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A History of Interiors: An Interview with Interior Designer Ana Luchangco

February 23, 2023 by Mormei Zanke

Look around your room, what do you see? Interior environments and architecture can offer us a glimpse into history and insight on the evolution of design. In A History of Interiors: From Classical to Contemporary Design taught by Ana Luchangco, you will explore these themes and more. Luchangco is the owner of the interior design practice InSpace NY Design, and has worked on interior design for the St Regis Hotel, Vera Wang, Halekulani Hotel, Giorgio Armani, Neiman Marcus, Price Waterhouse Coopers, and other high-end residential projects.

In this course you will study legendary interior designers such as Charlotte Perriand and Zaha Hadid. You will also have the chance to hear from, Sheila Bridges—named America’s Best Interior Designer by Time magazine and CNN— who will be visiting the class.

Read on below for our Q&A with Luchangco and find out what you can expect from her class.

Mid-Century Modern Interiors by Ana Luchangco of InSpace NY Design; Photography by Michel Arnaud; Architecture by OMA

What can students expect from A History of Interiors class?

AL: A History of Interiors is a documentary or a time-travel of sorts, a journey and exploration of interior environments, art, and architecture. It’s hopefully an interesting and engaging take, a “Da Vinci Code” of Interior Design if I may, reflecting on the political and religious transformations that influence interiors and the so-called design limitations on how they developed into the solutions and innovations of today.

Classic Interiors by Ana Luchangco of InSpace NY Design; Photography by Michel Arnaud

What inspired you to teach this course?

AL: Growing up in the Philippines I was a rather curious kid – always drawing, creating materials, designing objects that led me to formally train as an interior designer. I believe design in any form requires appreciating the truly great works and hardships of the past – the invention of the light, the engineering of the arch, the development of walkable cities and how architecture emerged as a signifier of power and religion. More importantly, included in this class are some of the innovative works of women, who may be lesser known than their counterparts.

What can the evolution of interior design teach us about history and culture?

AL: Historical preservation is a living relic of the past, a testimony of a country’s long and obscure history. Impeccable art, for example, Church art, is part of our artistic legacy. Architecture tells our story, our heritage — because it has withstood time itself. What we learn from our own history, however, is a highly personal idiom.

Contemporary Interiors by Ana Luchangco of InSpace NY Design; Photography by Michel Arnaud

How has your interior design practice influenced how you teach this class?

AL: The success of a project is the same as a class – a lot depends on the quality of the relationship. I find it very encouraging whenever I ask students, for example, to introduce an interior that speaks to them. It’s a revelation for both a good educator and a good student how much they can learn from each other.

Modern Minimalist Interiors by Ana Luchangco of InSpace NY Design; Photography by Michel Arnaud

What do you find most rewarding about teaching this subject?

AL: Design for as long as it is a personal or an authentic self-expression cannot be wrong. I hope that by learning about our past, we can look forward to redefining beauty through diversity that is more unique and more inclusive.

Visit the Academy of Lifelong Learning website to explore all upcoming course offerings in the humanities and global affairs as well as participate in events and clubs.

Advanced Screenwriting: An Interview with Script Writer Jason Greiff

February 8, 2023 by Mormei Zanke

Are you an aspiring screenwriter looking to polish a draft, complete a script, or develop new material? In Advanced Screenwriting, students will be guided by faculty, Jason Greiff, an experienced screenwriter who has written for Universal and Marc Platt Productions. Read on below for our interview with Greiff about the class and why it could be a good fit for you!

What can students expect from the Advanced Screenwriting class?

JG: A fun time. I try my best to make the class an enjoyable experience for students who already know the fundamentals of scriptwriting and now want to “play” with the tools of the trade. The course is for those looking to complete a script, revise a script, or a start new script. In its online format (i.e., not remote/zoom), students can log into the course on their own schedule throughout the week. We handle the material via topic threads. There’s a workshop thread where students post work and get feedback from classmates and instructor, and there are also ongoing discussion threads (writing exercises, Q&A, etc.) throughout each class week. I’m not sure if it’s just been luck or if I have anything to do with it, but I’ve been teaching this class for years and it always has students who are supportive of each other.

What inspired you to teach this course?

JG: Students who took the Beginning Screenwriting class and wanted a follow up course. Also, I wanted to have more room for feedback. One of the challenges of an advanced workshop class that meets in real time for, say, 2 hours and 20 minutes (a typical in-person class), is time management. So many writers wanting feedback on their work, so little time each class… In the asynchronous online format that runs 24/7, we don’t have this issue, so writers can submit a great amount of work and get a great amount of feedback each week (without the pressure of beating the “class bell”).

