Aquiline Productions
Aquiline Productions was formed by Jack Beck as a means to "officialize" his freelance and student production work while at Denison University. Registered as a business in 1999, it now thrives as Jack's independent short film & video company. Aquiline also provides support for other entities through equipment, production, and post services on select projects.
- editing analysis & support [cr. include American Movie, The Yes Men, The Pool]
- story editing and script analysis
- screenwriting
- videography [HD]
- cinematography [16, S16]
- digital post [G5 FCP]
Aquiline means "eagle-like," more specifically, like the Golden Eagle (aquila chrysaetos). The golden icon of the company is a sketch of mine (improved by Tiffani Moody) based on an emblem on a Navajo ring.
Jack can be reached at 585-264-1425.
Jack Beck
Jack Beck is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Live-Action Program in the School of Film & Animation at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He's completed numerous short works to date, winning several awards in festivals. Jack wrote and associate produced a comedy feature, and assisted in the editing of a Sundance winning documentary. His film, Pond's Eye, was a Student Academy Award National Finalist. Jack has also worked as a cinematographer, videographer, screenwriter, story editor, radio DJ, sound engineer, boom operator, and sound recordist.
Jack completed his seven-part Water Works series with a video, Aqualesce. The series premiered at the Tank Gallery in Manhattan. His recent water work, Joe: Body Electric, was selected for 25 festivals and won 3 awards.
Jack continues to create new digital works, often collaborations with Eastman School of Music composers through the ImageMovementSound program. A work from 2001, Jon's Point, L.A., continued to find screenings through 2003. Venues included the CBS Jumbotron in Times Square, and one of two American selections to the experimental program in the Dresden International Film Festival. In 2002, Jack went to Panama to shoot digital video of the courtship display of the Golden-Collared Manakin with UCLA biologist Barney Schlinger. In 2005, Jack went to Churchill, Manitoba on the Hudson Bay to shoot polar bears with filmmaker Tony Gault. In the summer 2007, Jack will be returning to Paris with colleague Johannes Bockwoldt to teach a production workshop.
Jack's films & videos have collectively garnered 200+ screenings in festivals, galleries, theatres, universities, tours, and TV. International screenings include: Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Costa Rica, the Philippines, and Italy.
For bios of Jack's collaborators on recent works, please see below.
Artist's Statement
Recent work has evolved into spontaneously shot experimental documentaries, and conceptually driven narratives. The pieces maintain a vibrant energy throughout, with the editing pronounced and the imagery kinetic in subject and camera. I shoot works that thrive in the digital medium—robust color, crisp detail, and brute sound. The graphic manipulation is entirely in-camera creation. Common subjects: the environment/landscape, animals, and man's intrusion. On one level, motion abstraction; on another, a decisively sinister mood at work.
Courses Taught
- Intro to Film Production
- Digital Production I
- Digital Production II
- Production Workshop: Fiction
- Advanced Production Workshop I&II: Fiction
- Scriptwriting I
- Scriptwriting II
- Intro to 16 Sync Production
- Production Processes
- Production Workshop: Paris
- F&A Career Preparation
- Senior Thesis I, II, III
- Film Sound Theory: Effects
- Film Sound Theory: Music
- Film Sound Theory: Voice
- Motion Image Theory (in development)
in addition
- Intro to Media Production
- Video Theory and Production
- Elementary Cinema Production
- Cinema Workshop (doc/exp/narr)
Education
- University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA. Master of Fine Arts Degree in Film and Video Production.
- Thesis Film: Follow and Order, plus written thesis, Inspirations & Conclusions.
- studied under Leighton Pierce, Franklin Miller, Rick Altman, Bob Paredes.
- University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA. Master of Arts Degree in Communication Studies: Broadcasting and Film.
- Denison University, Granville, OH. Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre & Cinema, and English (writing), Magna Cum Laude.
- Honors Thesis: Something From Nothing (Screenwriting)
- studied under Elliott Stout and David Bussan.
Grants & Awards
- Certificate of Merit for AUX 1, Rochester International Film Festival, May, 2008.
- Artist Residency Grant with Matt Costanza at the Experimental Television Center, Owego, NY (2007).
- Image/Movement/Sound Creative Collaboration grant for the production of AUX 1 (2006).
- First Place, Short Film Category, Joe: Body Electric, Sarah Lawrence College Experimental Film/Video Festival, April, 2006.
