PITCHNIC PREMIERE
Rarely in my short life have I seen a better harvest of films from the Spy Hop Productions PitchNic Program. Now in its 7th year, the program has somehow managed to outdo itself as each year has stacked up... and 2009 was no exception. Starting the night off with Destination SLC, a documentary by Chris Carpenter and Collin Griffith, the promise of a higher plane of an entertainment and storytelling amalgamation was palpable. This documentary highlighted the life and trials of being a refugee in the Salt Lake Valley, and some of the local "welcoming" individuals who try to make these disparate communities form a new and better whole. The film had a pace that encouraged thought in the audience and a desire to make Salt Lake even more welcoming to our refugee communities. Next on my dance card was Brains. On the surface, Brains, made by Loren Ruiz and Rachel Ann, seems like it's gonna be a b-movie send-up. A zombie film with guts and, well, brains. But upon closer inspection, the film is more a commentary on obsession and loyalty, rather than the usual commercialism and environmental themes of the run-of-the-mill zombie flick. The film had the audience belly laughing the entire time. By the way, the film did look like a b-movie, complete with the requisite film grain and scratches, what appeared to most as a mistake, but was a most deliberate, artistic choice. The second documentary of the night, Brother of Mine, hit me like a ton of metaphorical bricks. In the film, Ethan Pullan, Alek Sabin and Pat Thompson highlight the history of Ethan's older brother, Chase, his battle with cancer, and the family he left behind. This film was so incredibly compelling. I sat at the back of the darkened theater, grateful for the darkness as I was crying my eyes out the entire film. Luckily, I could hear the entire theater sniffling and adjusting in their seats, and an extra-long credit sequence gave us all the opportunity to recompose ourselves, hopefully without anyone being the wiser. Rounding out the program was The Antagonist. This film, created by May Bartlett, Dan Pimentel and Kevin LeStarge, was wicked awesome. A quirky story about a character in a horror screenplay who wants to be a good guy, this film has a way of getting into your mind and staying there. There are some slight jumps in logic: for instance, how did the character find the author's home to come and harass him? - the filmmakers knew the world of their story so well that they even had an answer for that one, "He Googled it." The level of dedication to these stories shows itself on every frame on screen. All in all, each film was a massive success and to see the filmmakers, on stage, soaking up the immense credit that they deserve was the frosting on the cake for the Class of PitchNic 2009, and for those of us who were lucky enough to be in the room... that cake was good. - by Jeremy Nielsen |
 |
|
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT :: ETHAN PULLAN
Brother of Mine premiered on November 11th as part of the PitchNic Film Intensive program. Ethan Pullan's family and the passing of his older brother after a drawn-out struggle with leukemia are the focus of the film. I interviewed Ethan two days after the premiere. Ethan made the film with student filmmakers Pat Thompson and Alek Sabin.
So what did you think of the screening?
I thought it went really good. [The screening] was so much bigger than Write-Shoot-Ride or Reel Stories. It was epic in my mind. I was grateful to be a part of something like that.
How about the audience's response? What did you think?
I was kind of nervous at first because it was really quiet, but then as it was ending I could hear all the sniffles. And then people started applauding. I thought, "Oh thank God!" I was really happy to hear the response. And it was really cool to make a room of 500 people cry. You don't get to do that everyday.
What's your plan for the film now?
The American Cancer Society has already asked to use it to help other families that may be going through something similar. I couldn't be happier about that. It's really exciting that maybe my story and my brother's story will be able help people out. That's really cool.
What was the experience like making Brother of Mine?
I'd never applied myself any harder at anything before in my life. I've never been busier than I have been in the last six month with two jobs, college, and then making a movie.
What advice would you give to this next year's PitchNic group?
Tell a story you're passionate about. If you're not passionate about it you're not going to be that in to it, and it's just going to make things that much harder. Be prepared to spend a lot of time at Spy Hop.
What are your plans for the immediate future?
