Michael B. Schwartz
6201 15th Ave NW #272
Seattle, WA 98107
mbschwartz@world.oberlin.edu
206-295-7392
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OBJECTIVE
To Produce, Supervise or Manage multimedia projects (video, film, audio, digital media.)
Career Highlights
* 2004: Video Producer for Microsoft, Office Online - Personal Solutions.
* 2000 - 2002: Video Instructor, Art Institute of Seattle, School of Video.
* 1992 - 1999: Audio Manager, Computer Games - Activision Studios.
* 1994 - 1998: Audio Instructor, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA.
* 1989 - 1992: Video and Audio Producer, The Voyager Company, Criterion Laserdiscs, CA
The advantage I have in my field is that I am expertly trained in all aspects of production. I use this experience
to decrease costs yet increase the quality and efficiency of a project by personally carrying out many aspects of pre-production, production and post. These include, but are not limited to; script writing, storyboarding, casting, equipment rental, lighting design, directing, videography and digital editing/post. I’m a well seasoned audio and video editor, using programs such as ProTools, Sound Forge, Vegas, AVID Composer, Premiere, Flash, After Effects, Final Cut Pro and many others.
I’ve worked with a wide range of budgets, from hundreds to millions of dollars. I have managed production crews with well over 20 people and I’ve simultaneously managed several large projects working with a combination of internal teams and external vendors. As the Audio Manager at Activision for 7 years, I was instrumental in bringing to fruition over a dozen award winning computer games by setting the highest quality "industry standard" and by leading and motivating several internal and external production teams and talent.
Education
M.F.A. - Film and Video, Live Action, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia (1991)
- In 1990 I founded the famous CalArts Showcase, an annual jury selected Film and Video Festival.
B.A. - Theater, Acting and Lighting, Oberlin College, Ohio (1984)
4 hour credits for classes in Basic C++ and Java 1.2.2., Cleveland State University (1999)
Certificate - Advanced Faculty Development, Art Institute of Seattle (2001)
Certificate - Socrates Distance Learning, Online Instructor, Seattle (2000)
Video Producer, Microsoft Office Online, through ArtSource, Jan – June 2004
Created online training and “inspirational” demos for Office 2003 products, such as Outlook, Word and Excel. I used a combination of screen capture, live-action video and voice-over. Many of these videos are now available on the Microsoft Office Online website.
In addition, I helped prototype alternate website designs that would utilize better quality video and more interactive training, with such tools as Flash, Macromedia Director, Night Train and others.
Instructor, Video/Multimedia, Art Institute of Seattle, WA
I developed and implemented new curriculum, recommended and purchased hardware and software upgrades as well as improved required classes in basic to advanced video, audio and multimedia. As a result, the student body for the department increased significantly.
In Digital Filmmaking class, the student video “Claustromania” was chosen as the winner of Atlanta's 2001 Amateur Film & Video Festival Anime Weekend and 1st place in the 2001 Student Festival at the Art Institute of Seattle (independently judged by outside industry professionals). Other class offerings included Video Editing with AVID, Audio with Digidesign ProTools, Camera and Lighting workshops, Studio Production, Multimedia Desktop Video using Pinnacle, Premiere and Final Cut Pro, and Portfolio Web Design HTML.
Manager, Audio for Computer Games, Activision Studios, Santa Monica, CA
As the Audio Manager for one of the world’s most successful computer game companies, I maintained an award winning, trend setting, cost-effective and efficient audio department. With a full time staff of 3 sound designers, we worked in a D2D state-of-the-art audio production studio which I designed for our new facility.
Under my direct supervision, a standard of audio excellence was developed, maintained and applied to every game. I hired composers, used external audio developers when needed, maintained quality control over all internal and external audio production teams and helped design the audio needs for the game from concept to final product.
A small sample of awards include Best Audio for Return to Zork in 1992, Best Game of 1993 for Mechwarrior II, Best of Show at E3 Conference in 1997 for Dark Reign, Best 3D Game and Game of the Year in 1997 for Quake II, Computer Gaming World’s 150 best Games of All Time in 1998 for Shanghai: Great Moments.
Producer and Editor, Criterion Laserdiscs and CD-ROM's, The Voyager Co., CA
In addition to earning my MFA, I simultaneously worked full time as a Producer, Digital Audio Editor, Videographer and Production Assistant on state-of-the-art interactive laserdiscs and CD-ROMs. The Voyager Company pioneered the technique of adding commentary tracks to classic feature films on laserdisc (the precursor to DVD’s). A small sample include commentary by Kirk Douglas on “Spartacus,” Terry Gilliam on “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” and “The Fisher King,” John Singleton on “Boyz ‘N The Hood,” John Schlessinger on “Midnight Cowboy,” and Ridley Scott, John Landis, Burt Reynolds, Rank Marshall, Robert Wise and many others for the 50th anniversary re-release of “Citizen Kane.”
Instructor, Digital Audio for Film and Video, Pasadena Art Center College of Design
In addition to working full time at Activision, I taught Graduate classes in Audio Design for Film at Pasadena Art Center College of Design. Many students went on to be very successful in film and video. I also upgraded the school facilities to include a 16 track Digidesign ProTools system, full foley studio and a SMPTE Locked video system.
Video and Audio Production, Independent Contractor, Los Angeles, CA
Producer, Director, Editor. Annette Funicello’s Autobiography Book-on-Tape for Time/Warner, 1992.
Post Production Supervisor, “Scandals” with Lyndsey Wagner, Pilot for ABC TV. Aired Oct. 21, 1988.
Director, Editor. “Vacation” short film winner of CIA Film Festival. Screened at NuArt, Los Angeles 5/18/89.
Audio Design. “Letters to the Machine” by Cathy Galeota Short Film Winner, Mill Valley Film Festival, 1988.
Assistant to the Producer. “Never On Tuesday” with Peter Berg and Claudio Christian. Palisades Ent., 1988.
Production Assistant. “Cool Blue” with Woody Harrelson. Smoking Gun Productions, 1988.
References
References and a complete list of projects, equipment and software are available upon request.