What are some of the most common challenges when it comes to completing a script? How does this course help overcome those challenges?

JG: Maintaining the drive to make it to fade out/the end. When we’re writing on our own — especially if we’re not being paid to write something — it’s difficult to be self-disciplined and stay on track. If no one is expecting you to submit pages by a particular date, then it’s very easy to put writing off for tomorrow. And tomorrow. And tomorrow. While a writer absolutely does not need to take a class to write a script, it sure helps to have deadlines. A class like this provides those deadlines as there is a workshop schedule and weekly exercises. A class like this also provides a small community of folks with the same goal and interests. It’s easier to meet goals when you have a supportive group encouraging you and cheering you on.

What advice would you give to aspiring screenwriters?

JG: Always be reading scripts. Put down the “how to” books and pick up produced scripts (just pick up your iPad and then Google “scripts pdf” and you’ll find thousands of scripts). Also, there are lots of resources out there to help you along, from podcasts hosted by working scriptwriters to interviews with scriptwriter on YouTube. And while doing all this, always be writing. Set a schedule and get at least 20 minutes a day of writing.

What do you find most rewarding about teaching this class?

JG: Health insurance. No, I joke. It is an easy question because the answer is without doubt the students. It’s cliché, I know, but there truly is nothing more rewarding than when students are appreciative for having had a positive experience in the class. It’s also extra rewarding when students go on to have success with their work. As a teacher, I’ve been fortunate in this area, with past students having gone on to sell and make movies and television shows with all the big studios, networks, platforms, etc. (It’s also great when successful students come back to share their experiences with my current classes.)

Advanced Screenwriting starts February 27. Register here.

Writing About Health and Beauty: An Interview with Journalist Estelle Erasmus

February 3, 2023 by Mormei Zanke

Health and beauty is an expanding genre of writing that editors are hungry for. How do you craft a compelling service journalism piece, personal essay, or reported feature on this topic? In Estelle Erasmus’ course Writing About Health and Beauty, you can learn the ins and outs of finding your story, reporting, and pitching on this subject. Erasmus is an award-winning journalist and writing coach who has published extensively in this genre. Read on below for our Q&A with Erasmus to learn more about the eight-week course!

What can students expect from the Writing about Health and Beauty course?

EE: Health and beauty writing is a growing area in publishing, covering a wide range of topics from chronic illness, mental health, and preventative strategies to beauty routines and new therapies and products. In this eight-week course, I offer strategies, tips, and tricks on how to brainstorm the next big topic, pitch to online and print publications, and research and find credible experts to build your story from the ground up. I will work directly with students on pitches, essays and articles, and brainstorm topics. During the course, you will receive recorded video interviews from editors who cover health with insight and advice on submitting, and new interviews are added each semester. Students will also have the opportunity to interview and build connections with working experts in the health and beauty field. Students will leave class with one service piece, ready-to-publish personal essay, or hybrid essay/reported piece on health or beauty. Previous participants have published articles and essays generated in class in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Next Avenue, Chicken Soup for the Soul, The Daily News, Wired, GH, and more. I always say editors are in the field searching for writers with good stories. Why not let that writer be you?

How would you define this genre of writing? What does it encompass?

EE: This is such a wide-reaching genre of writing. It encompasses psychology, self-esteem, mental health, physical, emotional, medical, and even spiritual health issues, as well as specific diseases, chronic issues, alternative and covering every beauty and health remedy available, including cosmetic surgery, from a service-oriented, reported journalistic or anecdotal perspective.

My focus is mainly on health writing because it is a burgeoning field for writing opportunities, including in the parenting and aging space, but many times the editors who cover beauty also cover health, so it is very much a linked subject.

Why do you think writing about health and beauty is compelling?

EE: Because everyone is interested in maintaining optimum health, and let’s face it we are a society where packaging is important and remaining healthy showing our best selves in the area of visual mediums like television, TikTok and Instagram only helps us advance in our careers.

Also, when publications make staff and space cuts, it seems that one safe area is the health space, because with a growing older population, health is on the frontline of every person’s thoughts.

How has this genre shaped your career as a journalist and storyteller?

EE: I started my career in publishing as Associate Beauty Editor, writing about health and beauty for Woman’s World magazine, and co-authored a beauty book with a dermatologist. I went on to cover fitness, mind/body therapies as a columnist and contributor for First for Women, a columnist for New Body, and Let’s Live, and have contributed health and beauty articles to over 100 publications. I also launched the American Breast Cancer Guide for women with or at high risk for breast cancer, and I launched a magazine that covered health and cosmetic surgery. Once I had my daughter, I also covered health and mental health from a parenting perspective for GH, Parents.com, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and more. I loved telling stories about people in the health space, experts, and anecdotal, too, and enjoy teaching my students how to approach those kinds of stories, as well, and cover more in the Freelance Writing Direct podcast and in my book WRITING THAT GETS NOTICED: Find Your Voice, Become a Better Storyteller, Get Published, out from New World Library in June, available now for pre-order. And sign up for my newsletter to get publishing advice and opportunities.

