Predators, others team up to fight bullying

While they might sometimes play tough on the ice, the Nashville Predators will premiere a public service announcement at their game tonight denouncing bullying in schools.

"Through junior high, I was one of those people getting bullied. ... I was a smaller kid in the class," said Predator center Colin Wilson, who appears in the announcement. "It didn't really allow me to be as happy as I should have been."

The video will help launch a bullying prevention campaign involving the Predators, the Nashville Film Institute and STARS Nashville, which stands for Students Taking a Right Stand. STARS will premier its announcement Jan. 24, the first day of National No Name-Calling Week, on its YouTube channel,www.youtube.com/starsnashville.

"Our underlying theme for this campaign is there is help. There is hope. There are solutions," said Rodger Dinwiddie, STARS CEO. "National studies have consistently shown that a community uniting against a prevalent issue like bullying is critical to systemic change."

STARS helps Middle Tennessee schools tackle issues that threaten the emotional, psychological and academic well-being of students. A rash of bullying-related suicides across the country last year, with much of the persecution done through social media networks and other technology, brought the subject to the forefront.

"When I was a kid, it was the guy on the playground stealing your money. There was no cyberbullying," Predator right wing Wade Belak said. "I have two young girls. ... You just want to see your kids being treated nicely."

To learn more about bullying prevention, visit www.starsnashville.org.

Artrageous

NFI & Blue Hawk Productions team up!

NFI brings in the pro's to design and deliver music video curriculum: 


Blue Hawk Productions Coming to NFI from Memphis, Robb Smith and Steven Pruitt together bring 40 plus years of experience in diverse areas – from architecture and engineering to worship leading, speaking, event production, band management, graphic design, and more.


Steven spent ten years overseeing a forty person volunteer staff in the video ministry at a 5,000 member church just outside Memphis while also working as Technical Director for Mississippi Riverkings CHL Hockey. Steve has directed live concert IMAG video production for some of the greatest musicians on the planet including Willie Nelson, Jason Aldean, Randy Travis, Lonestar, Brian White, Chris Tomlin, and Isaac Hayes.


Click here to Read more on The NFI's music video page

"Anatomy of a Film Score" seminar with Hummie Mann

Sept 25-26, 2010, 10 am to 6 pm
At the Nashville Film Institute The Factory, Franklin, Tennessee click here for a map/directions – parking is free for attendees lodging is available in nearby Cool Springs

The Nashville Composers Association presents the two-day seminar “Anatomy of a Film Score” with two-time Emmy-award winning composer/arranger Hummie Mann.  Hummie has collaborated with some of Hollywood’s most celebrated directors in both theatrical and television films.  His motion pictures projects have ranged from Mel Brooks’ “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” to Peter Yates’ “Year of the Comet”, the children’s film “Thomas and the Magic Railroad” to “Wooly Boys” directed by Leszek Burzynski starring Peter Fonda, Kris Kristofferson, Keith Carradine and Joe Mazzello.  For television, he has scored projects for Simon Wincer (the miniseries “P.T. Barnum”), Jonathan Kaplan (the miniseries re-make of “In Cold Blood”), Norman Jewison (“Picture Windows – Soir Bleu”), Peter Bogdanovich (“The Rescuers: Tales of Courage – Two Women”), Joe Dante (“Masters of Horror: Homecoming”), Jim Abrahams (“First Do No Harm”), Richard Friedenberg (“Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas”), William Friedkin, John Milius and Ralph Bakshi (all part of the “Rebel Highway” series of films), among others.

Click here for Hummie’s complete credits, and here for his bio.
Anatomy of a Film Score attendees will receive 50+ pages of scores/notes with a CD of the music studied.  Hummie will discuss the process of creating a score from initial concept to finished recorded music using audio and video examples.  He will also discuss some specific compositional and technical film scoring techniques utilized in the process.  Hummie recommends attendees bring note and manuscript paper as there will be much information you may wish to jot down.  Attendees may also submit questions for Hummie ahead of time that he will address as part of the class or during the Q & A segment at the end.

You will learn, among other things:

• Where to begin? Establishing a vocabulary and policy for the score.
• Creating themes and varying them to work in different dramatic situations.
• Techniques of contracting and expanding phrase lengths to fit a film’s timing requirements.
• Discussion about various harmonic languages/progressions used in film.
• The use and control of dissonance for dramatic results.
• A step by step method of scoring a film from start to finish.
  

Read about the quality of Hummie’s teaching and courses here. Or visit the website for additional information.

