Off the Beaten Path – Creating Video Game Trailers

What do Microsoft Xbox, EA, Disney Interactive, Yahoo, Mattel, and Zynga have in common? They all share a place on the impressive client list held by Ayzenberg, a full-service advertising agency with a distinctly social and agile approach. You’ve seen its award-winning ads in game trailers, TV and online advertisements, on phones – basically on any…

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CSSSA People – Katie Levine

California State Summer School for the Arts (CSSSA) is a four-week intensive residential program for motivated and talented high school students. It offers seven disciplines, including: Animation, Creative Writing, Dance, Film, Music, Theater, Visual Arts. All California students who qualify are awarded scholarships to attend by the CSSSA Foundation. Busy composing, teaching, performing,  it’s hard to catch…

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Life is an Improv – Artist Profile with Jully Lee

Jully Lee began her performance career in sketch comedy and improv performing in Telemongol, her first theatrical production in 2006. Since then, Jully has continued to perform improv with Cold Tofu, and has received critical acclaim for her performances in over 25 productions on-stage. Most recently, she was seen in Tokyo Fish Story at South Coast Repertory, playing the…

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Finding Success as a Freelance Musician

Cellist Ginger Murphy is a busy freelance musician with a journey to share. By Christine Witmer Living the life of a freelance musician. Ahhhhhh. Sounds romantic, doesn’t it? Hopping from gig to gig, playing all sorts of different genres and types of music, and ultimately being able to contribute to multiple performances and artistic showcases…

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Secrets of a Reality TV Producer

Erin Zelle shares her insights into the world of “unscripted” documentaries, reality TV and lifestyle shows. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB IN THE BUSINESS? I got into it by accident. I was working for a non-profit, researching extremist groups, and it was very depressing. I spent my days reading and writing about all kinds of…

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Want to be a Children’s Book Illustrator? Part II

Award-winning Children’s Book Illustrator LeUyen Pham shares her musings and advice to young artists. PART II “…you just have to listen to that inner voice, that inner compass that’s pointing you in the right direction.” Although she never took an art class until college, children’s book illustrator LeUyen (la-win) Pham has illustrated over 80 published…

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Behind the Scenes at Summer Music Festivals

The sounds of summer music festivals are in the air! Across the US (and around the world) there are thousands of summer music festivals of every type and genre, from classical to jazz, from New England to the Southwest. If you are an aspiring musician, stage manager or production designer, a music festival looks like…

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Daydreaming With Indie Folk Singer Juliet Piper

Juliet Piper was destined to become a musician. Born into a musical family in Los Angeles, Juliet has been writing songs, singing and playing instruments including guitar and piano for as long as she could remember. In 2009, Juliet released 5 acclaimed EPs, then in 2010 she received her first major radio support from Rodney Bingenheimer…

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5 Things to Do Before You Shop Your Screenplay

So you wanna write a screenplay. We’re not going to tell you to rewrite it and make it the best story you can. We’re assuming you already know that and will do it. These are practical points from story analysts who have read thousands of scripts . . . each. Story analysts (casually called “readers”)…

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How to Practice Your Instrument? Ask TVK – ThatViolaKid

How can you practice more effectively when playing an instrument? Do you sometimes feel like you’re stuck in a rut? Do you find yourself practicing a lot, but not getting any better? Ask TVK!  Alexander Forde is ThatViolaKid, aka, TVK. Drew and Artzray are collaborating to try and answer a bunch of questions that he and…

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