- Certificate of Merit for Joe: Body Electric, Three River Film Festival, November, 2005.
- Juror's Award for Joe: Body Electric, River's Edge Film Festival, August, 2005.
- Film Showdown Semi-Finalist, for the video The Chickening, Crash Mansion, July, 2005.
- FEAD: RIT Faculty Develpoment Grant for the production of the film Yampah (2005, $4K).
- Image/Movement/Sound Creative Collaboration grant for the production of Joe: Body Electric (2005).
- Apple Final Cut Pro, Certified Pro Certificate (2004).
- Provost's Learning Innovations Grant Co-Recipient for SoFA Production Collaboration (2004).
- Image/Movement/Sound Creative Collaboration grant for the production of Aqualesce (2004).
- FEAD: RIT Faculty Develpoment Grant for the UFVA Conference in Columbia, SC (2003).
- Image/Movement/Sound Creative Collaboration grant for the production of The Chickening (2003).
- Faculty Development Grant, Rockport, Maine Workshops & Mac Expo, summer, 2002.
- Best of Show Program Selection, for the video Jon's Point, LA, Memphis Film Festival, April, 2002.
- 3rd Place, Experimental, for the video Jon's Point, LA, FirstGlance Film Festival, Philadelphia, March, 2002.
- Image/Movement/Sound Creative Collaboration grant for the production of Canada Day (2002).
- Nominated for Eisenhart Excellence in Teaching Award, RIT (2001-02).
- FEAD: RIT Faculty Develpoment Grant for the production of the Hot Springs Project (Aqualesce) (2001, $4K).
- Image/Movement/Sound Creative Collaboration grant for the production of Jon's Point, L.A. (2001).
- Image/Movement/Sound Creative Collaboration grant for the production of Tui (2000).
- Rochester Institute of Technology Miles Research Award for Excellence in Teaching (1999, $10K).
- Image/Movement/Sound Creative Collaboration grant from RIT for the production of Niagara (1998).
- Chesterfield Screenwriting Competition 1998 (semi-finalist).
- Jury Award for River: Trance-Figure #1, Walter Paisley International Film Festival, May, 1998.
- Director's Choice Award for Follow and Order, Vermillion International Film Festival, June, 1997.
- Director's Merit Award for Follow and Order, Sinking Creek Film Festival, November, 1996.
- Co-cinematographer: for Student Academy Award National Finalist Adam Joyce's, Tracking Signal Impulse, May, 1996.
- MFA, U. of Iowa, GPA 3.9, December 1995.
- Departmental Completion grant for Follow and Order,1995.
- Four poems selected and published in editions of "100 Words," a journal published by the International Writing Program at U. of Iowa, 1994-1995.
- Kodak Outstanding Cinematography Award for Picture #4, Carolina Film Festival, April, 1994.
- Honorable Mention for Phenomenal Island, Detroit Metropolitan Film Festival, January, 1994.
- University of Iowa Fine Arts Council grant for the production of Follow and Order (1994).
- Dept. of Communication Studies summer tuition scholarships, 1993, 95.
- 2nd Place, Experimental, for the film Pond's Eye, New York Expo Film Festival, November, 1993.
- Student Academy Award National Finalist for Pond's Eye, Academy of MPAS, L.A., May, 1993.
- Student Academy Award Regional Finalist for Pond's Eye, Chicago, IL., April, 1993.
- Subject of 30-minute local artist show, Gallery, for U. of Iowa TV (1992).
- University of Iowa Fine Arts Council grant for the production of Games (1992).
- Jury Award for the film Phenomenal Island, New York Expo Film Festival, November, 1992.
- Certificate of Merit for the film Phenomenal Island, Chicago International Film Festival, October, 1991.
- Certificate of Merit for the film Sandman, Chicago International Film Festival, October, 1991.
- Graduated Magna Cum Laude, Denison University, June, 1991.
- Honors-Level Senior Thesis, Something From Nothing, 1991.
- Recipient of the Magic Can and the Cin Bin, two student created cinema awards, 1991.
- Robert T. Wilson Award for Scholarly Writing, 1991.
- Ace Morgan Scholarship, 1991.
- Juliet Barker Sarett Scholarship, 1989, 1990.
- Edward Wright Theatre Arts Merit Scholarship, 1988, 1989.
- Dean's Lists, Phi Honor Society (1987-1991).
