Classes began on Wednesday, August 19 with the entire ComAcad group meeting in the stage. Classes continued on Thursday, and we will all meet again today at 1:10 in the stage.
There are two returning teachers from last year: Greg Doherty (English) and Kathleen McCormick (History/Government/Economics) and two new teachers: David Smith (Drama) and Michael Holt (Video Production). Please let us know any suggestions you may have for the site.
A very special thanks to Paul Churchill of Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) for coming to both 2nd Period Video Production and ComAcad to tell our students about working at George Lucas’s company. Mr. Churchill brought three demo reels that showed his work on the movies Pirates of the Caribbian, Star Wars, Transformers and many others. The students learned about workflow, 1,000 processor render farms, getting a start in the industry and the early days of ILM. We cannot thank Mr. Churchill enough for getting clearance from ILM to come speak with us, show us the demo reels and take two days off to spend with us. Thanks Paul.
(left to right, top: Dylan Redford, Zach Hoylman, Paul Churchill, Amanda Hamilton, Jason Rounds. Bottom: Matt Smith, Alan Siegel, Andrew Abballo
Congratulations to junior Jeremy Collins who will be visiting Mongolia this summer. While working on his Art & Social Responsibility ComAcad project on the non-profit group Glean, he somehow got himself invited to their 2009 summer trip.
After a short visit to Mongolia’s capital city of Ulaan Baatar, Jeremy will spend two weeks with a Darhat-Mongol family where he will (hopefully) master nomadic skills and horsemanship.
He will then go live among and learn from members of a traditional reindeer herding, shamanic community in the outreaches of northern Mongolia. Ian Baker, a frequent contributor to National Geographic, will be Glean’s co-guide.
Jeremy will be shooting a documentary which, if doesn’t stay to be a nomadic reindeer herder, we will share with us in the fall.
photo by Charlie Purdom
Mountain Mayhem
Erin Duff
Quinn Kaufman-Pedersen
Hayley Woodruff
Nathaniel Draper
Matt Firpo
blank space
blank space
Congratulations to the makers of Mountain Mayhem: The Hiker vs. Biker Dispute for winning Best Documentary at the 4th Annual Lark Theater Youth Film Festival on Sunday, April 26. Erin Duff attended the show in the town of Larkspur, CA. The documentary was produced in 1998 for Kathleen McCormick’s Local History Doc project.
Support ComAcad artists Maya Meissner & Andre Filipek at the reception for thier up-coming photo art show at Revolution 9. The reception will be held on Friday, May 1st at 7pm.
Congratulations to Raphael Leonard for getting some work with BeaterReview.com. Raph will be writing articles/reviews for the website that claims “Because buying new is for suckers.” Raph is starting out by writing without compensation but this is not unusual for beginning writers. Well done Raph!
Congratulations to Nick Wright for being accepted into the 2009 SPOTLIGHT! film series sponsored by KCSM TV in San Mateo, California. The 4 minute 25 second “untitled” piece about racism experienced on New York City’s Staten Island Ferry was shot while Nick was attending the 4 week Tisch Summer Filmmakers workshop. Not only will Nick’s film compete for best student film, but Nick will also be interviewed by American actor, author, director, screenwriter and narrator of films Peter Coyote, which will air on KCSM in the fall.
Denali Gillaspie, class of 2008
ComAcad alumni Denali Gillaspie has been traveling the world with her brother Yoshi for seven months and plans to keep living out of her backpack until mid-August (Denali was suppose to be back in Marin mid-June but she is having too much fun so she is extending her travels). Her adventures started with a family trip to Hawaii. Denali and Yoshi then went to Japan, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. They are currently in India with their friend Gina. Next on the itinerary is Nepal, Indonesia and then where ever the wind blows them.
While in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, they met a woman in a park who wanted them to teach her 5-year old son English. After meeting the mother and son each day at 5 o’clock, they invited Denali and Yoshi and others to their home for dinner. The 12 of them sat on the floor to eat shrimp and hot soup filled with vegetables Denali had never seen before. Denali said, “the kindness of strangers on this trip has been memorable.”
click on photos to enlarge
Congratulations to Wayland Bell, Michael Beuttler, Nash Holcomb, Zachary Hoylman, Dylan Redford & Lela Updegrave for winning 4th place in the 24 hour Fairfax Documentary Film Challenge. Their four minute video spotlighted the Artist in Residence program in Fairfax.
The Drake fund has awarded ComAcad (and second period Indy Filmmaking) a new Panasonic AG-HMC150 AVCCAM Camcorder! We now have two Pani HMC150 and two Canon A1. Thank you so, so, so much Drake Fund. We are able to do what we do because of you 
click on image of letter to read
