Film and Media Arts Associate Professor Sarah Drury has been researching a technology-based art form called augmented reality, in which artists add virtual images to real landscapes that can be viewed through a mobile phone.
Watch Professor Drury discuss her research, an augmented reality exhibit that she curated and her take on the artists who work in this medium.
Video by Ryan Geffert
One image from Lew Klein's archive shows him with President Lyndon Johnson (L).
The Klein collection is a vast study of the television industry in the 20th century.
It’s episodes of the landmark television show “American Bandstand” and “This is Your Life.” It’s photographs of entertainers and athletes.
And now, it’s a permanent resource in Temple University Libraries.
Temple celebrated the donation to the Special Collections Research Center and honored Lew and Janet Klein at an April 10 ceremony. Lew Klein, an adjunct professor in Temple’s School of Communications and Theater for 59 years, is chair of the school’s Board of Visitors.
“Primary sources are a true learning tool within a university,” said Provost Richard Englert. “It is the raw material upon which our students and scholars shape their discoveries.”
The material has been in the Klein’s house for years, in cartons in the basement, in drawers and in files marked “etc.” The papers consist of photographs, newspaper articles, pamphlets, letters, scrapbooks, brochures, videos, periodicals and other recorded and printed materials.
“Lew always felt that the papers… of his activities were souvenirs that he wanted to keep,” Janet Klein said.
In total, Lew Klein said that 23 cartons have been donated. “Janet tells me that we have lots more at home, so we’ll be adding to the collection.”
At the ceremony, he spoke briefly about his early days in the television industry, when there were only 3,000 television sets in Philadelphia. One of his first jobs was to produce a commercial for Dutch Boy paint with marionettes, a job that paid $5 a week.
(L-R): Lew and Janet Klein with Carol Lang, interim dean of University Libraries. (photo by Ryan S. Brandenberg/Temple University)
“We’re honored that Lew and Janet have entrusted their legacy to Temple,” said Carol Lang, interim dean of University Libraries. “The materials are a great complement to Temple’s strengths in documenting the cultural, social, economic and physical development of our region.”
Lew Klein has made an indelible mark on the television industry. In the 1950s, as programming director for the six Triangle Group stations, Klein served as executive producer of the landmark program “American Bandstand” at WFIL-TV. In 1970, he co-founded Gateway Communications, which owned four TV stations, and served as Gateway’s president from 1983 to 1993.
Klein is respected by the Temple community and media professionals for his ability to motivate and inspire those around him. Many of the careers of top television professionals across the country have been launched by his wise mentorship.
FMA Professor Peter d’Agostino’s work will be shown as part of an exhibit at ICA, London, from April 3 to June 10, 2012.
Remote Control includes a range of work by artists who explore the way television shapes contemporary culture, and also highlights a number of contemporaries who are responding to the mediums digital convergence. Coinciding with the digital switchover in the UK, the exhibition marks the end of analog broadcasting—a milestone in the evolution of television. The exhibition includes significant works that examine how television has changed the way artists engage with material and form, and how adopting techniques of television broadcasting has contributed to the deconstruction of traditional definitions of art.
Exploring the role of television in the public sphere, many of the works presented in the exhibition challenge themes of gender, race, propaganda, identity, pop imagery and consumerism.
TeleTapes: a look at television and everyday life (1981) Broadcast: WNET-TV, New York
Distribution: Electronic Arts Intermix Collection: The Museum of Modern Art, NY
Remote Control exhibition (TeleTapes, installation)
Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), London, Apr 3- Jun 12, 2012
Peter d’Agostino: World-Wide-Walks / between earth & sky / 1973 – 2012
( Video / web installations )
BizBAK Art & Culture, UPV/EHU, Bilbao, Spain, Mar 8 – Apr 27, 2012
The Walk Series ( 1973 -74 / 2008 video installation )
State of Mind: New California Art Circa 1970
University Art Museum, Berkeley, Feb 29 – Jun 17, 2012
image courtesy Philadelphia Inquirer
Former SCT Professor John B. Roberts passed away March 8, 2012. He was 94.
A Temple professor from 1946 to 1988, Professor Roberts helped to found WRTI-FM in 1953.
Born in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., he was the son of the late John & Evelyn (Buckley) Roberts. Professor Roberts was a Navy veteran, having worked as a Navy broadcaster during World War II.