What do you find most rewarding about teaching this course?

EE: The journalism skills I teach in this course are complementary to any other journalism program or master’s program at NYU or another university. I enjoy continually evolving my classes, and many of my students take my courses over and over. I have changed the syllabus to encompass more service journalism, interviewing experts (with actual experts available for interviews), new editor interviews in the space — since editors change positions often.

I’ve focused on increasing the engagement in my online forums, not just between myself and the students (which has always been active), but between the students themselves. Many of my students have stayed connected and even formed writing groups out of the comradery they’ve found in my classes.

Also I have a free Editor-on-Call webinar in collaboration with NYU on March 2 from 12:30-1:30 pm EDT in conversation with Julia Calderone, Senior, Editor Well for the New York Times (who covers health and science). This is the link to get your spot. I hope to see many of you there and in my class.

Seeing the World Through Foreign Film: An Interview with Film Instructor Roberta Seret-Bayer

January 24, 2023 by Mormei Zanke

Films can be transportive. Foreign films in particular can take you to other parts of the world and deepen your understanding of different cultures and global issues. The NYU SPS Academy of Lifelong Learning (ALL) course, Global Hotspots Through Foreign Film, will allow you to delve into rich foreign films from diverse cultures. This class begins February 23^rd, and will be taught by adjunct instructor, Roberta Seret-Bayer. Seret-Bayer is the Director of Advanced English and Film at the United Nations for the Hospitality Committee and Founder of the NGO at the UN, International Cinema Education. She’s the author of World Affairs in Foreign Film, and her fiction series Transylvanian Trilogy.

Read on below for our interview with Seret-Bayer and learn more about her course!

What can students expect from the global hotspots through foreign film class?

RS: Foreign film entertains, educates and inspires. Each film we view is made in another country, using history and politics as the factual background and fiction for the storyline. Fact and fiction blend together to take the viewer to a different culture. Discussing them in class opens our mind and allows us to share thoughts and learn from others.

How did you curate the film list for the course? Which films will be in the curriculum?

RS: Following foreign events and matching a film from a global hotspot is a passion and puzzle for me. International filmmakers tend to share my interest and use the current events of their country as their film’s infrastructure. Directors today of global cinema are journalists. They use cinema as their tool to show what is happening in their country and make their viewers around the world aware of their country. Many of these films win prizes at Cannes, Berlin, Toronto. Watching these films allows us the pleasure of travelling without needing a passport or visa. And we can enter a country through the screen that might be prohibitive to us.

This Spring semester we will travel all over the world to Global Hotspots by using cinema as our vehicle. The list is exciting of our 8 films from 8 different countries:

“Lydia Tar/ Tar” (Germany/ USA)

“Persepolis” (Iran)

“Olga” (Ukraine)

“Triangle of Sadness” (Sweden)

“Tsotsi” (South Africa)

“Bardo “(Mexico)

“Argentina” 1985 (Argentina)

“The Fencer” (Estonia)

What can foreign films teach us about geopolitics and cultures around the world?

RS: The world is very much with us. The internet, social media and television have made global events come closer and faster to us. What happens in Ukraine or China in the morning becomes part of our awareness in the afternoon and evening. The foreign films from our class give us the factual background via storyline and visuals. This helps us better understand the country’s culture and today’s current events. For each film, I give my students a packet of handouts that includes a map of the film’s host country, historical and political background, and a summary of the film and analysis. The literature reinforces the visual and at the end of our 2-hour class, we understand better the film as well as the country’s geo-politics.

How has your experience at the U.N. influenced how you teach film?

RS: I have the privilege through my NGO at the United Nations, International Cinema Education, to teach diplomats and their families ESL by using foreign films. The captions help increase their vocabulary and our discussions help improve their fluency in speaking English. Often, I have a student from the host country of the film, and we get first-hand commentaries and explanations. In this way, we learn some hidden secrets. These are the films that I share and screen for my NYU students, and I include this first-hand, inside information.

What do you find most rewarding about teaching this class?