- Four poems selected and published in editions of "100 Words," a journal published by the International Writing Program at U. of Iowa, 1994-1995.
Collaborators
-
Nicolas Scherzinger
- Niagara; Tui; Jon's Point, L.A.
- Canada Day; The Chickening
- Aqualesce; Joe: Body Electric
- AUX1
- Entanglements
- (1979) My brother Glenn and I go to see Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and have a conversation with strangers in the theatre after the experience. I cite this as my most significant screening, igniting the desire of sharing an understanding of film.
- (1981) Bored while on vacation on a Florida beach, I pick up my mother's camera and look for things to shoot. I remember very clearly the excitement and the images. A steep angle-up of the resort against a deep blue sky is my very first "artistic" shot.
- (1983) My brother makes a beautiful super-8 film that, to this day, I don't entirely comprehend, but consider the quintessential "must emulate" moment of my career.
- (1985) I shoot my first film (Super-8) ever. I believe it is of a frog in the bay. 18 years later I make a video about chickens. The evolution is astounding.
- (1986) My father buys a VHS camcorder and I make my first video, Ghost—about a mistreated, discarded bicycle that is re-born, all-white. Pretentious learning experience, but I remember clearly the excitement of my first edit.
- (1986) Canada 1986. Nearly 2-hour stylized documentary of my family's summer vacation. The first of several painfully boring annual presentations.
- (1987) Super-humid summer motivates my first reasonably respectable work, Mechanism—a semi-surreal heat-induced hallucination. However, my later video, Valse Pour le Fin du Temps (1988), a subdued, nuanced apocalyptic piece, with me in my first role, succeeds as my first video with SOUND other than music. But no dialogue. Baby steps.
- (1989) Midst my undergraduate tenure, I am president of both the film society and film collective. I get my first dose of teaching, assisting in camera instruction for Dave Bussan's Elementary Cinema Production class.
- (1990) I win 2nd place in a scholarly writing contest at Denison for a paper on Antonioni, Blow-Up: a Commentary on Art and Man. The same paper snags me a B+ in class. I do not complain.
- (1991) My film Phenomenal Island gets a prestigious screening at the Cleveland Cinemateque, and as predicted, there is no sound (at first). Four others eventually screen, flawlessly.
- (1991) Two films get Certificates of Merit from my first festival entries (Chicago International). I conclude that this is easy. I am wrong.
- (1992) The Iowa Student Arts council awards me a grant for Games, the first of ten production grants to date. Games gets shown ad nauseam on cable access.
- (1993) While scanning channels in a viewing booth (I didn't own cable) in the Comm. Studies bldg., I see establishing footage I shot for Coach (primetime) playing simultaneously with my film Games, and thought, for a moment, I was actually making a dent in the airwaves.
- (1993) My film Pond's Eye is a finalist in the alternative category in the Student Academy Awards, but does not win. On the way to Chicago for the Regionals, I get a speeding ticket. The following year, I get a seat belt ticket going to the Chicago Underground screening and miss my film. I had mentioned I was coming from Los Angeles, so the cop asks if I have anything from "south of the border." My response is, "what. . .Missouri?"
- (1994) I trek to Los Angeles after the earthquake with $500 and a Macintosh. I happily boom several shorts and features, and sleep on a very comfortable floor. One highlight is when my roommate had in her trunk Arnold Schwarzenegger's wetsuit from True Lies. I immediately retrieved it, put it on and walked around scaring her cats.
- (1995) I start shooting my 38-minute thesis film, Follow and Order. One two-minute chase scene is shot on five different days over six months in three different cities, and maintains continuity, apart from the seven-year-old actor aging on screen. I'm quite fond of the film. The best compliment I got, from the head of the experimental video program at UNM, was that it was the most inspired thesis film he had ever seen. That was worth the trip and not getting the job.
- (1995) I write a lengthy treatise to SFX king and RideFilm CEO Douglas Trumbull suggesting, among other things, he do a new Fantasia for IMAX. He responds he, "once considered it." Four years later it is released.
- (1995) I return to Denison University as a visiting professor at 26. I am the youngest faculty member. I'm refused a faculty ID, and mistaken for a non-traditional student by former professors.
- (1996) I join friends Jon and Will in Erie, PA to help produce a feature film. I write an article detailing the adventure called, "Lost in Erie."
- (1998) I arrive at RIT and on orientation I'm refused a CIAS T-shirt at the Faculty meeting. That year I win the first Miles Award for excellence in teaching (and buy a shirt).
