Global
USC Alums Launch Global Project
- Thousands of participants around the world have agreed to contribute to an online video time capsule.
By Maya Meinert on June 28, 2010 7:57 AM
The idea for Kyle Ruddick’s latest venture came as an epiphany.
Ruddick ’03, a graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, was enjoying a world music concert a couple of years ago when a group of musicians were asked to play on stage together without any prior rehearsal.
When the ensuing chaos quickly turned into harmony, Ruddick realized that such collaboration could also be done with filmmakers.
Building a grassroots movement, he recruited fellow USC alumni Michael Klima ’03 and Brandon Litman ’03 to start One Day on Earth, a worldwide media project.
The concept is to produce an event in which people from all over the world will document the 24-hour period of Oct. 10, 2010. Participants will share their experiences as part of an online video time capsule, which will result in a documentary aimed at creating a better picture of daily life on Earth.
Filmmakers will upload their videos to www.onedayonearth.org to share with the global community. The project is free and open to everyone; so far, more than 2,000 participants in 140 countries have signed up to contribute to the time capsule, ranging from students in Ethiopia to Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmakers in Los Angeles.
“So much of the project is about building community,” Litman said. “We want to inspire tens of thousands of people to share their perspective. We are working hard to make sure every country will be represented.”
To that end, the event’s partners have teamed up with dozens of nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations, including Rally for Iraq, Shine on Sierra Leone and 350.org, to contribute clips that document important social issues impacting the global community.
Creative Visions Foundation, a nonprofit group that supports creative activists who use media and art to bring about positive change, has provided fiscal sponsorship, and the United Nations is assisting with outreach efforts.
The project also has an educational component that will be used by tens of thousands of students (69,000 and growing daily) from classrooms all over the globe, including those from Ecuador, Benin, Malawi, United Arab Emirates, Slovenia, India and Tunisia. Students will be able to incorporate elements of the project into their curriculum by using an educational toolkit, which can be downloaded from www.101010educate.org. The toolkit will offer instructional videos, slideshows, lesson plans and an online interface that will allow access to all the footage shot on 10/10/10.
“Video is now a new form of literacy, and I believe literacy, in general, is an important element to creating a sustainable planet,” Ruddick said. “To enable students across the world to be part of this global mosaic is one way I would define success.”
After leaving USC, Litman started his own visual effects and production company in New York with clients such as the Discovery Channel and HBO. Ruddick and Klima, former partners in a film production class at the School of Cinematic Arts, went on to work at Lucasfilm Ltd., where they helped launch Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. The two since have started their own production company, whose latest project is a movie-theatre trailer for the surround-sound company THX.
Each Trojan credits his USC experience with instilling the leadership skills that helped them launch their own companies, and now, One Day on Earth. Ruddick also credits his academic training and the friends he made at USC as having a significant impact on his career.
“I remember the first class I had at the School of Cinematic Arts,” Ruddick said. “My instructor challenged us to define the turning point in our lives. It was an unexpected lesson that taught us a lot about storytelling, but even more so, why we were there. I think this relates to being a director, too. I'm not a director because of the paycheck. I'm a director because I want the freedom to do things better, to do things that haven't been done and to do things that benefit society.”
The Trojan Family also has played a part.
“There's a lot that can be said about the training you receive at USC, but even more impactful on my growth were my peers,” Ruddick said. “We stayed up all night together having fun making movies, and that hardcore camaraderie has never gone away. I can count on my fellow Trojans. I still do.”
TAGS: globalization
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The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
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