UC Production Master Class Documentary Film Receives Regional Emmy Nomination

We are happy to report that the University of Cincinnati student-produced 2013 Gold Rush Expedition Race documentary film has been nominated for an Ohio Valley Regional Emmy Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences! The nomination is in the professional category of Best Documentary – Cultural/Topical.

A three-year project of the UC Production Master Class, the Gold Rush Expedition Race documentaries chronicle one of the foremost expedition races in the world. Each 90-minute documentary features an international field of 50 elite athletes tackling a grueling 275-mile course through the California wilderness as they test their mental and physical limits in the toughest competition in North America. All three films have aired nationally on NBC’s Universal Sports Network (you can view upcoming broadcast times here).

Since 2012, the UC Production Master Class has involved over 90 UC students hailing from the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP) and the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences.

The project was conceived by CCM Division of Electronic Media Professor Kevin Burke and professional television director/producer and distinguished CCM alumnus Brian J. Leitten (BFA, 2001), who advise the project and provide professional guidance and feedback to the students during all phases of the documentaries development.

Student teams shoot, edit, script and produce the Gold Rush Expedition Race films on location in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. “Although there is professional mentoring and oversight during the project,” Burke explains, “it is primarily produced and edited by the students, which makes it a unique example of successful experiential learning and interdisciplinary collaboration.”

The UC Production Master Course was first funded by a three-year grant from the UC Forward Collaborative, an initiative that supports experiential learning and is part of the UC Academic Master Plan. Earlier this year, UC President Santa Ono pledged additional funding, which will allow the production to continue beyond its initial three-year grant period. The presidential investment represents Ono’s ongoing support of interdisciplinary digital media projects and experiential learning at the University of Cincinnati.

“We are delighted with this nomination and are grateful to President Ono, UC Provost Beverly Davenport and the UC Forward Collaborative for their support of yet another successful example of experiential learning at UC,” says Burke.

Burke and Leitten served as Executive Producers on the 2013 Gold Rush Expedition Race, alongside UC students Callie Peters and Ben Proctor.

The 51st Annual Ohio Valley Regional Emmy Awards will be held at the Keeneland Entertainment Center in Lexington, Ky. Winners will be announced on July 25. The Ohio Valley Region includes Cincinnati, Columbus, Louisville, Lexington, most of West Virginia, southern Indiana, southern half of Ohio and northern half of Kentucky. Learn more by visiting http://ohiovalleyemmy.org/awards.

CCM E-Media Faculty Member Hagit Limor Receives ‘Best of Festival’ Honors at this Year’s Broadcast Education Association Convention

Hagit Limor, Assistant Professor of Electronic Media at CCM.

CCM Assistant Professor of Electronic Media Hagit Limor received the “Best of Festival” award in the Faculty News Competition at this year’s Broadcast Education Association’s (BEA) Festival of Media Arts. She was recognized for her report on fake memorabilia being sold at charity auctions.

The BEA’s Festival of Media Arts is a competitive festival open to both faculty and student members of the BEA. Any full-time student attending a BEA institutional members receives free membership in the association.

This year’s festival ran from April 12 – 15 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The festival received 1,352 entries in 2015 and went on to recognize 17 “Best of Festival” winners. Each “Best of Festival” award recipient was honored with the presentation of a specially produced tribute video and a $1,000 cash award from the Charles and Lucille King Family. You can view a roundup of all of the 2015 Best of Festival King Foundation Award Winners by visiting www.beaweb.org/2015/bof.

You can watch Limor’s original report on fake autographed memorabilia below.

Limor joined CCM’s Division of Electronic Media (CCM E-Media) after an extensive career in broadcast journalism and as national president of the Society of Professional Journalists. She teaches media writing, ethics and journalism, taking students from the classroom and newsroom into the studio for taped productions.

Limor has served as an anchor, general assignment reporter and investigative reporter at  network-affiliated stations in five markets, currently at Cincinnati’s Fox 19 WXIX-TV in Cincinnati, where she serves as investigative reporter. She’s covered news stories throughout  the United States, Central America, Europe and Asia, including the devastating March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Limor’s abilities as a writer and reporter have garnered her dozens of national, state and local awards for investigative, documentary, general assignment and feature reporting. She’s won 10 Emmy Awards, three national Sigma Delta Chi Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, a National Headliner Award, national finalist for the Investigative Reporters and Editors Association, and other national awards from the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Society of Environmental Journalists, plus more than 100 state Associated Press, state SPJ and local SPJ awards.

In December of 2014, Limor was recognized by the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education for her work using the media as a vehicle for speaking out against hatred.

Limor also is very active for the cause of journalism on a national level. She’s served as President of the national Society of Professional Journalists, representing 8,000 journalists across the United States after holding several other national and local offices, including president of the Greater Cincinnati SPJ chapter. She currently serves as national chair of the Society’s Legal Defense Fund, member of the Ethics Committee and recently served on the committee that rewrote the Society’s widely quoted Journalism Ethics Code. Limor also sits on the board of the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation, which promotes excellence and ethics in journalism through educational programs and grants for journalism-related projects.