- (1999) Sundance. I am very grateful to be able to hang-out with Chris and Sarah and about twelve others in one condominium. Fun to witness American Movie win, despite swanky parties and the collapsing theatre ceiling. Later that year, premiere party in NYC at a bowling alley with Woody Harrelson in attendance.
- (2001) I act in Randall Good's video Shower and go to my first festival as an actor. I find my favorite response to a question is, "I'm not. . .trained, to act."
- (2002) I go to Panama to shoot a colorful little songbird's mating dance. This means sitting on the floor of the rainforest for hours waiting for the male to behave. Eventually, they do, a lot, all around me, snapping like popcorn. I hope to have some of this in Works.
- (2002) Jon's Point, L.A. is one of two American works selected, out of over 1,400 entries, to a special experimental program at the Dresden Film Festival. Also around this time, JPLA screens to a packed large theatre in St. Louis, and in a small, ornate theatre in Lower Manhattan at the Tribeca Hotel (where I sign an autograph and hear an audience member scream "sucked!" after my video). It is also purchased for the archives and catalogued for InVideo in Italy.
- (2003) Canada Day gets a screening at the Fitchburg Film Festival and they have to borrow a camera to screen it. And, as predicted, there is no sound.
- (2005) Website!
- (2005) For one weekend in November, I am in five festivals. My mother and I attend two in one day, driving from Cleveland to Pittsburgh for the awards ceremony.
Nicolas Scherzinger was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and graduated in 2000 from the Eastman School of Music, where he received a Masters and Doctorate in Composition. He is chair of the Composition and Theory Department at the Setnor School of Music at Syracuse University. He has received awards from ASCAP, SOCAN, the Barlow Endowment, the Canada Council, and the Eastman School of Music, and his works have been performed in the United States, Canada, Taiwan, and Europe. His works are published by ScherziMusic Press.
Composer Jon Forshee (b.1975) concerns his time with the creation of original musical experiences in all media. Acclaimed as "striking and adventurous," "futuristic," and "most imaginative music on the scene today," Forshee's many diverse compositions reflect the broad spectrum of his aesthetic concerns: the acculturation of tuning, timbre, and music from Eastern cultures; increased understanding of ancient Western musics; and inquiries into musical perception and cognition through new technology. Forshee's output is comprehensive: he writes for small and large ensembles, computer, computer with live performers and ensembles, dance, and video. Most recently Forshee's writings on music have appeared in The Open Space magazine and Perspectives of New Music. Additionally, the music enjoys continued life through repeat performances: to date Toccata has been heard in over 250 concerts throughout the United States. Jon Forshee's formal education in music took place at the Interlochen Arts Academy (diploma), Bowling Green State University (B.A.), Xi'an Conservatory of Music (PR China), and the Eastman School of Music (M.A.). Jon currently lives in Paris, France, where he is resident at the Centre de Creation Musicale Iannis Xenakis (CCMIX).
David Plylar (b.1978) is originally from Phoenix, AZ, and is currently pursuing a PhD in composition from the Eastman School of Music, where he has studied with Carlos Sánchez-Gutiérrez and Robert Morris. In 2003 he completed his M.M. in composition and theory at the University of Louisville, where he studied with Steve Rouse. David earned his B.A. from Duke University in 2001, where he was a student of Stephen Jaffe. David was recently selected to participate in the Minnesota Orchestra Reading Sessions and Composer Institute (2004). Other recent awards and scholarships include an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award (2003), the Simon Rose scholarship (Eastman, 2003), a Jackno scholarship (Eastman, 2004) and the Grawemeyer Fellowship (University of Louisville, 2001-3). His compositions include works for piano, voice, orchestra, and various chamber ensembles.
Ethan Borshansky received his Bachelor of Music degree in composition at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester. Ethan's film scores have been featured in works at many festivals including: Moondance, Not Still Art Festival, and Ann Arbor Film Festival.
John Graham’s multi-faceted career as a soloist, chamber music ensemble artist and teacher has taken him throughout the U.S. and to Canada, Europe, China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. During his twenty-five years as a top free-lance violist in New York he performed as soloist, in chamber music ensembles, in new music groups, symphony, ballet, and Broadway orchestras, in film, TV, and commercial recording. He subsequently taught for eighteen years at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester and is now Professor Emeritus of Viola. His web site is www.grahamviola.com.