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Almost daily we see national reports on the
serious health consequences associated with obesity - both for
adults and our children. In Palm Beach County, community leaders
are ready to tip the scales in favor of nutritional wellness.
A variety of audiences from the community
will hear from a national expert on the subject on November
9th in hopes of formulating plans for rolling out a nutritional
wellness plan to the community.
Through a partnership between the School District of Palm Beach
County, Quantum Foundation, Inc. and Children's Services Council
of Palm Beach County, Dr. David L. Katz, Associate Clinical
Professor of Public Health at Yale University School of Medicine,
will address the issue before a variety of audiences. Dr. Katz
co-founded and directs Yale's Prevention Research Center. Katz
has published more than 60 scientific articles, newsletter articles
and health columns on the subject of nutrition, as well as seven
books.
The event, entitled, "Community Unity - The Way To Eat,
" is hoped to be a first step toward a community-wide awareness
campaign to stress the importance of good nutrition for adults
and children.
The event will be held Tuesday, November 9th
at the Kravis Center. It will begin with a "Power Breakfast"
with Dr. Katz and some 75 people - leaders and boards of local
government, foundations, civic organizations and public agencies.
Another 300 people from community agencies and service providing
organizations will then hear from Dr. Katz. The final meeting
of the day with Dr. Katz will be for approximately 300 school
district officials.
Dr. Katz will be available for interviews
from 9:45 a.m. to 10:05 a.m. The morning breakfast is in the
dance rehearsal hall of the Picower Foundation Arts Education
Center on the second level at the Kravis Center. He will also
be available for interviews in the afternoon from 2:00 p.m.
to 3:00 p.m.
Palm Beach County, FL - The Palm
Beach County Film and Television Commission has partnered with
the Palm Beach County Office of Economic Development to launch
an innovative new curriculum called the On-Location Education
Program for high school students interested in pursuing careers
in the film and television industry. The program brings film and
TV industry experts into the classroom to instruct students on
how to budget, write, develop, film and edit television programming.
Students will develop their own 30-minute television show, which
will air in April 2005 on the school district’s cable network,
The Education Network Channel 19. The six-month program begins
this month.
“Thanks to the visionary
leadership of the Board of County Commissioners and the Palm Beach
County School District, this unique program will put students
and industry experts together, adding a new and exciting element
to the way our children learn,” said Chuck Elderd, Film
Commissioner for Palm Beach County. “This is the first time
students will participate in the new One-Stop Student Permitting
process which allows them to leave the classroom and film onsite
at tourist destinations, government facilities and other locations
across the county.”
The three schools participating
in the program’s inaugural year, Park Vista Community High
School in Lake Worth, Alexander Dreyfoos School of the Arts in
downtown West Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens High School in
Palm Beach Gardens, have each been assigned one of three programming
topics relevant to the area: the restoration of the 1916 Palm
Beach County Courthouse, Palm Beach County’s Criminal Justice
System and Palm Beach County Tourism. Each school will have a
project committee to help guide the process. The committee will
consist of a chairperson, the selected industry expert, the teacher,
advisory members and a student representative.
“This is such an important
initiative to enhance the skill set of students interested in
pursuing a career in this rapidly growing field,” said Jody
Gleason, Director of the Education Commission. “It’s
the first program of its kind in this county to actually offer
real-world experiences that will better prepare film and television
students for jobs after graduation.”
The FTC has budgeted $5,000 per industry professional to oversee
and manage these film projects, and each school will receive a
$3,000 production budget. The funding is provided through the
FTC’s contract with the Economic Development Office. The
FTC has mandated content standards for distribution that comply
with School Board regulations.
“The curriculum also goes beyond film and television, teaching
crucial business skills such as writing, communication and relationship
building,” said Palm Beach County School District Superintendent
Dr. Art Johnson. “We’re confident this program will
be well-received throughout the community, and we look forward
to its future expansion into other schools in Palm Beach County.”
