As founder of Aurora Photos and Novus Select, Azel has overseen the start-up and operations of both ventures. Novus Select does visual commissioned work in the form of photography and multimedia for corporate clients as well as editorial publications. At it’s heart Novus Select tells stories. Aurora Photos has grown from a staff of one to its present staff of 10, and from three core photographic contributors to today’s 300 plus photographers whose work spans the range of imagery from photo-documentary to high-end commercial stock photos. Novus Select represents a core group of photographers for assignments using traditional photography, video or most likely a mix of media for today’s changing media environment. Aurora Photos is based in Portland, Maine and Novus Select has a staff of 6 divided between Aurora Photos headquarters and a New York City office.
In addition, Azel takes on some photographic work, most recently multimedia production as the storyteller and director of several projects. José Azel received a BA from Cornell University in 1976. There he began shooting pictures for the annual and for the Visual Service Department of the university. After completing his Masters in Journalism at the University of Missouri, he joined the staff of the Miami Herald, where he worked for four years. From 1981, until 1997, Azel freelanced as a photographer for international magazines such as, National Geographic, Smithsonian, Life, Time Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and GEO Magazine, as well as shooting corporate assignments for the outdoor industry. In 1993, he co-founded Aurora Photos, a stock photography company. Today with the founding of a second company, Aurora Novus the merger of traditional photography and digital media is complete.
Ira Baker is a Multimedia Designer at Hallmark Cards. A graduate of the film department at Brigham Young University, Ira worked for many years in the film and video industry as an editor and motion graphics designer. Longing for something different, he eventually gravitated back to his childhood love for animation. Ira joined the Characters Team at Hallmark in 2006 and began animating Maxine and her faithful canine Floyd.
Charles Davis is an associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism and the facilitator of the Media of the Future Initiative for Mizzou Advantage.
Davis' scholarly research focuses on access to governmental information and media law. He has published in law reviews and scholarly journals on issues ranging from federal and state freedom of information laws to libel law, privacy and broadcast regulation. He has earned a Sunshine Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for his work in furthering freedom of information and the University of Missouri-Columbia Provost's Award for Outstanding Junior Faculty Teaching, as well as the Faculty-Alumni Award. In 2008, Davis was named the Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Teacher of the Year.
Davis has been a primary investigator for a research grant from the James S. and John L. Knight Foundation for the National Freedom of Information Coalition and another from the Rockefeller Family Fund for the study of homeland security and freedom of information issues. He was a co-investigator for an award from the U.S. Department of State for a curriculum reform project for Moscow State University in Russia.
Davis worked for newspapers and as a national correspondent for Lafferty Publications, a Dublin-based news wire service for financial publications, Davis reported on banking, e-commerce and regulatory issues for seven years before leaving full-time journalism in 1993. He completed a master's degree from the University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady School of Journalism and Mass Communication and earned a doctorate in mass communication from the University of Florida in 1995. He received his bachelor's degree from North Georgia College.
Davis participates in numerous professional organizations, including the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, the Society of Professional Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors.
Ron has extensive experience in education, product development, training, workforce development and program management. A former educator, Ron was the founder of Hallmark Card’s Creative University program (Creative U). He led Hallmark’s training and workforce development programs for the Creative division from 1995-2007. Since then he has led workforce development initiatives across the Hallmark enterprise in several areas where strategic capability development has been needed. In his current role as government resource programs manager, Ron sources and manages grant funded development programs, and he manages collaborative initiatives with educational institutions, non-profit institutions and government agencies. He has championed workforce development initiatives to improve Hallmark’s technology capabilities in digital design, multimedia animation, interactive web development, 3D design and rapid prototyping. Currently Ron is working with Mizzou and regional partners to establish the Mid-America Center for Digital Storytelling.
Ron loves his work – which is a good thing because he is a lousy golfer and a mediocre fisherman.
Act3 founder Ben Kaplan got his FCC license when he was only 10 years old. In other words, his love of storytelling began with radio. That love for story and creative expression was the spark for a career that has now spanned three decades and included well over 20 years of experience in the arts. Ben has worked in visual communications, interactive design, radio, film, journalism, fine art, composition, music, and audio recording, as a creator, director, producer, writer, editor, and educator.