RS: EVERYTHING! I am the one who learns the most. I see each film 2 or 3 times as I prepare it for my class, and that allows me to delve deeper and concentrate on details. I also value our discussions. We form a community of friends in our class that extends outside the classroom. This coming together offers us an ease in communicating to each other in class and sharing what we think. What could be more exciting than to use cinema as a vehicle to learn and enjoy at the same time? And the films take us to countries we may have seen in the past or on our wish list to visit.

Five African Nobel Laureates: A Discussion with Nicholas Birns

December 13, 2022 by Mormei Zanke

The Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to several authors in English from sub-Saharan Africa—including Abdulrazak Gurnah, Doris Lessing, J. M. Coetzee, Wolé Soyinka, and Naguib Mahfouz. How do these writers resist colonial oppression in their work? The NYU SPS PALA course, Five African Nobel Laureates, will examine this question as well as uncover some of the problems and ironies of writing the nation, and engage with the aesthetics of contemporary narrative. Adjunct instructor Nicholas Birns will be teaching the course, which starts on March 14, 2023. We had the chance to talk to Birns about the seminal work of each of these authors, and why he feels this literature course is important.

Read on below for Birns’ course overview.

Why do you feel this literature course is important to teach?

NB: There are still not too many courses in literature departments specifically on African literature, in general, as opposed to one or two African novels being put in a world literature seminar. The award of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature to the Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurnah presented an opportunity to develop a course on African Nobel Laureates that would be a way to focus on the entire body of African fiction as well as to further diversify and decolonize the literature curriculum. People in the United States, still know far too little about Africa, and reading these books is a way for us to learn more.

What is notable about each Laureate’s work?

Abdelrazak Gurnah

NB: Abdelrazak Gurnah has been living in Britain for many years, where he taught as a literature professor, but is ultimately from the Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar. Zanzibar is now part of the nation of Tanzania, but have an independent history from the mainland, formerly Tanganyika, having far more Arab and Middle Eastern influence. Gurnah both excavates this distinct history and, in novels such as Gravel Heart, explores what it is to live in exile from it, and his work is set equally in the homeland and diaspora. Even when he deals, as he often does and does incisively, with personal or emotional relationships, it is always against this cultural background.

Doris Lessing

NB: Doris Lessing is famous as a writer of feminist fiction, such as The Golden Notebook, and speculative fiction, such as her Canopus in Argos series. But she started out as a writer about white settler colonialism in Southern Africa using predominantly social-realist and psychological modes. She grew up in what is now Zimbabwe and her first six novels are partially or entirely set there. We study her first novel, The Grass Is Singing, which is a searing portrait of a marriage gone wrong but also an examination of what it is to be a white person in Africa. At once a crime novel and a portrait of people in a landscape, Lessing’s first novel is a compressed nightmare of squandered possibility.

J.M. Coetzee

NB: J. M. Coetzee became known as a writer who excavated the injustices of the apartheid system in South Africa. In his later work, he has explored issues such as displacement, animal rights, contemporary global capitalism, and how a writer can meaningfully speak in a way that is both creative and socially responsible. Disgrace is a hinge book between those two phases. Its protagonist, David Lurie, is an academic who loses his job after a disastrous love affair with a student and then goes out to the South African countryside to live with his adult daughter. When the two are victims of a violent crime, the protagonist finds that he has to adjust to the new realities of a decolonized Africa, and to take the true measure of himself as a person. That was a short novel, it is one of the texts I have taught that is most generative of discussion; every student has something to say about it, and very few will remain unaffected by its power.

Wolé Soyinka

NB: Soyinka has been a presence on the Nigerian literary scene almost as long as his country has been independent. His early poem “Telephone Conversation” memorably captures the racism facing an African student in London, and his plays, especially Death of the King’s Horsemen, and memoirs have been acclaimed worldwide. He is perhaps less famous as a novelist, but his recent novel (published at the age of 87!) Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth, shows he is supremely accomplished in that form as well. This book is a scalding satire of corruption in contemporary Africa which also offers some hope that people will continue to strive for honor and dignity. It is a book as funny as it is prophetic.

Naguib Mahfouz

NB: Mahfouz was the great novelist of modern Egypt and especially the city of Cairo. But early in his career he also wrote some novels about ancient Egypt which I think broadened his sense of how people, cultures, and communities interrelate. We study his short novel Midaq Alley, in which the entire neighborhood the book depicts acts as a sort of protagonist. Midaq Alley as a community is a compassionate place which takes in outcasts and strangers, but also is a poor and marginal ghetto that some young people will pay any price to leave. Mahfouz deftly juxtaposes his ensemble of characters with the background of changing times in an Egypt on the verge of true national independence to bring a particular place vividly alive.

What do you hope students will take away from this course?

