Brooks Institute & Pratt Institute Collaborate With Nissan To Think "Outside Of The Cube"
Brooks Institute has partnered with Nissan North America (NNA) to introduce the new Nissan Cube, a 5-door, mini multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) built on a B-platform.
Ventura, Calif. (Vocus) January 23, 2008
Brooks Institute has partnered with Nissan North America (NNA) to introduce the new Nissan Cube, a 5-door, mini multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) built on a B-platform. The project, Cube-ism: Automobile Meets Art, puts this vehicle, currently sold only in Japan, in the hands of U. S. film and design students. Students from Brooks Institute's School of Film and Television, in Ventura, Calif., and Pratt Institute, in New York City, were selected to participate in the Cube project, which tasks with creating provocative films and designs that communicate the Nissan Cube's unique personality and style. The final creative will be shown at 2008 New York International Auto Show at the Jacob Javits Convention Center from March 21st-30th, 2008.
"The students are bringing such creative and unique concepts to this project," says Bruce Campbell, vice president of design, Nissan Design America. "As a company that consistently recognizes and implements new design, we at Nissan are very excited to see the output."
Each school has received Nissan Cubes from Japan. Participants will spend almost four months with the car as they work to interpret and communicate the essence of the vehicle. Both the film students from Brooks Institute and the design students from Pratt presented concept directions at the outset of the project for Nissan review and have been meeting with Nissan for periodic updates.
Brooks Institute's film students will create a short film, 5-10 minutes in length that highlights the essence of the Nissan Cube; while the fashion and industrial design students from Pratt will enhance the Cube with changes in exterior colors, graphics, seat materials and wheel treatments.
Students at Brooks Institute are taking this opportunity to work with new technologies to create an innovative concept for the project. Brooks students are shooting the project on the new "Red" camera system. One of the students is the 79th person in the world to own it. The Red system is a new kind of high definition video that is designed to be similar to traditional film while offering new ways to manipulate the image.
Film Faculty member Rich Fortinberry who is overseeing this project is excited for students to have this wonderful opportunity. "What is most exciting about this project is the way Nissan is approaching marketing in an entirely new way. Nissan benefits by capturing the students' perception of the car; the students are interpreting the car for their peers. This by all means will not be an amateur production. These selected students are sophisticated, specialized, and proficient in what they do. They're using innovative equipment and material with the high definition Red Camera and using advanced special effects software. It's amazing to watch."
About Brooks Institute
Brooks Institute celebrates more than 60 years of educating students in the visual and media arts. With campuses in Santa Barbara and Ventura, California, the school offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in fields including Professional Photography, Visual Journalism, Film and Video Production and Graphic Design, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Photography. Brooks' graduates are visible nationally and internationally, working for distinguished organizations including National Geographic, Smithsonian, Los Angeles Times and other national media outlets, including Hallmark Publishing, Cousteau Society, HBO, Kodak and other industry leaders in the visual media arts fields. Brooks is part of the Career Education Corporation network of schools (NASDAQ: CECO). For more information about Brooks Institute and the school's programs, visit www. brooks. edu, or call 805-966-3888.
About Nissan North America
In North America, Nissan's operations include automotive styling, engineering, consumer and corporate financing, sales and marketing, distribution and manufacturing. More information on Nissan in North America and the complete line of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles can be found online at www. nissannews. com.
About Pratt Institute:
Founded in 1887, Pratt Institute is the largest independent college of art and design in the northeastern United States, offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the schools of architecture, art and design, information and library science, and liberal arts and sciences. Pratt is located on 25 landscaped acres in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn and has a Manhattan campus in a renovated eight-story building on West 14th Street in Chelsea.
Contacts:
Kathryn Fields / Nissan and Infiniti Lifestyle & Marketing Communications / 615.725.5155 / Kathryn. fields @ nissan-usa. com
Bethany Innocenti / Brooks Institute / 805.966.3888 / Bethany. innocenti @ brooks. edu
Mara McGinnis / Executive Director / Office of Public Relations and Communications / Pratt Institute
718.636.3471
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