Ben holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Film and Television Production from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. In addition to his work with Act3, Ben teaches Experience Design in the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University, and recently release the debut CD of his band, The Vaad.
Peter Martin is a Consulting Artist at Hallmark Cards. A 20-year veteran of the greeting card biz and a few children’s books, Peter has recently branched out into the world of animation with his inter-planetary creation, Asteroid Andy. Andy’s antics are loosely based on Peter’s own childhood experiences, growing up in the small farm town of Watsonville, California. Son of a sharecropper and one of nine kids, Peter spent a lot of time avoiding big brothers, chores and exercise by crawling into comic books. Drawing, storytelling and very average trombone playing became his calling, and he followed his dream to Kansas City, Missouri. Recently, Peter has had the opportunity to art direct the hoop&yoyo Christmas special and has co-written the forthcoming hoops&yoyo Halloween Special. Peter hardly has time for the trombone, which is not a great loss to tromboning--or the tromboning community.
The writing duo of Mita & McClain met while students in the graduate screenwriting program at Loyla Marymount University. Ron Mita, a graduate of Binghamton University, and Jim McClain, a University of Missouri graduate, realized their story sensibilities where similar and combined to write and sell their first screenplay, TRACKDOWN to Columbia Pictures while still grad students. The interest off the project brought them plenty of attention including being chosen as the Los Angeles Times brightest new faces of the year. Their success in entering the action film market saw them sell several “popcorn” action pictures for major studios Universal, SONY, Amblin and Warner Brothers.
Mita & McClain have worked on projects with directors and producers as diverse as Oliver Stone, Mel Gibson, Richard Donner and Steven Spielberg as well as the television networks HBO,
TNT and CBS.
Their years of hard work have resulted in three produced motion pictures, S.W.A.T, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Colin Farrell, SNIPER II starring Tom Berenger and ROBOTS, an animated feature with the voices of Robin Williams and Ewan McGregor. Collectively, their produced films have earned in excess of $500,000,000 world-wide.
With the success of ROBOTS, Mita and McClain entered the animation field setting up projects at SONY pictures and partnering with famed director John Boorman to write an animated version of THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ. Currently they are developing an action TV series with Scott Peters Productions as well as writing an animated feature screenplay based on a popular children’s TV show.
Eric Ratinoff brings a multidisciplinary background to Act3. Though his career has led him down many paths, he continually returns to both writing and teaching. Through them, he has learned the power of a clear message and a compelling story, and sharpened his ability to deliver both.
As a writer, Eric has helped our partners articulate their value and philosophy in stories that connect with their target audiences. He has written scripts, web content, and promotional copy, and is the lead voice behind Act3’s blog, The Story is the Story. His teaching has included coaching track and field at Washington University; training and advising leaders as a facilitator, presenter and organizational consultant; and teaching Technical Writing in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Washington University. Eric earned his Bachelor of Arts in English at Washington University, where, during his sophomore year, Ben taught him to play guitar.
Brian Storm is founder and executive producer of the award-winning multimedia production studio MediaStorm based in Brooklyn, New York.
MediaStorm's principal aim is to usher in the next generation of multimedia storytelling by publishing social documentary projects incorporating photojournalism, interactivity, animation, audio and video for distribution across multiple media.
Prior to launching MediaStorm in 2005, Storm spent two years as vice president of News, Multimedia & Assignment Services for Corbis, a digital media agency founded and owned by Bill Gates. From 1995 to 2002 he was director of multimedia at MSNBC.com.
Storm received his master's degree in photojournalism in 1995 from the University of Missouri. He lives in New York City and can be reached via brian@mediastorm.com.
Diana Stuart leads the creative team in Hallmark Properties, developing Hallmark-created characters through products, entertainment and licensing partnerships. In 2011 this team developed and led creation of two TV specials, with more animated entertainment in development for release in 2012 and beyond ranging from TV specials and series to full-length movies for theatrical release. Diana's career at Hallmark spans both traditional and entrepreneurial creative leadership assignments, from greeting cards to new ventures including Hallmark.com and Hallmark Magazine. Diana has a Graphic Design degree from the University of Florida, and is thrilled her daughter will be an incoming freshman at Mizzou next fall.