TOPIC 1: RESTORATION OF THE 1916 PALM BEACH COUNTY COURTHOUSE
School: Park Vista Community High School
7900 Jog Road, Lake Worth
Grade Level: 9
Teacher: Alyssa Cartagena
Chair: Harvey Oyer
President—Historical Society of Palm Beach County
Attorney—Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart
Industry Expert: George Barnes,
President and Owner
Take2 Productions
Members: Loren Mintz, Historical
Society of Palm Beach
Rick Gonzalez, REG Architects
Katharine Dickenson, Historic Preservationist
Channel 20
TOPIC 2: PALM BEACH COUNTY CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
School: Alexander Dreyfoos School of the Arts
501 Sapodilla Avenue, West Palm Beach
Grade Level: 11 and 12
Teacher: Ancil Deluz
Chair: Barry Krischer
State Attorney
Industry Expert: Lew Pincus, President
and Owner
Avanti Visual Communications
Members: Barbara Burns, Assistant
State Attorney
Christy Rogers, Assistant State Attorney
TOPIC 3: PALM BEACH COUNTY TOURISM
School: Palm Beach Gardens High School
4245 Holly Drive, Palm Beach Gardens
Grade Level: 12
Teacher: Ed Gigante
Chair: David Semadeni
President, AMCAL Management Corp.
Secretary, Palm Beach County Hotel & Lodging Association
Industry Expert: Donna Davis
KO-MAR Productions
Members: Charles Lehmann, Tourism
Development Council
Enid Atwater, Palm Beach County Convention and Visitors Bureau
For more information about the On-Location Education Program,
contact Michelle Hillery, Director of Operations and Programs
at the Palm Beach County Film & Television Commission at (561)
233-1000.
West Palm Beach, FL - This week Friday, Avanti
Visual Communications will produce an “extreme medical reality”
show at Jupiter Medical Center and broadcast it live to an audience
in FAU’s new Charles E. Schmidt Biomedical Science Center
in Boca Raton.
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(Scene
from the operating room in Jupiter) |
Similar to popular TV programs, this broadcast
will feature the “blood and guts” of live surgical
procedures - in living color with explicit detail. But this isn’t
entertainment. This program’s sponsor is Zimmer, a worldwide
leader in orthopaedics, and the viewing audience is made up of
20 surgeons from around the country. They’re here to gain
firsthand knowledge about new minimally invasive surgical procedures
and tools they can use as alternatives to traditional spinal fusions.
The studio is the all-digital operating suite
at Jupiter Medical Center. Leading the program of four simultaneous
live surgeries are G. Clay Baynham, M.D., and David R. Campbell,
M.D., Board Certified Orthopaedic Surgeons specializing in spinal
procedures. John A.P. Rimmer, M.D., and Daniel Higgins, M.D.,
make up the rest of the surgical team.
Avanti Visual Communications of West Palm Beach
will produce and broadcast this event. To deliver an “over
the shoulder” experience to the FAU audience, Avanti’s
team will capture audio and video feeds from different camera
sources inside and outside the surgical field, including critical
views from laparoscopes, microscopes, fluoroscopes and helmet
cameras. Broadcast quality audio and video will be beamed via
a secure satellite link to FAU Biomedical Center’s video
conferencing auditorium. As they watch each surgery progress,
participants in the auditorium will have an opportunity to ask
questions about details of the surgical techniques and will receive
real time answers from the surgeons conducting the procedures.
Avanti’s founder/executive producer Lew
Pincus is delighted to support this event. “We’re
thrilled to have an opportunity to enable this event,” Pincus
said. “This is the wave of the future.
More and more health care organizations are
finding live broadcasts and Web casts to be efficient and effective
tools that allow them to collaborate with and train medical personnel
better, faster, and cheaper.”
Headquartered in West Palm Beach, FL.,
Avanti Visual Communications is a full service multi-media production
and duplication company. They specialize in creating and producing
comprehensive marketing and training solutions that incorporate
live broadcast, video, interactive CDs, Web casts and streaming
media. For more information about their services, please call
(561) 684-9426 or visit www.avantivisual.com.
West Palm Beach, FL - The 9th Annual Palm Beach
International Film Festival (April 15-22, 2004) is complete with
celebrity-attended events, a wealth of activities and educational
programs and the promise of showcasing Palm Beach County as a
world-class venue for present and future filmmakers. Through the
donation of Festival proceeds to film and television education
programs, the filmmakers of tomorrow are provided with an environment
in which they can thrive.