NB: A sense that African writers participate both in the literary cultures, in their nations and regions, but also in world literature. Something I have emphasized is that these writers are very critical of European colonization, but also do not shrink from challenging their own governments, and those in power in the postcolonial situation; this is particularly true of Soyinka and Gurnah. The writer is not a cheerleader for a given political configuration but an independent voice of conscience who can assume a long-term ethical perspective. There is no set of traits that define an African novel, but we see in this course several different visions which will give the student a picture of the building blocks of contemporary African literature.

Media Localization: An Interview with Translation Instructor Ana Salotti

October 17, 2022 by Mormei Zanke

Media is everywhere but may not be as accessible as you think. Media localization aims to change that, through the modalities of subtitling and closed captioning. The NYU SPS 6-week hands-on course, Media Localization for Translators: Subtitling And Closed Captioning, teaches students to become skilled translators and interpreters. Students will walk away with an understanding of how to produce industry level closed captioning and subtitles. We talked to the course’s instructor Ana Salotti about what students can expect, and why the field of media localization is important. Salotti is a English and Spanish translator with over 16 years of experience in the industry. She holds a master’s degree in Translation and Interpreting from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Read on below for our interview!

What can students expect from the Media Localization for Translators course?

AS: This is a six-week, fast-paced, interactive course, where students will learn the basics of subtitling and closed captioning. They’ll learn some of the theory behind it, such as what subtitles and closed captions are exactly, what the guidelines for creating them are and why those guidelines are important to follow. They will also get a lot of practice. Each week they’ll have a hands-on assignment where they’ll get to apply what they learned during class by creating their own subtitled material, such as a movie or episode clip, or any other type of audiovisual content. They’ll be picking their own video clips from their favorite shows or movies, creating their own subtitles and translating them into their target languages. We will also have a forum where they’ll get to reflect on the weekly topic and engage in lively discussions with their peers and instructor.

How would you define media localization?

AS: I love this question, because I get to use one of the translators’ most frequent answers and clichés: It depends on the context. At some point in their careers, all translators have been or will be asked what the meaning of a word is, and most of them will answer, “It depends on the context. Show me the whole sentence or paragraph. Tell me more.”

The same happens in my answer to your question. Media localization is the term used in and by the entertainment industry, language service industry, and film production and distribution industry to cover a wide range of activities. These activities mainly include subtitling, dubbing, voice-over, video game translation, footage and video adaptation, and theater and script translation. In all media localization activities, there is a transformation of the original audiovisual content. This transformation can be linguistic to a different language and/or visual containing visual changes to the video. The goal in this transformation is to reach to a wider audience which speaks a different language and/or is located in a different region to the ones intended by the original content. The expectation is that this newly transformed media will feel as natural, genuine or “local” as possible to the new audience. That is why the term “localization” is used.

Now if you ask what media localization is among translators or academics who are studying this translation field, they’ll give you more or less the same definition, but will also tell you that they refer to it as “audiovisual translation”. So it’s media localization or audiovisual translation depending on who you’re talking to.

Why are subtitles and closed captioning important?

AS: I think subtitles and closed captions are extremely important for many reasons. They’re an accessibility tool. They make content more accessible not only to linguistic minorities within a country, but also to deaf and hard-of-hearing communities or people with other types of disabilities who need some extra support to understand what is going on the screen. They also democratize visual content because it can now reach a wider audience all around the world.

Subtitling and closed captioning help language learners acquire their new language faster when they watch content with subtitles on. It has been shown that, when people watch content with subtitles, they’re required to engage in a much higher cognitive activity than if they were watching it without subtitles. For this reason, subtitles can help children with learning disabilities, as well as older people with mentally deteriorating conditions.

Lastly, subtitles allow you to watch content even when there’s a lot of background noise around you, like in an airport, plane or at work.

What inspired you to have a career in this field?

AS: Subtitling picked me, rather me picking it as a field of specialization. During my last year of college, I started working in a boutique translation agency specialized in audiovisual translation back in my home country, Argentina. A good friend of mine and colleague was working there, but moved to another country, so her position opened up. She recommended me, and so I started. My task there was to translate TV scripts, and much later subtitles. That was a long time ago. We would work with VHS, transcribing the scripts into our computers while watching and listening to the broadcasted soap opera episodes that were played on an old TV set. Then we would start translating them. It’s crazy to think about how I started and compare it to the way we work with streamed media now.

What do you expect to find most rewarding about teaching this course?

AS: What I find the most rewarding about teaching this course is when a student submits an assignment and says that they spent hours doing it but enjoyed every minute of it. I believe in doing what you love. So, when students learn in my course, but they also have fun and enjoy the activities, the learning becomes much more engrained in your brain and your engagement with what you’re learning skyrockets. That rewards me.