NFI Student Wins at Nashville 48-Hour Film Festival

The Nashville Film Institute is proud to announce that our student Brent Miller made a splash at the 48-Hour Film Festival with his entry “Love Potion.” As producer, writer, and co-star of the film, Brent pulled together a fantastic team of creative people to write, shoot, and edit a seven-minute film within the 48-hour time frame allowed by the festival. His film won the award for Best Original Score — as well as many accolades from the audience and other filmmakers. The film has a wonderful southern feel and tells a poignant but entertaining tale of love gone awry.  he film can be viewed on Youtube.com; it is listed as “Love Potion 48.”


Join the Nashville film community at the NFI Open House on August 15 from 11am to 4pm at The Factory, 230 Franklin Road, Building 2, Suite 2B.  Brent’s film will be featured in our state of the art screening room.

NBC Comes to Franklin Hosted by The Nashville Film Institute

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CELEBRITY CHEF BOBBY FLAY IS MIXING IT UP ON NBC’S NEW REALITY COMPETITION SERIES ‘AMERICA’S NEXT GREAT RESTAURANT’ PREMIERING NEXT SEASON Competition Series Hits the Road On Cross-Country Bus Tour in Search of Unique Restaurant Ideas with Open Casting Calls in New York City, New York, Raleigh, North Carolina, Nashville, Tennessee, Columbus, Ohio, Chicago, Illinois, Kansas City, Kansas, Denver, Colorado, and Los Angeles, California UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – March XX, 2010 –Critically acclaimed celebrity chef/restaurateur Bobby Flay (“Iron Chef America: The Series”) is the first of five important restaurant and business leaders to join NBC’s new reality competition series “America’s Next Great Restaurant” (working title) premiering next season. Flay will be an investor, judge and sometimes mentor to the zealous contestants who are vying for arguably the biggest prize in reality show history -- the opportunity to open a new restaurant chain in three cities across America.

Open casting calls for the series are set to take place March 19 – April 5 in New York City, New York (March 19, 20), Raleigh, North Carolina (March 22), Nashville, Tennessee (March 24), Columbus, Ohio (March 26), Chicago, Illinois (March 28), Kansas City, Kansas (March 30), Denver, Colorado (April 1) and Los Angeles, California (April 5).

The reality competition series is from Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz of Magical Elves, the Emmy Award-nominated producers of “Project Runway” and “Top Chef.” Flay will kick off the first open casting call in New York as casting teams set out on a cross-country bus tour to scour the nation for potential contestants. Participants do not need to have any cooking or restaurant experience -- just a great idea for a unique restaurant concept.

Flay joins a select panel of some of the most important names in both the dining and business worlds who will ultimately select the winner. These individuals will invest their own money in the final restaurant chain, and will have a huge stake in the game’s winner. These larger-than-life personalities will offer the hopeful restaurateurs their expertise, support -- and the kind of tough love it will take to overcome great odds. Ultimately, after much-heated debates, the panel will choose the winning concept and decide which idea will become America’s newest restaurant.

Thousands of ideas will be narrowed down and then each week the investors will put the chosen few through rigorous challenges to discover which contestant’s plan has the greatest potential for success. The stakes have never been higher for the contestants and the investors.

Flay, star of "Iron Chef America: The Series" and "Throwdown with Bobby Flay," shows his culinary versatility in the multiple talents he brings to the field as a chef/restaurateur, award-winning cookbook author and television personality. However his first priority always remains with his restaurants.

Interested applicants for the series should log onto nbc.com/casting to pre-register for an open casting call at one of the eight stops on the nationwide casting bus tour. Along with a filled out and signed application and a photo-ID, casting teams want applicants to bring anything they feel would help pitch their restaurant concept. Elements could be visual, edible or even wearable and applicants will have a limited time to pitch their idea.

Visitors also can follow the bus tour on Twitter @magicalelves with photos and video on nbc.com/america’s-next-great-restaurant

NASHVILLE/FRANKLIN, TN
Wednesday, March 24
Nashville Film Institute
The Factory at Franklin
230 Franklin Road
Franklin, TN 37065
10am – 2pm

Nashville Film Institute Open House

From the Tennessean -

The film industry offers a world of exciting and creative opportunities, but it can seem like an impossible dream without the right education and a guiding hand.

The Nashville Film Institute will host an open house 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the school's location, on the second floor of Building 2 at The Factory at Franklin Prospective students and their parents will be able to take a tour of the school and meet with NFI instructors and students who can answer questions and give personal insights. Visitors will be able to see NFI's state-of-the-art Avid technology in action and visit with students using Apple's Final Cut Pro 7 software.

Visitors also will have the opportunity to sit in on a "writer's room" as TV writer Ahmadu Garba (Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men) leads a screenwriting session. There also will be live music, featuring recording artist Billy Reasons, and movies in the NFI's theater area.