NEW YORK --

The iconic “I Love New York” campaign took on a new wrinkle with the unveiling of four short films created by students to promote tourism for New York State. The I Love New York organization partnered with ProMotion Pictures, an NYU program that taps into its MBAs as well as graduate students in its film school to create and produce minimovies for marketers. The project had two prime goals: to support the arts in New York in recognition of the 50th anniversary of state funding for the arts; and to create unique, branded entertainment for New York State tourism.

Teams of students were tasked with creating short films that entertained the viewer and highlighted New York State’s various assets. Resulting were four pieces, each demonstrating another reason to love New York: Nuts for New York, highlighting Central New York, The Catskills, Hudson Valley, Finger Lakes, The Adirondacks, New York City and Long Island regions (from student filmmakers Geoff Mansfield and Shruti Ganguly); Nation in Crisis, highlighting Greater Niagara, Capital-Saratoga and Finger Lakes regions (from students Cristina Escoda and Camila Jimenez Villa); Crush, highlighting the Greater Niagara and Chautauqua-Allegheny regions; and Love In NY, a series of vignettes highlighting Greater Niagara, Long Island, and New York City regions. (Both Crush and Love In NY were from students Heather Angeli, Claire Harlam, Sasie Sealy and Gabrielle Demeestere)

“We continue to incorporate some of the best and most up-to-date marketing techniques in order to increase awareness of the many natural, historic and cultural attributes that New York State has to offer,” said Peter Davidson, executive director of Empire State Development, which administers the “I Love New York” campaign. “Each film captures the diversity of New York’s vacation regions; they are beautiful, funny, and heart-warming. The talent of the students at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts Graduate School of Film went above and beyond our expectations.”

“I Love New York wanted to give creative license to the students to create films that capture and help define New York State’s personality differently than a traditional tourism commercial might,” said Maha Eltobgy, VP of marketing strategy of Empire State Development. “I’d like to extend our sincerest thanks to ProMotion Pictures, Moxie Pictures, and our colleagues at Empire State Development for all their help on this project. New York State’s tourism industry is a valuable asset to the state’s economy and these films will help us to promote the state as the ideal getaway spot.”

Professionals at Moxie, a commercial production and branded content company, were brought on as advisors and executive producers, mentoring the young filmmakers when needed. An I Love New York spokesperson noted that Moxie played an instrumental role in the Crush and Love In New York shorts, and that whereas I Love New York offered students the chance to work with a real-world client, Moxie offered them a glimpse of how a real-world production company would manage that client.

Another key contributor was post house Company 3 which color corrected the films. Additionally, Company 3’s Justin Quagliata assisted the students with editing on Crush and Love In New York.

As part of a larger partnership between JetBlue and the State of New York, the films will be shown on JetBlue’s in-flight seatback program. “I Love New York” will also be working with NYSCA to hold free public screenings at local art institutions statewide, film festivals (most recently, Syracuse International Film Festival) and may enter the films into the student category at upcoming film festivals for 2011.
The films will live on www.iloveny.com and can also be seen on I Love New York’s Facebook and Youtube pages. At press time a contest was winding down whereby people were checking out the films and voting for their favorites by “liking” it on Facebook. A short film winner receiving the most “likes” will be announced shortly.

“I Love New York was a dream sponsor for ProMotion Pictures,” said Ryan Heller, executive VP for Promotion Pictures. “They knew exactly what their brand was and what they wanted these films to say. And we were thrilled that the brand resonated so much with the student filmmakers and I think it really shows in the work.”

Pat Swinney Kaufman, executive director of the Governor’s Office for Motion Picture & Television Development, said, “This was a terrific opportunity to combine forces and build on the strength of both industries [film and tourism]. What we are seeing with these films is the next generation of great filmmakers. These beautiful and funny stories capture everything that is New York State—from the Finger Lakes to Long Island. Thanks to the talented students at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts Graduate School of Film we can continue to promote New York not only as an amazing tourist destination but as an ideal backdrop for television and film production.”

These films follow on the heels of the August unveiling of pro bono, star-studded television spots to promote New York State travel for 2010 and serve as unconventional, supplementary branding for younger, online audiences. I Love New York teamed up with legendary director Bob Giraldi of Giraldi Media to produce the TV spots (SHOOTonline, 8/3), which featured a cast of New York celebrities, including film and television star Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock creator and star Tina Fey, author and television host Rachael Ray, and New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez.

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