The Student Showcase of Films welcomes Palm
Beach County’s hometown celebrity, Nick Zano (What I Like
About You, MTV News), as host of the awards ceremony on Monday,
April 19, 2004 from 10:00am to 12:30pm at Palm Beach Community
College’s Eissey Campus Theater in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
Zano says, “I am extremely excited to be coming to Palm
Beach County and looking forward to hosting the Student Showcase
of Films. It is amazing to be surrounded once again by family,
friends and teachers and to be hosting in this environment.”
The mini-Academy Awards® show is the heartbeat of the PBIFF
and honors the hard work and dedication of our future filmmakers.
Two highly sought-after $5,000 scholarships
in the name of Mr. Burt Reynolds will be awarded at the Student
Showcase of Films to Kaitlyn Baldwin of A.W. Dreyfoos High School
of the Arts and Blake Feldman of Jupiter High School. The winners
were recently notified at school when the Palm Beach County Film
and Television Commission surprised them with the news. Mike Daniel,
President of the Burt Reynolds and Friends Museum also attended
the event and conveyed the Museum’s commitment to an additional
$1,000 award scholarship for each student!
In addition to presenting over $25,000 in awards
money and scholarships, the Student Showcase of Films provides
students with the opportunity to talk with a panel of industry
professionals in the Q&A portion of the event and gain valuable
information and practical advice. The panelists for the 2004 event
include:
Al Sapienza has run the gamut of roles in popular
television shows (The Sopranos, CSI:Miami,The O.C.) and feature
films (Under Seige 2, Lethal Weapon 4, Thick as Thieves), as well
as producing films such as Sin’s Kitchen and The Gifted.
His desire to pass on his experiences to students has made him
a regular at the Palm Beach International Film Festival’s
Student Showcase of Films, this year marking his third year returning
to the event (Panelist – 2002, Host – 2003).
Conrad Bachmann is currently serving his fourth
two-year term as Governor of the Performers Peer Group for the
Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and a well-respected
veteran actor. He has been in the business for over 40 years and
appeared in hundreds of episodics, over four hundred commercials,
twenty features and numerous stage productions. Mr. Bachmann currently
has a recurring role on The West Wing and is in development with
two feature films and three reality programs.
Vicki Letizia, an independent producer in Los
Angeles, has a successful collection of award-winning projects
and film festival firsts to her credit. She rose through the ranks
at Showtime Networks to become Vice President of Motion Pictures
prior to branching off on her own and most recently completed
the Hallmark produced remake of The Lion in Winter starring Patrick
Stewart and Glenn Close.
Fred Weinberg is an award-winning composer,
producer and sound designer with over 30 years experience working
on feature films, commercials, top ten singles and network television
soundtracks. Some of his credits include working with singer Paul
McCartney, and on The Simpsons and Sex and the City.
Through the generous sponsorship of , an award-winning full service production
company based in West Palm Beach, 2,800 film and television students
in Palm Beach County have received tickets to attend Festival
movies. Lew Pincus, Founder/Executive Producer of Avanti said,
“We are happy to support the students and make it possible
for them to learn from their experiences while participating in
this prestigious event.”
On Saturday, April 17 and Sunday, April 18,
Lynn University presents From Script to Screen, an extended lineup
of seminars and workshops that will educate, inspire and enlighten
both novice and experienced filmmakers. The session schedule is
as follows:
Saturday, April 17
9:00am – 10:15am; Main Studio – Library, 3rd Floor:
Pitch & Development I
9:00am – 10:00am; News Room – Library, 3rd Floor:
Shooting in High Definition
10:30am – 12:00pm; Main Studio – Library, 3rd Floor:
On Location Production Techniques
11:00am – 12:00pm; Concert Hall – Assaf Academic Center:
The Last Summer Journey
Sunday, April 18
9:00am – 11:00am; Lecture Room – Library, 3rd Floor:
Screenwriting for Low-Budget Independent Filmmaking
10:00am – 12:00pm; News Room – Library, 3rd Floor:
SAGindie
10:00am – 12:00pm; Main Studio – Library, 3rd Floor:
Pitch & Development II
Lynn University is located at 3601 North
Military Trail in Boca Raton. For more information, directions
or to reserve your seats in advance, call 561.233.1000 or email
Dlitt@PBFilm.com. Seating is limited, reserve early!