He was the founder of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia, which inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 1996 and named him Person of the Year in 1987.
Throughout his teaching career, Professor Roberts inspired countless students to pursue careers in communications and is one of the reasons SCT has found such success. Hear from a few people who benefited from knowing him:
Jaclyn Adler, RTF ’73. “You gave so much to so many, and as for me, I carry and apply the knowledge you shared each day.”
Paul Gluck, JOUR ’76, BTMM associate professor. “John Roberts set a near perfect example for those of us who were practicing journalists and then entered the academic world. He was an erudite and urbane presence here at Temple SCT, who offered insight and reassurance to students as an educator and served as an aspirational model for media professionals.”
Len Guercio, RTF ’83, SCT film lab coordinator. “I enrolled in his RTF 101 Communications Theory class and fell under his tutorial thrall. John Roberts was the consummate communications professional and professor. His classes were very well-organized, the information he imparted was systematized into logical, digestible components, and his radio and TV war stories—while sometimes seemingly tangential to the matter being discussed—always ultimately underscored the main points of the day’s lesson.”
William Johnson, WRTI station manager. “It’s doubtful he could have ever foreseen the 14-station network that now broadcasts in high-definition, serving hundreds of thousands of listeners each week in the Greater Philadelphia region. What he did see, though, was the need for students to have a practical application for the theory they were learning in the classroom, and the power of radio to reach and serve people in a way no other medium could achieve. Generations and thousands of students later, WRTI continues Roberts’ legacy of service to our community and excellence in broadcasting in what is now the age of digital media.”
Jim McCraw, JOUR ’66. “Professor Roberts tried to convince me to switch from print to radio, but I didn’t listen. Shame on me. A great guy who lived a long and wonderful life teaching kids like me.”
Dan Taylor, RTF ’79. “[He was] a top-notch professor. [I] learned a lot from him not only about the business, but how to be a professional.”
Associate Professor Rea Tajiri, FMA, will participate in a two-day symposium, “Women, Social Justice, Documentary,” March 31 and April 1 at Smith College in Northampton, Mass.
She will be part of a panel discussion entitled “Experimental Documentary: What Does Social Justice Look Like?” with fellow film and video artists Su Friedrich of Princeton University and Barbara Hammer.
The keynote address will feature documentary filmmaker Lourdes Portillo, Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, Senorita Extraviada.
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“And the Oscar goes to…”
Like millions of people around the world, Film and Media Arts Assistant Professor Mark Rosenthal will be awaiting to hear the end of that sentence Feb. 26 during the Academy Awards broadcast. But unlike a majority of the viewers, he’ll know which nominees have received at least one vote in each category.
He voted for them.
Rosenthal, the only member of the Academy at the School of Communications and Theater, is a screenwriter, with films such as Mona Lisa Smile, Superman IV, Star Trek VI and Planet of the Apes (2001) on his resume.
One of 5,783 voters this year, Rosenthal filled out his ballot during a Super Bowl party this year, fielding commentary from this friends and family before making his decisions. His son hounded him to select Tree of Life as Best Picture, “and then somebody said ‘you’re going to waste your vote.’” Instead, Rosenthal voted for Hugo and will be surprised if neither the Martin Scorsese film nor the silent film The Artist take the top prize.
Oscar voting happens in two phases. In the first round, Academy voters are asked to pick nominees from the list of every film that was released theatrically (there were 265 feature films in 2011). Voters are only able to select nominees for Best Picture and for their area of expertise, meaning Rosenthal also voted for Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay nominees. The second round occurs after the nominations are announced and all voters select their winners in every category.
Assistant Professor Mark Rosenthal, FMA
In both rounds, voters don’t just pick their favorites – they are asked to rank their selections, “so it’s not a winner take all,” he says.
The Academy’s rules for eligibility are quite specific. According to a news release, “Under Academy rules, a feature-length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes and must have been exhibited theatrically on 35mm or 70mm film, or in a qualifying digital format. Feature films that receive their first public exhibition or distribution in any manner other than as a theatrical motion picture release are not eligible for Academy Awards in any category.”
However, Rosenthal believes that the theatrical release requirement’s end is nearing, as younger viewers consume films outside of the movie theater more and more.
“SCT majors today are probably the last generation with any connection to a movie theater as a sacred place,” he says.