Media Localization for Translators: Subtitling and Closed Captioning starts October 25. Register here.

Student Spotlight: How Allison Geller Created Her Short Film Home at Night

October 11, 2022 by Mormei Zanke

Maybe you’ve always wanted to try your hand at screenwriting, but you didn’t know where to start. This was the case for Allison Geller, a professional writer and editor by day, who was also passionate about films and storytelling. In 2020, Geller took the NYU SPS PALA course, Writing and Directing the Short Film, taught by Rob Feld. In this course she started writing the first drafts of her short film, Home at Night. She’s since finished directing and producing the film, which has gone on to screen at the Boston Film Festival and will be screening at the New York Shorts International Film Festival on October 27^th. We had the chance to talk to Geller about the process of making the film, and what’s next for her career!

When did your interest in screenwriting and directing begin? Was it something you always wanted to do?

AG: Actually, no! I’ve always been a writer, but my interest in screenwriting didn’t come until recent years. I studied poetry writing at the University of Virginia and have written quite a bit of non-fiction and fiction, and I’m also a copywriter by day, so words are just a big part of my everyday life. I started to feel there were certain stories I wanted to tell that would be better expressed in film. I could see the scenes, hear the dialogue. So I started reading about screenwriting and developing a few ideas.

In terms of directing, I realized it was a good combination of both my creative and organizational skills. Being a director is really about leading a team in order to get this mammoth project over the finish line—having the vision but also being able to execute it.

How did Rob Feld’s course, Writing and Directing the Short Film, inform your career today?

AG: I took Rob’s class virtually with a coworker sort of on a whim in the summer of 2020. It was a really fun and absorbing distraction from the rest of the dreary world at that time, watching movies, reading scripts, talking about how every line needs to drive the story or character development forward in some way. It was also a good introduction to the other aspects of film that were totally foreign to me, like basic shot types and how to think through shot progression in a sequence.

I wrote the first drafts of Home at Night in that class and I decided I wanted to actually make it. I don’t think I would have been motivated to do so if not for that class.

What did you find most valuable about Feld’s course?

AG: I found it most valuable to read and workshop other classmates’ scripts. I think a short film is not unlike a short story in that it can be a little bit more experimental and not as, let’s say, commercial as a feature film or novel. It doesn’t have to follow all the strict conventions of structure and plot. At the same time, it needs to hang together and make a kind of sense, even if that’s just in the mood or theme. So reading classmates’ scripts and discussing what worked and what didn’t and why, as well as suggestions for improvement, was really helpful. It’s always harder to identify those things about your own writing, but I think you get a little better at that over time, as well as better at asking the right questions when you get a critique.

It was also really valuable to have to write a director’s statement as it forced me to think through not only the themes I was exploring, but also the visual language, lighting, color, sound design—all of which pretty much carried through to the finished piece.

Where did the inspiration come for your recent short film “Home at Night?”

AG: I had the idea for the end of the film first. It occurred to me during one of many solitary walks home at night in my neighborhood in Astoria. As a woman, you always feel a little bit on guard in those moments. I thought, Wouldn’t it be interesting if…? (I won’t fill in the blank as that would give away the end of the film!) Then I worked backwards in terms of what kind of character this “would” happen to. That opened up a whole lot of other thematic preoccupations of mine: the power imbalance that exists between men and women, the isolation I see in society despite us being more technologically connected. It was also my way of parsing a lot of mediocre-to-bad experiences I had with online dating in New York City, and that I often talked about with friends here and elsewhere.

What do you hope audiences take away from this film?

AG: I hope it’s thought-provoking. Whether they like or hate it, if someone watches it and then talks about it with their friends after—what they think it means, their feelings about the protagonist, how they interpret the ending—I consider that a win.

Do you have any advice for aspiring filmmakers?

AG: My advice is to try to find people who are more experienced than you to help you, and then to find a way to just go for it. There’s always going to be a very good reason why you can’t do it: you don’t have any money, you don’t know anyone in the industry, et cetera. But you have to slowly build out your network and set funds aside for it, get a little help here and a little help there, and just make it any way you can. It doesn’t have to be today—it took me way longer than I’d expected or hoped to make Home at Night—but you have to make a plan and keep chipping away at it. It will be stressful and the end result won’t be perfect, but you will learn so much from the process and feel so satisfied to have actually done it!

What’s next for you? Tell us about any projects you’re looking forward to.