I'm going to finish school. I'm going to start on Panhandler. It's a documentary I want to make about the homeless. It's going to be kind of like the film Dark Days but in Salt Lake. - Interview by Frank Feldman
SENDING MESSAGES :: A COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP WITH DECKER LAKE
This fall, Spy Hop Productions launched a new community partnership with Decker Lake Youth Center. This program, titled Sending Messages, aims to empower its participants to share their stories. Adam Sherlock, the latest addition to the Spy Hop staff, has taken on the role of Radio Documentary Instructor and leads this new program. Adam, a Salt Lake City native, brings his years of working with incarcerated youth, his podcasting experience (he currently produces two shows a week) and his passion for writing and storytelling to the new program. Along with the support of Decker Lake and the Granite School District, participants will be turning short written work into audio pieces, while earning school credit. When speaking about the new program, Adam stated, "The students have taken the idea of 'radio story' to heart, with current projects spanning a wide range of topics from personal experiences to poetry and creative fiction. We have a time-capsule letter to future grandchildren, a Christmas themed interview, and even a review of Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'." As the students learn the art of crafting a story and producing pieces for radio play or podcast, they are encouraged to find their voices and share them with the world. Stay tuned to spyhop.org for links to the finished projects. - by Matt Mateus
SUPPORTER CORNER :: ANNUAL GIVING
SPY HOP - THE CRUCIAL PATH TO YOUTH EMPOWERMENT
"You bring voices to the forefront that may otherwise be silent. You empower youth to envision themselves, their future, and to know better their impact in the community." - Spy Hop Parent, 2009
This year, one-thousand Spy Hop youth were empowered with 21st century multimedia skills to compete in our ever challenging world of media sophistication. These students are preparing to assume the mantle of leadership in our community with critical thinking and communications skills beyond the camera, microphone and keyboard. They have been transformed with new confidence to freely express their individual creative visions, unique perspectives and authentic stories through filmmaking, music, radio and digital design each year. We share in the pride of the astonishing achievements of our young media makers. And all of this, their Spy Hop accomplishments and their future success beyond Spy Hop, is made possible through your generous support and that of others. Thank you.
Spy Hop students continue to demonstrate their bona fide expressions of personal growth and genuine promise. Our 2009 Annual Benefit illustrated this with great celebration and enthusiasm. Our Best Of Awards Ceremony also demonstrated their incredible talents, as did our PitchNic Premiere, showcasing their extraordinary work.
Recently we initiated our Annual Giving Campaign. Already gifts both large and small are pouring in, and we are most grateful. But we must dig deeper this year because the need is greater than ever before. We ask you to commit yourselves to this goal now.
We thank the foundations and government agencies which have supported Spy Hop since our last issue. They include the National Endowment of the Arts, Morgan Stanley Bank, The Libra Foundation, Catalyst Foundation, Emma Eccles Jones Foundation, Willard L. Eccles Foundation, Stephen G. and Susan E. Denkers Family Foundation, UBS, Best Buy Children's Foundation, Salt Lake City Arts Council, R. Harold Burton Foundation, George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, Robert S. Carter Foundation, Younker Family Foundation, Zoo, Arts & Parks of Salt Lake County, Salt Lake County Substance Abuse Prevention Services, the Surdna Foundation, Adobe Youth Voices, JP Morgan Chase, and the Daniels Fund. It is critical that we have the combined support of the community from individuals along with agencies and organizations. It is this comprehensive effort that makes the difference in serving our youth for the common good.
Please find it in your heart to mail your annual gift today or make a donation here on our website ». Our youth need your support. - by Hilary Cline
Read more about the 2009 Annual Giving Campaign »
Back to TOP »
THE BEST OF :: A SHOWCASE OF SPY HOP TALENT FROM 2008-2009
Every fall, Spy Hop Productions invites its students, family and friends to experience the most talented work produced over the course of the previous school year. Titled, The Best Of, this year on September 2nd at the U of U's Post Theatre, Spy Hop launched its first-ever awards ceremony. Presented with one-of-a-kind trophies, created by Spy Hop alumnus Marina Atherton, students were recognized in such categories as best personal narrative and best visual storytelling.
The evening opened with a performance by up and coming hip-hop artist Malevolent MC, one of the young musicians signed by Spy Hop Records last year. The audience was then guided through the evening of awards' presentations by the dynamic duo of Jeremy Nielsen and Phil Davis, who actively engaged and humored us throughout the night. A highlight of the evening was Loud and Clear student Liz Tanner's emotionally charged reading of her award winning radio documentary, Giving Up But Not Giving In. Write-Shoot-Ride's documentary film Toxic Utah also debuted. And closing out the evening, Spy Hop Records artist Sam Burton, wooed us with his indie-acoustic solo performance of Calling Me Out, a song off his debut Spy Hop Records album.
