The Producers

• Diane Baker, actress in Silence of the Lambs, Marnie, The Cable Guy; executive director of Motion Pictures and Television and Acting, American Academy of Art, San Francisco

• Mark W. Travis, Emmy winning director and author of "Directing Feature Films" and "The Director's Journey".

• John Badham, director of Saturday Night Fever, Blue Thunder, WarGames, Short Circuit

(Guest lecturers subject to availability.)

Program also includes:

• Airport pick-up and drop-off
• Welcome and closing receptions
• Tours of LA, Hollywood and Santa Monica