AG: I’m finishing up a feature-length screenplay in a different tone, but on a similar theme. It’s sort of a modern-day rom-com except it’s about a career-driven female protagonist who finally gets drawn into a relationship after a lot of casual flings only to be deeply disappointed by the guy. Which sounds depressing, but actually has a “happy ever after” ending in that she realizes that putting her feelings on the line was actually worthwhile, and that she wants to live her life like that from now on.

I’m also kicking around an idea for another short, so we’ll see. It’s taken a long time to recover from the first one, but now that I have, it’s hard not to think about making something new.

Get your tickets to Home at Night, which will be screening in person at the New York Shorts International Film Festival on October 27^th at 8pm at Cinema Village. Follow @homeatnightfilm on Instagram for updates and additional screenings.

Introducing the Certificate in Vocology: An Interview with Aaron Johnson

September 22, 2022 by Mormei Zanke

Are you interested in voice production and training? The Certificate in Vocology might be calling your name. Vocology is highly multidisciplinary and spans multiple professions that study, train and care for vocalists. Our Certificate in Vocology provides foundational knowledge for anyone engaged in voice habilitation, including singing voice pedagogues, speech-language pathologists, voice and speech trainers, choral directors, and laryngologists.

We talked to NYU SPS instructor Aaron Johnson, about what students can expect from this certificate. Johnson is a researcher and speech–language pathologist who specializes in voice habilitation and rehabilitation. He will be teaching Fundamentals of Vocology this fall, starting October 11.

Read on below to dive deeper into vocology and get to know Aaron Johnson.

What is vocology?

AJ: The broadest definition of ‘vocology’ is ‘the study of the voice’. The word vocology has only been around a few decades and was formally introduced by Dr. Ingo Titze to refer to the science and practice of voice habilitation (training). This broad field encompasses many different professionals who train, care for, and study the voice, such as singing and acting voice teachers, speech-language pathologists, laryngologists, voice researchers, choral directors, and others. An important aspect of vocology is that it requires a multidisciplinary approach. Recently, the Pan American Vocology Association (PAVA) published standards by which an individual can become a PAVA-Recognized Vocologist. To earn this distinction requires both knowledge and experience across many different domains of vocology.

What can students expect from the certificate in vocology?

AJ: The certificate in vocology program consists of five courses providing a broad overview of vocology including the fundamentals of voice production, theory and application of voice habilitation methods, understanding voice disorders and their care, and how to study, measure, and research the voice. One goal of the program is for students to be prepared for the PAVA-Recognized Vocologist test by giving them not just knowledge, but also skills and resources for continued learning. I don’t view this course as teaching students everything about the voice. Instead, I hope to give students a strong foundation to enable lifelong learning and a thirst for continued exploration about the voice.

What do you expect to find most rewarding about teaching in this certificate program?

AJ: I am excited about developing and teaching in this program because it is exactly the kind of opportunity I would have liked early on my career. Like many people today who call themselves a ‘vocologist’, my professional path was very winding. I began as a singer, then singing voice teacher, then found my way to speech-language pathology and eventually voice research. A transformative experience in my own training was studying with Dr. Ingo Titze at the 8-week long intensive Summer Vocology Institute at the National Center for Voice and Speech. I am excited this new certificate program at NYU makes vocology knowledge and training accessible to students across the globe through a hybrid format of synchronous and asynchronous online content and meetings.

Who would benefit from the vocology certificate program?

AJ: Anyone who is interested in learning more about the voice would benefit from this program. In particular, I think singing voice teachers and acting trainers who want to understand the anatomy, physiology, and science of the voice; speech-language pathologists who want to work with professional voice users; and even vocal performers themselves would greatly benefit from having a better understanding of how their instrument (the voice) works. A lot of performers don’t have a solid foundation in the mechanics of voice production because so much of their training is focused on the aesthetics of performance – plus it’s hard to see what is going on inside the body that is producing that beautiful sound!

The Magic of Post-Production: An Interview with Jeanne Lucar

September 13, 2022 by Mormei Zanke

How do you transform raw footage or audio into a finalized project? Post-production is a critical step in the creative process. NYU SPS PALA is offering a course that will allow you to excel in in this field: Post-Production Overview: Telling Stories With Sound Or Visuals. This class will be taught by Jeanne Lucar, a Grammy-nominated audio engineer and radio producer. We talked to Lucar about what students can expect from this course and why post-production is important.

What can students expect from the Post-Production Overview: Telling Stories With Sound Or Visuals course?

JL: Students should expect to get a good handle on several different concepts, so that they can individually take a project through to the end. Nowadays, so many job posts expect you to know how to do 4 different jobs. It doesn’t make it right, but it’s the reality of today’s career market. Students will go through post for audio and video as well as the editorial process so students can actually offer many different skills. We will cover sound design, some video editing, and great ways to edit yourself.