Congratulations to the following students on their achievements. For a list of all the nominees, please visit the Best Of webpage »
BEST PERSONAL NARRATIVE
* Loud & Clear Youth Radio Student - Liz Tanner, "Giving Up But Not Giving In"
BEST STORYTELLING
* PitchNic Fiction Students - Phil Davis, Spencer Sandoval, Sean Bagley, SUSPECT
BEST DOCUMENTARY
* PitchNic Documentary Students - Steve Schmit & Aubry Hollingshead, SOCIAL OBSCURITY
BEST CREATIVE/ARTISTIC EXPRESSION
* Multimedia Apprenticeship Program Video Student - John Campos, Personal Narrative
BEST SOUND DESIGN
* Musicology Peer Mentor - Goldbug (a.k.a, Casey Blandford), for the beats on Roe & UNI Verse All's album, "Visitors"
BEST SONG
* Musicology Student - Orion Chacon-Hurst, "Slam"
BEST PEER MENTOR
* Casey Blandford, Musicology
BEST DIGITAL DESIGN, ANIMATION OR CLAYMATION
* Sam Milliner, "Voyage"
ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
* Colby Bryson
- by Kasandra VerBrugghen
Read more about the Best Of event »
Back to TOP »
iDEA
Spy Hop's Interactive Digital Education Academy (iDEA), a K-12 teacher professional development program to integrate the filmmaking process into core content, has enjoyed exciting developments over the fall and summer. In addition to hiring a new team member, iDEA provided a successful season of workshops.
Spy Hop is pleased to introduce a new member of the iDEA team, Emily Mallory. Emily's breadth of experience as an educator extends across the globe, within a variety of classroom settings. Highlights of those experiences include teaching outdoor education programs in North Carolina, and community service and cultural immersion programs for U.S. students in Costa Rica and Fiji. Emily has used various technologies to teach content and empower students to take ownership of their learning; she loves the challenge of figuring out new ways to engage students. Emily is a valuable addition to the iDEA team.
Throughout the 2009 summer and fall, iDEA trained teachers in Utah and Wisconsin through five workshops. The Utah State Office of Education (USOE) Fine Arts Department, Willard L. Eccles Charitable Foundation, Art Works For Kids Foundation, Washington County School District, Canyon Rim Academy, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Milwaukee Public Schools supported these opportunities for educators.
Utah participants arrived from 10 districts in the state. In weeklong workshops, teachers engaged in various filmmaking projects, emphasizing integration of the iDEA instructional strategy into standards-based content. Working in teams, teachers produced book trailers, public service announcements, stop motion projects, and short films. The iDEA program also trained Salt Lake City educators from five schools involved in a multi-year initiative that began in 2008, to integrate the filmmaking process into learning, focusing on language arts curriculum.
With the support of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Milwaukee Public Schools, iDEA helped launch an initiative to integrate public service announcement production into required health classes. A three-day training was provided to health teachers from Milwaukee Public Schools, focusing on various formats of public service announcements. The curriculum will be integrated into their winter and spring health classes.
We are gearing up for another productive year and look forward to iDEA's continued growth. Please contact Stacy Ringo (stacy@spyhop.org) for additional information. - by Stacy Ringo
Read more about the iDEA program »
Back to TOP »
NEW ADDITIONS TO THE SPY HOP BOARD
Spy Hop wants to warmly welcome six new members to the Board of Trustees for the 2009/2010 programming year. These new community supporters are: John Greene, Station Manager for KUER 90.1FM; Legislative Representative and Associate Director of Government Relations for 1-800 Contacts, Jennifer Seelig; Alexandra Huggins, Primary Children's Medical Center Financial Counselor and Spy Hop parent. Our other two new members joined the Board as Officers and are: Secretary Virginia Pearce, Associate Director, Artist Relations & Community Programs of the Sundance Institute and Treasurer Agnes Durst, Finance Manager Disney Interactive Studios. We are honored by their commitment to the organization. - by Rick Wray
STAFF UPDATES
Spy Hop welcomes Chris Howard as the new Marketing Coordinator! Be on the lookout for future press and updates from Chris. To contact, please email him at cjh@spyhop.org.
Visit Staff & Board page »
Back to TOP »
Visit Spy Hop Awards page »
Back to TOP »
UPCOMING PROGRAMS & EVENTS
DECEMBER
Dec 18: Multimedia Apprenticeship Application Deadline
JANUARY
Jan 11-May 19: Audio Apprenticeship (Ages 14-19); M & W 4pm-6pm
Jan 11-May 19: Interactive Media Apprenticeship (Ages 14-19); M & W 4pm-6pm
Jan 12-May 20: Film & Video Apprenticeship (Ages 14-19); T & Th 4pm-6pm
FEBRUARY
Feb 2-Mar 11: Filmmaking I (Ages 14-19); T & Th 6pm-8pm
Feb 2-Mar 11: Sound Engineering I (Ages 14-19); T & Th 4pm-6pm
Feb 2-Mar 11: Digital Design & Animation I (Ages 14-19); T & Th 4pm-6pm
MARCH
Mar 23-Apr 29: Filmmaking II (Ages 14-19); T & Th 6pm-8pm
Mar 23-Apr 29: Sound Engineering II (Ages 14-19); T & Th 4pm-6pm
Mar 23-Apr 29: Digital Design & Animation II (Ages 14-19); T & Th 4pm-6pm
Upcoming Classes »
Upcoming Events »
Back to TOP »