West Palm Beach, FL - Ever wonder how the newspaper
gets to your front door every morning? Palm Beach Post Marketing
Director Ruth Chapman and her staff tell that story to thousands
of visitors who tour their facility each year.
“To bring people to the printing presses
and news rooms would be too dangerous and distracting. So we hired
to
produce a film that takes viewers behind the scenes and teaches
them all about the inner workings of a newspaper” says Chapman.
Avanti's video has documented the entire process,
from daily news meetings to developing story ideas to pagination
and creating the printing plates that will run on the presses.
“Creating and producing a video showing the dynamics of
how your newspaper arrives each morning was a fascinating process"
said Lew Pincus, Founder and President of Avanti Visual Communications.
The five to six minute video will be shown in
the Palm Beach Post's auditorium as part of a walking tour that
is available to students, seniors and other interested groups.
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(On
location at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach) |
West Palm Beach, FL - School aged children need
no longer wonder how they should act when attending a live performance
like those that take place in the Kravis Center for the Performing
Arts. It was lights, camera, action for the Kravis Center Arts
Camp students when they recently joined ' production crew to make a film about
proper theater etiquette.
In this video, Drew Nelson, a promising new
student star, hijacks the camera and takes the audience on a whimsical
journey through the Kravis Center, explaining to students what
behavior is “cool” and what's “definitely not
cool.” Custom musical scoring accentuates the key learning
points each student should remember.
The production was carefully scripted by freelance
writer Doug Cooney and was produced by Avanti Visual Communications.
“It was great! The entire film was made with the students.
They were either on our technical crew or were actors in the film
itself,” said Lew Pincus, President and Founder of Avanti
Visual Communications, Inc.
The new theater etiquette film is scheduled
to be distributed to schools in the Palm Beach County School District
early next year.
- Wednesday, October 28, 2003
West Palm Beach, FL - Area business owner and
filmmaker, Lew Pincus of , along with International CBS correspondent
Drew Levinson, and Professor of Humanities at Lawrence Technological
University, Dr. Melinda Weinstein have teamed up to produce a
1-hour documentary on the natural phenomenon of how Jewish families
who migrated to the South in the early 1900’s are all but
gone.
The story unfolds in rural Robeson County, North
Carolina where Levinson and Weinstein grew up. Today, there are
only three Jews remaining from over 100 Jewish families who raised
their children in an area that once flourished with tobacco crops
and small family-owned shops.
This documentary explores the history of Jewish
families who migrated to small southern towns in search of a better
life but have little to come back to anymore. It was in small
tobacco towns like Lumberton, Fairmont and Whiteville North Carolina
that Jews found fertile ground to raise their young, build businesses
and become woven into the fabric of these small mostly Christian,
Indian and Southern Baptist communities in which they lived.
The film is a labor of love and is being financially
supported by Pincus, Levinson and Weinstein. However, a quality
PBS documentary takes considerable funding so private donations
are most welcomed and can be made through the non-profit Robeson
County Historical Society.
The documentary titled “Lasting Impressions”
chronicles the Jewish life experience of living in a small southern
town from a Christian perspective. Residents have been extremely
supportive of preserving this piece of history because they experienced
first hand how living with these Jews who once were business owners
and charitable civic leaders helped shape the community morally,
socially and economically.
“Lasting Impressions” is due to
be completed for distribution to museums and PBS by late spring
2004.
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(Scene
from the Brandon's studio shoot) |
keeps another national production project right here in Palm Beach
County. Brandon home furnishings has hired Avanti’s strategic
agency partner in New York, Media Options, Inc. to develop a national
campaign for its 16 stores nationwide.
Avanti will shoot the commercials on film here
in Palm Beach County. The project will bring several agency, client
and creative talents to the area for three days of filming and
four days of post-production.
The campaign titled “Explorer”
is centered around a Safari theme which illustrates how Brandon
shoppers experience the feeling of “great discovery”
while exploring the 80,000 square foot Brandon warehouses filled
with exotic furnishings from around the world.
