Actor, pilot and engineer: USC Viterbi senior does it all
From gymnastics to the U.S. Air Force ROTC, USC senior Natalie Smith built her life on asking, “Why not?”
Finalists named for 34th annual USC Libraries Scripter Awards
The award honors the year’s most accomplished film and episodic series adaptations, as well as the works on which they are based.
USC theater instructor makes sure actors say everything just right
Voice and dialect expert Kathleen Dunn-Muzingo of the USC School of Dramatic Arts has coached actors on productions ranging from Mad Men to The Avengers.
The top USC stories of 2021 that you couldn’t help but share
✌ Year in review: From a much-awaited series of commencements for two classes to a special homecoming and more, check out some of this year’s most popular stories.
Voodoo Macbeth makes a splash with audiences — and festival judges
What do get when you put eight writers and 10 directors at the helm of a single feature film? When it’s this product of USC’s Feature Film Production class, the answer is: a winner.
Watch faculty and students’ video clips that encourage COVID vaccinations
Multiple USC schools joined forces with the Vaccinate L.A. team to reach out to specific communities in Los Angeles via research-proven storytelling.
Top movies to watch during Latinx Heritage Month
Students from the Latinx Film and Media Association of USC came up with 10 movies to watch while celebrating Latinx Heritage Month.
A leap of faith led to Emmy accolades for this USC alum
After abruptly moving to San Francisco, Danielle Dupre landed her dream job as a post-production sound mixer at Skywalker Sound and has been nominated for her work on WandaVision.
Is it a horror film or a rom-com? AI can predict based solely on music
USC Viterbi’s Shrikanth Narayanan and his research group examined the role of music in film through a computational lens to determine how it affects the audience’s perception of genre.
How the USC School of Cinematic Arts aims to diversify Hollywood, games and beyond
Ten years of work and millions of dollars in scholarships have pulled in students whose stories may have otherwise gone untold.
May the 4th event brings in more than $1 million for USC Neighborhood Academic Initiative
A cavalcade of Star Wars legends — including Luke Skywalker himself — delighted fans while recognizing the efforts of the university’s signature college prep program.
Colman Domingo joins USC School of Dramatic Arts faculty
The award-winning actor, director, playwright and producer can currently be seen starring alongside Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman in the Netflix film adaption of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
Netflix’s big bet on foreign content and international viewers could change how people see the world
TV and movies are one way that people make sense of the world, USC Annenberg’s Paolo Sigismondi notes — but they can be inaccurate, incomplete or misleading.
Student helps teens build relationships with their grandparents — by documenting them on film
After seeing the distance between kids and their elders in his own Jewish community, Ethan Kurzrock developed the Haggadah Project for L.A. middle schoolers.
Predicting the future of the entertainment industry after COVID
While film productions paused and movie theaters shuttered entirely, streaming services grew by leaps and bounds. USC experts examine what this means for all things entertainment.
Godzilla vs. Kong: A functional morphologist uses science to pick a winner
In the epic battle between the giant reptile and the giant primate, each would have relative biological advantages and disadvantages.
Nomadland and The Queen’s Gambit win USC Libraries Scripter Awards
The prize, in its 33rd year, honors the author and screenwriter of the year’s best adaptation of the printed word into film and episodic television.
How a Hollywood hitmaker-turned-professor brought virtual filmmaking to USC
Gail Katz has produced smash successes like Air Force One and The Perfect Storm. Now, she’s helping students at the USC School of Cinematic Arts embrace a new era of filmmaking.
Finalists named for 33rd annual USC Libraries Scripter Awards
The awards honor the year’s most accomplished film and episodic series adaptations, as well as the works on which they are based.
7 new films that tell the stories of older adults
Caroline Cicero of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology recommends a crop of recent movies that tackle important topics like caregiving and living with dementia.
A sequel 17 years in the making: How a USC staffer’s side project became the perfect follow-up to his cult hit
Though Patricio Ginelsa only makes films in his spare time, his recent passion project, Lumpia with a Vengeance, is winning awards and charming audiences.
The most significant social impact films of 2020, all streaming at home
This list of 15 movies and shows, compiled by the Media Institute for Social Change at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, highlights the stories that traumatized, moved and inspired us this year.
Popular films aren’t making enough progress toward inclusion, report finds
A new report from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative examined thousands of characters from more than a decade of films and found that women, people of color and the LGBTQ community remain marginalized.
USC grad mixes AI and documentary filmmaking to preserve the past
Imagine a museum where Japanese Americans from World War II live on as virtual avatars. Recent USC graduate Cole Kawana is working on it.