C-3PO is one of many roles Anthony Daniels has played in Pittsburgh
Monday, November 23, 2009
By Michel Sauret, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Bob Donaldson/Post-GazetteActor Anthony Daniels visits his C-3PO costume from the "Star Wars" movie series at a preview of the "roboworld" exhibit at Carnegie Science Center.When Anthony Daniels -- aka C-3PO -- comes to town this weekend to narrate "Star Wars: In Concert," the two-hour multimedia experience at the Mellon Arena, it's just another role he'll play in Pittsburgh.

The British actor who played the worry-prone golden droid in all six movies has served as an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center on Second Avenue since 2004. In this role, he's been an adviser and personal consultant to students in the two-year graduate program that focuses on the gaming and entertainment industries.

And in what may be one of his favorite roles, he's a "play tester," which allows him to test students' video games and other interactive creations.

"He's an excellent play tester," said Shirley Saldamarco, the faculty and supervising producer with ETC. "Students are always asking him to test their games.

"With more than 35 years in the industry, he as a lot to offer. It's not limited to his role as an actor."

Daniels, 65, met ETC's director Don Marinelli in 2003 when he was asked to host the first Robot Hall of Fame ceremony, organized by CMU and the Carnegie Science Center. At the ceremony, Daniels spoke to roboticists from all over the world.

"When he saw me at the awards, he realized that I wasn't just an actor who put on a robot suit and talked in a funny voice," said Daniels about Mr. Marinelli.

Impressed with how Mr. Daniels connected with the audience, Marinelli asked him to visit ETC two to three times a year to talk to students. Those visits led to his adjunct position.

"I feel hugely honored to be there because I deal with people with massive brains who treat me as an equal," Mr. Daniels said.

The feeling is mutual. "Anthony is so ... down to earth," Saldamarco said. "He is so real with the students that he never, ever intimidates them. They know that he's this personality, this megastar, but he makes them realize he's there for them."

For Daniels, there is a lot love about ETC. One of the hallways resembles the entrance to a spaceship, with movie posters and fantasy memorabilia at every corner. There even is a display of a life-sized C-3PO standing next to other robots that have made it into the Robot Hall of Fame.

"The spirit within the building [has] an atmosphere of excitement and intelligence ... There's also some wacky things with props and memorabilia that tweak people's brains when they walk by."

Ultimately, that is what the ETC is all about: the imagination that creates stories and entertainment. This makes Daniels feel right at home.

ETC hosts a lot of tours, and when Daniels is in the building he encourages the faculty to bring the tour to him.

One year, Daniels was told of a boy on the tour who was being bullied at school. The boy was a huge "Star Wars" fan, and Mr. Daniels took the extra time to sit with him, talk and take pictures.

"Personally, I think this was life-changing [for the boy]," said Saldamarco. "I think he felt armed with something that gave him confidence. He had pictures he could bring to school."

Daniels has been on tour with the "Star Wars" show since October. At Sunday's show, he'll welcome more than a hundred ETC faculty and students backstage at the Mellon Arena for VIP honors.

He said he gets the chills when he talks to people about the "Star Wars" concert, which has already received several standing ovations in various cities. However, he said he's not going to let the touring keep him away from Pittsburgh.

"I am not going to lose my connection with ETC ... I admire the city for creating the energy to make a place like ETC, which is becoming a world leader in a huge and important industry in our world."

"Star Wars: In Concert" will be held 5 p.m. Sunday at Mellon Arena. It includes video and live symphony orchestra and choir featuring music from all six of John Williams' epic "Star Wars" scores. Tickets: 1-800-745-3000.

Read more: http://www.postgazette.com/pg/09327/1015579-388.stm?cmpid=newspanel0#ixz...

Get-in-Line Games was awarded Best Exhibit by a new IAAPA attendee. IAAPA Attractions Expo 2009 is the largest international trade show for the amusements and attractions industry, featuring more than 1,100 exhibitors, more than 100 education sessions and events, and 28,000 attendees from around the world.