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(In
the studio with Medio Options of New York) |
West Palm Beach, FL - Want 5 great reasons for
L.A. and New York ad agencies to bring their commercial productions
to South Florida? Price, quality, incredible weather, non-union
crews, world-class talent, plentiful resources… and did
I say great value?
has been quietly acquiring more production business over the past
year from production dollars originally earmarked for New York
and L.A.. Production in the Palm Beaches is becoming a growing
trend for some agencies that have been forced to deliver projects
on tighter production budgets. “Even if we fly in talent
and bring our own senior creative people to South Florida, it
still, financially, makes more sense to do production here because
of the immense cost savings. By working with quality companies,
such as our strategic full-service production partner, Avanti
in Palm Beach, we are able to save significant dollars for our
clients and put that saved production money to work buying media,”
says Phil Press of Media Options, Inc.
While many production companies have felt the
effects of a sluggish economy, Avanti has managed to keep attracting
and retaining more national productions right here in Palm Beach
County. An example of that is Brandon Home Furnishings who has
recently hired Avanti’s strategic agency partner in New
York, Media Options, Inc. to develop a national television campaign
for its 20 plus stores nationwide. Avanti will be shooting the
commercials on 35mm film in Palm Beach County. The project will
bring several agency, client and creative talent to the area for
a three-day film shoot and five days of post-production. The campaign,
titled “Exploration”, will feature a series of spots
that give Brandon shoppers the feeling of great discovery when
they explore the 80,000-100,000 square foot warehouses filled
with exotic furnishings Brandon buyers import from around the
world.
“We are able to offer agencies a huge
savings because of Florida’s legislative support of the
film and television industry. With tax-exempt status on productions
from the state, along with the county commissions embracing our
industry, it’s no wonder that South Florida is gaining market
share for production,” says Lew Pincus, president and founder
of Avanti and board member of the Palm Beach County Film and Television
Commission.
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(Still
image from on-air identity package) |
The Education Network and have been working together to give
birth to The Education Network brand and its new call letters,
“TEN”. Avanti’s Art Director, Jason Vincent,
created several concepts on storyboard to develop the client’s
vision which utilizes a lighthouse as part of its identity. For
final development and creation of the new station ID package,
Avanti utilized creative techniques in motion graphics, compositing,
and animation. “The new design is absolutely outstanding.
The creativity and professionalism Avanti has shown in developing
the visuals has helped us create a perfect image to represent
what we stand for and what we are trying to achieve in the community”,
says Dr. Judith Garcia, Manager, The Education Network.
This new education channel being launched by
the School Board of Palm Beach County is scheduled to debut in
September. By broadcasting educational programming countywide
on Channel 19, the main goal of the channel is to amplify the
school district’s ability to bring the best education possible
to students and to the community at large.
Avanti will be an ongoing supporter and
sponsor of The Education Network and already has plans to produce
educational programming for independent producers who wish to
have quality, educational programs aired on the new channel.
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(On
location in West Palm Beach) |
In search of the right company for the
job, the USAF strategically searched the internet and called several
production companies to produce an informational video depicting
the future of military battle. They narrowed their selection to
and a company in California. From the beginning of their search,
the contracting personnel was delighted with Avanti since when
she called at 7pm, “a human being answered the phone”.
Avanti soared to the top and was selected for the project. Their
production crew and creative team traveled to Air Force bases
and launch pads to interview and meet generals, colonels, and
pilots for the program. Then, in a full studio shoot with a futuristic
set design, Avanti created the “war room of the future”
and produced a “space-age” video with realism and
military professionalism. The finished program was a resounding
success with the contracting personnel, Colonels and Generals.
They forwarded the program to be seen by all the Joint Chiefs
of Staff; and as if that wasn’t enough proof of success,
this production went on to be recognized for its excellence as
it won a 2000 National Telly Award.
- Wednesday, November 8, 2000
of West Palm Beach has been awarded the Gold Award in the 2000
Technical Achievement Award Video Competition. The winning entry,
“Pre-Op Open Heart” was produced for the Heart Institute
at JFK Medical Center. The “Pre-Op Open Heart” program
is one of five patient education videos produced about heart attacks
and intended to inform patients about their diagnosis and treatments.
The Technical Achievement Award Video
Competition annually identifies video programs submitted from
throughout the nation that attain the Technical Achievement Award
Standard of Excellence, as defined through ten evaluative categories,
including picture technical quality, visual composition of images,
lighting, audio, editing, script, graphics, animation, creative
analysis, and overall program effectiveness. Over 10,000 video
production companies were invited to submit entries to the 2000
Technical Achievement Award Video Competition.
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