The young movie lovers are more likely to stream films on their laptops or iPads, he says. But a majority of Academy voters watch the nominees at home, too. Studios send out what they call “screeners,” to voters to ensure their nominees are seen by as many voters as possible. “Some of these films only play for a couple of weeks in one theater. Given my schedule, I probably wouldn’t have gone to see them.”
When selecting the screenwriting awards, Rosenthal says he votes for movies he thinks are harder to write. For example, he says he’ll be floored in Bridesmaids wins anything. While he appreciated the humor, “that ain’t writing; it’s sketch comedy.”
The minister and chief of cabinet for the president of Guinea was at Temple University Feb. 10 to learn more about managing government and presidential communications from two faculty members in the Department of Strategic Communication at the School of Communications and Theater.
(L-R): Associate Professor Gregg Feistman, STRC; Guinea Minister and Chief of Cabinet Naby Bangoura; and Professor Deborah Cai, STRC. (photo by Ethan Schwartz)
It was part of a two-week visit to the United States as part of the Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership program. Naby Bangoura is traveling the East Coast, visiting universities such as the University of Maryland, Harvard University and Temple.
For two hours, Bangoura, accompanied by a translator from the State Department, met with Professors Gregg Feistman and Deborah Cai. They discussed strategies for managing government communications to a diverse population that has been ruled in recent history by military regimes.
As the theoretical basis for the rest of the discussion, Cai talked about how to build four dimensions of trust and Feistman discussed media agenda setting. Topics ranged from how President Alpha Condé can build trust with people across the nation to how to manage messages across different types of media—some of which are not available to all areas of the country. They also discussed how to manage communication within the government, which has a large number of ministers, and how to encourage pursuing vision rather than reacting to immediate problems.
Gordon Gray, a former chair of the Radio/Television/Film Department passed away Oct. 25. He was 87.
Gray joined the School of Communications and Theater faculty in 1967.
“When Gordon came to Temple, he led a department that had built a strong regional reputation under the leadership of Prof. John Roberts,” says former SCT Dean Robert Smith. “Gordon attracted some of the most widely respected senior people in the field.”
The department’s growth under Gray’s watch was immense. According to a quote on the WRTI website, Gray said it grew from 100 undergraduate students to 1,200.
“Our students get a lot of hands-on hardware experience, but knowing how to use the equipment is not all. The camera and the microphone are to RTF students as paint and brushes are to an art student,” Gray was quoted as saying in a Temple University press release.
Lew Klein, an adjunct professor at Temple for 59 years, recalls some of Gray’s accomplishments.
“I believe that Gordon Gray’s success with the development of the RTF Department it attributable to his astute selection of a great faculty and his ‘real world’ approach to the courses offered to the fast-growing student body,” he says. “The years he spent as chair coincided with an explosion of interest in communications and especially broadcasting.”
Under his watch, Klein adds, the RTF saw a heightened sense of congeniality among the faculty and its students. He recalls fondly the faculty-student softball games Gray organized, “of course won by the student teams.”
Klein says his talent and personality will be remembered forever. “Gordon had a golden voice and a heart of gold to go with it.”
By Laura Kuserk
University Communications
photo by Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University
The Office of the Provost and Faculty Senate Steering Committee recently hosted an awards ceremony honoring 17 Temple faculty for their service contributions to their department or college or participation in university-wide activities.
The School of Communications and Theater selected Associate Professor Karen Turner of the Department of Journalism to received the honor.
Speakers at the Oct. 20 event, which was held in Alter Hall’s MBA Commons, included Temple Provost Richard Englert and Faculty Senate President Paul LaFollette.
“This ceremony was a wonderful opportunity to bring together a distinguished group of faculty who have made such significant contributions to their departments, schools and colleges and the university,” said Englert. “Their work continues to strengthen Temple as a vibrant urban university.”
Awards were presented to one faculty member from each of Temple’s schools and colleges. Honorees were given a certificate recognizing their outstanding service efforts.
Preis
A new documentary film by Associate Professor Eran Preis, FMA, explores the impact of severe mental illness on an entire family — his family. The film documents his son’s struggle with mental illness, and how it has affected Preis, his wife and their two other sons. Preis says he wants the film to prepare other families for the frequent changes that mental illness brings. “It’s the constant ups and downs, that’s what we have learned,” he said. “For a while, he goes to school, and he is doing very well, and then it just cannot hold, and it falls apart. That’s the constant struggle.”
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