What is typically involved in the post-production process for a sound or video project?

JL: In the post production process, students will more than likely have their interviews completed and potentially have ideas for how they want to tell the stories. Post production entails creating outlines, selecting the audio or video you want to use, and creating a script. Once we have those pieces, the editing timeline can be assembled whether it’s video or audio. Taking that first assembly to a finalized product is an exciting time as the student’s will get to hear and see their vision come to life.

Why is post-production a critical step in realizing a media project?

JL: Post-production is the final step in your process. No project goes out into the world without sound design and editing. It’s an extremely important moment because things always sound and look different once it is put together. That means occasionally things won’t actually work and need to be workshopped or restructured. In order for the piece to be the best it’s going to be, it needs to go through a series of edits and this has to happen in post-production.

Can you describe a project you were involved in that was transformed by the post-production process?

JL: The first time you see or hear your project come together is an amazing moment. I was assembling an episode of Loud: The History of Reggaeton, and it was clear to me that the opening wasn’t working. The first few minutes of anything are crucial because if it’s not engaging, people will turn it off. I went back to the producers and let them know a few options that might work, we brainstormed together, and the opening was restructured. A lot of times, things work on paper that don’t work when you listen or see it.

What do you expect to find most rewarding about teaching this course?

JL: I’m excited to see students learn how to do as much as they can on their own. Being able to wear a lot of hats has been an asset for myself as a producer. I’m always impressed by the creativity students bring to the table, and I look forward to seeing how all that unfolds. The biggest reward for me is to see them excel.

Post-Production Overview: Telling Stories with Sound or Visuals starts September 20. Register today here.

Community-Based Translation and Interpreting: An Interview on Access and Advocacy with Alejandra Oliva

August 19, 2022 by Mormei Zanke

Alejandra Oliva teaches the NYU SPS PALA course Community-Based Translation and Interpreting: Access and Advocacy, which begins on September 13. Oliva is a writer and translator who focuses on language justice, trauma-informed translation, and multilingual advocacy. We had the opportunity to speak with Oliva about what inspires her to pursue this work, and what students can expect from taking her course.

What can students expect from the Community-Based Translation and Interpreting course?

AO: I hope students will be able to learn and think more deeply about their own translation practices, and those of their organizations. My ultimate goal is to get people thinking about language justice, and what it might look like to apply it to their own routines and practices, while also setting themselves and their clients up for success with policies and boundaries that make their practice sustainable. I’d also love to think about the ways that translation, and language justice, can be a form of advocacy for communities.

How would you define “language justice”?

AO: I would define language justice as a framework and a way of collaborating and meeting with others that does not prioritize one language over another, that not just allows but encourages people to participate, regardless of their language. A lot of my thinking and reading around language justice is really shaped by the work of this collective, AntenaAire, that has done some really wonderful thinking about translation as a necessary component of language justice, and making multilingual spaces.

Why is cross-language work complex? What should translators keep in mind?

AO: Cross language work is complex for many of the same reasons that having a conversation is complex—every participant is coming into it with their own histories, desires, and idiosyncrasies that aren’t always immediately legible to their conversation partners. This is, I think, magnified by working across languages, which often signifies working across cultures where you have to work a little harder to establish common meanings. As a translator, it’s important to keep those histories and desires in mind–not just for your clients, but for yourself as well. Especially as a translator working with or around our own communities, and also in translating in spaces that can hold a lot of trauma, whether they’re doctors’ offices or an immigration attorneys’ office, it’s really important to have a trauma-informed approach both for yourself and your clients!

Why is community-based translation important to you? What inspires you to do this work?

AO: Community based translation is important to me because it was, for me, a way to get involved in a broader community than one I had been in day-to-day, and use something that felt very intrinsic to my family—speaking Spanish—to talk to other people and help them access information and resources that otherwise would have been more difficult to get. I started doing community-based translation at a pro-se asylum clinic through New Sanctuary Coalition that often met in one of NYU’s buildings, so it’s really nice to be teaching the class here!

What do you expect to find most rewarding about teaching this course?

AO: Meeting and working with students! I assume most of the students in the class will be translators, or people working closely with them, and I haven’t yet met someone in that field who isn’t really interested and devoted to thinking really deeply about justice and language. I’m really looking forward to hearing and thinking about the challenges students have faced as practicing translators and working together as a group to think about ways to sustainably bring language justice to their organizations and communities.

Alejandra Oliva’s course, Community-Based Translation and Interpreting: Access and Advocacy, begins September 13. Register for your spot here.

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