Get in Line Games was a student pitched project during the Fall 2008 and Spring 2009 semester. Get-in-Line is a queue entertainment system that allows guests to play together on large, shared screens using their cell phones as game controllers.

Get-in-Line Games is a featured product of Evil Genius Designs, a recent spin-off of the ETC which includes ETC Alumni: Tracy Brown, CEO; Evan Tahler, Vice President Technology; Rich Marmura, Vice President Design; Josh Jeffrey, Vice President Creative; Andy Jih, Vice President Production; Natasha Kelkar, Systems Engineer; current ETC student Chris Stagno, Game Design Intern and CMU alumna Erica Sandbothe, Programmer.

To find out more about Evil Genius Designs/Get-in-Line:
http://evilgeniusdesigns.com/index.php

To find out more about IAAPA:
http://www.iaapa.org/expos/index.asp

Congratulations to our friends at EGD!

Toy Story Mania! won the Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement for an attraction — an award given to a new ride in parks throughout the world. The Themed Entertainment Association, or TEA, announced the winners at a conference on November 17, 2009 in Las Vegas.

Toy Story Mania! is the project of ETC faculty member Jesse Schell and other ETC alum at Schell Games. Schell Games worked in conjunction with Walt Disney Imagineering and Pixar Animation Studios to create this interactive experience. The attraction opened simultaneously in June 2008 at Disney's California Adventure and Disney's Hollywood Studios, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

Congratulations to Jesse and his team at Schell Games.

To see and article on the Thea Award
http://ocresort.freedomblogging.com/2009/11/17/disney-ride-wins-top-inte...

Schell Games web site:
http://www.schellgames.com/

The ride's official web site:
http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/disneyparks/en_US/minisites/toystoryman...

I will be checking out Toy Story Mania! on my next trip to Disney's California Adventure and I hope everyone else will too!

ETC faculty member Ralph Vituccio will premier his film INSERVICE at the 3 Rivers Film Festival on Wednesday November 18, 2009 at 7:30 pm, Regent Square

INSERVICE is a film about men and women from the Pittsburgh area who have served in Iraq.

Here’s what Vituccio has to say, “War is hell, decent people – our husbands, our friend’s, our children – are called to fight it, and their stories are intrinsically worth telling. My film is not so much about why the Iraq War is being fought, although the question is woven into the very grain of the narrative, but how the soldiers survive.

I wanted to document their corner of the war, without a strong pro-war or anti-war agenda. I wanted to give a voice to those who fought and lived – and to those who did not – and whose voices we otherwise would never hear. I think sometimes what’s lost in the debate over war is the war within those individuals themselves who fight it - therein lies the truth and the message.

These men and women lose legs, arms and hands and are shipped off to hospitals, gone for good. They die with alarming regularity, remembered by families back home and seen briefly by a confused nation on TV sets and in newspapers. My hope is that this film gives us some insight into their fear, giddiness, bravado, as well as, their courage.

It’s really about ordinary people enduring extraordinary circumstances. From surviving IED’s to interrogating Saddam Hussein, individuals from the region recount their tales unfolding on an international stage and tell us: This is what happened. This is what it felt like."

Check out time and other films at: http://3rff.com/2009/films.html

Congratulations Ralph!

ETC project team Depero Futuristi will be presenting Balli Plastici November 12th at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City. Presented by Performa 09, the evening will include an animated version of the puppetry ballet first produced by Fortunato Depero in 1918. The ETC team will also be giving a live demo of the software used to create the digitized ballet, as well as vouchers for audience members to receive their own versions of the virtual puppeteering software. The goal is to allow everyone the ability to create their own version of the ballet and in doing so join the ranks of the New Futurist movement.

Performa website: http://performa-arts.org/blog/balli-plastici/

TimeOut New York calendar listing: http://newyork.timeout.com/events/other/312529/balli-plastici

Depero Futuristi project page: http://www.etc.cmu.edu/projects/balli-plastici/