Beyond journalism, Limor volunteers throughout the Tri-State, and was honored by the Bethesda Foundation for her local service. She also emcees, speaks and hosts events for various community organizations.

She received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University.

Learn more about CCM’s accomplished faculty by visiting ccm.uc.edu/about/villagenews/faculty.

CCM Welcomes Filmmaker James Chressanthis For Master Class and Film Screening on Feb. 17

CCM welcomes special guest James Chressanthis on Monday, Feb. 17, 2014.

CCM’s Division of Electronic Media welcomes cinematographer James Chressanthis, ASC, for a master class and film screening beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 17, in CCM’s Robert J. Werner Recital Hall.

An award-winning filmmaker, Chressanthis will host a free public lecture with a question and answer session from 7:30 – 8:30 p.m. This will be followed by a free screening of his feature film directing debut, the Emmy-nominated No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo and Vilmos.

‘Hunger Games’ Film Series Features Make-Up Design By CCM Alumnus Bradley Look

CCM alumnus Bradley Look.

Fans of the Hunger Games film series have another opportunity to see CCM alumnus Bradley Look’s handiwork in action. Look (MFA, 88) served as one of the makeup artists for the original film phenomenon and returns for the long-awaited sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, in theatres now!

Since studying Make-Up and Wig Design at CCM, Look has become an Emmy-winner and one of the most sought-after make-up artists in the industry.

Learn more about Look’s work on both popular television programs and on major motion pictures courtesy of UC Magazine.

CCM Alumnus Travis Hagenbuch Nominated For Fourth Primetime Emmy

CCM Alumnus Travis Hagenbuch with the first two Emmys he won.

CCM alumnus Travis Hagenbuch (BFA, 2007) was nominated for his fourth primetime Emmy award this year (ceremonies were held on Sept. 22).

Nominated in the category of “Lighting Design,” Hagenbuch has designed lighting for such live televised events as the Olympics, President Obama’s inaugural celebration, a Super Bowl halftime show with Tom Petty, the Academy Awards, the Grammy Awards, the Tony Awards, the Academy of Country Music Awards, BET Awards, as well as TV specials for Lionel Richie, Betty White’s 90th birthday and Celine Dion.

The three Emmys has won to date are for the Vancouver Olympics’ opening ceremony in 2010 and for two Grammy ceremonies in 2011 and 2012.

You can learn more about Travis Hagenbuch courtesy of UC Magazine.

UC Electronic Media Students Honored at 2013 Ohio Valley Regional EMMY Awards

Two students from CCM E-Media will be honored by the Ohio Valley Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) at the 49th Annual Ohio Valley Regional Emmy Awards on Saturday, July 20!

A 2012 graduate of CCM E-Media, Nick Lipari will receive a Student Production Award as editor for “Last Night in Town.”

Current student Tim Neumann will receive an Honorable Mention Award in the Commercial category for his work as co-writer/co-director/editor of “The Field of E-Media.”

Students from CCM E-Media have won six Regional EMMY Awards over the past three years, and won multiple national awards annually for the past 18 years.

CCM Welcomes Pianist, Conductor and Master Teacher Leon Fleisher for Residency

Master teacher Leon Fleisher. Photography by Koichi Miura.

CCM welcomes internationally renowned conductor and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Chair of Piano Leon Fleisher for a residency in conjunction with our Conducting Beethoven Workshop this week.

Recipient of the 2007 Kennedy Center Honors and subject of the 2006 Oscar-nominated short documentary Two Hands: The Leon Fleisher Story, Fleisher is widely recognized as one of the world’s truly great artists.

Fleisher will lead master classes in UC’s Robert J. Werner Recital Hall from 10-11:30 a.m. this Saturday and from 2-4 p.m. this Sunday. Both sessions are open to the general public, but seating is limited.

CCM Welcomes New Faculty and Staff This Fall

With the onset of UC’s 2012-13 academic year, CCM welcomes six new faculty members and one new full-time staff member this fall. Please join us in welcoming these individuals to the CCM family!

Learn more about each new appointment below.

CCM E-Media Students Win NATAS Student Production Awards

Two teams of students from CCM E-Media will be awarded Student Production Awards by the Ohio Valley Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) at the 48th Annual Ohio Valley Regional Emmy Awards on Saturday, July 28.

CCM Events Featured In The News Record’s Top 10 Entertainment Moments For 2010

Tis the season for reflection and end of the year list making. The editors for UC’s independent student newspaper The News Record recently published their “Top 10 Moments in Entertainment for 2010” and CCM made a strong showing on the list.

You can view Ariel Cheung and Kelly Tucker’s full story here.