There are just some things that you can't learn in school. Some things are just innate, ingrained in each individual's DNA with the simplicity and ease, like how you know the back of your hand. This condition could describe the relationship between two NYU students and their passion for film. Tisch sophomores, Alain Polanco and Greg Contaldi met during the summer, and almost immediately, knew that some film-chemistry was born. Fast-forward to not even two years later, studying in the Tisch School at NYU, both film students teamed up to create something big, something great: Art City.
"Art City is a hub for us to display all of our work whether it be short films, scripted series, interview—really anything," said Greg. "Rather then just make one stand alone show and be done with it, we both came up with the proposition of creating something greater."
The idea of Art City began as a stand-alone web series, "Bromance Boys" However, both creators knew they had other endeavors besides just a single project. They established their platform on YouTube and thus created a production company allows them flexibility in the content and quantity they create. They simultaneously built up their brand, while preparing to release the huge web series they originally thought of.
"Our goal was to make a lot of content in the beginning so we could build an audience for our bigger projects we had in the works (like "Happy New Years" and "Bromance Boys")," said Alain. "We launched in October and by the time January came around we had 35 videos up, almost 600 likes on Facebook and around 250 followers on Instagram."
Art City has not only been creating and producing content at a rapid pace, but their social media presence is becoming more impactful. Throughout this past year, they have uploaded videos here and there, but more recently, released a three-part web series, "Happy New Year's." The series was written by Alain during the summer and executed in November by a full crew and cast. It's been the team's biggest project yet, and they pulled it off.
"We shot it November 20th and 21st and it couldn't have gone better," said Alain of "Happy New Year's." "We had a couple minor hiccups but all in all we got what we needed and I couldn't be happier with the way it all turned out. We couldn't have done this without the help of everyone involved but I would like to give a big thanks to Kelvin Lee and L Squared for making this possible. He put some of his own money into the project and provided the camera."
The three-part web series revolves around three roommates who decide to throw a festive party for the holiday. Each episode focuses on one of the roommates and how each of them spend their nights. The best part? It's interactive. At the end of each video, you are prompted to click on each roommate to see how his night went. It's extremely engaging by utilizing YouTube's annotations.
Not only is the format seemingly flawless, it relates to the typical 20-something in college or just graduating. It's funny, someone throws up, and there's alcohol; this sounds about right.
Going back to the roots of the project, the duo is now focusing all of their energy on pre-production of "Bromance Boys"
"We came back to NYC during January break to finish the scripts and now we are in the process of getting locations and locking down a crew," said Greg of "Bromance Boys"
When Greg and Alain aren't scheduling multiple production meetings, reenacting Dance Moms, or interviewing cool people, they are normal college students... kind of. Both have endeavors that will definitely lead them to fame and all of us asking for their signatures one day. Let's just say at the time of this interview, Alain was carrying several gift bags from the Givenchy show he just walked in during New York Men's Fashion Week.
Normal? Not quite. Extraordinary? Exactly. And that's the best thing about New York University. No one is just a student or just an intern or just an actor. Being in a place like New York City, it's hard not to be like a sponge; to absorb every bit of every building and street, no matter how different or unique it is. I suppose that's exactly what Art City is: Everything from being an NYU student to dreaming about the big screen and anything that may fall in between.
Don't miss out on these two as Art City begins its debut to YouTube success and even bigger projects.
Want to help Art City in accomplishing their dreams? Donate now to "Bromance Boys"