Acclaimed video game, movie, and television composer Duncan Watt, will be a guest speaker at Northern Essex Community College on Monday, November 6, at 1 p.m. in the Hartleb Technology Center in Room 220 on the Haverhill campus, 100 Elliot St.

This event is free and open to the public.

Watt, an assistant professor of film scoring at Berklee College of Music, has worked in the television, film, broadcasting and digital game industries. A seasoned studio musician and producer, Watt appeared on more than 70 album projects before founding Fastestmanintheworld Media in 2005.

His video game scoring includes “Bioshock Infinite”, “League of Legends”, “Need For Speed Undercover”, “Stargate Online TCG”, “Brothers In Arms” as well as others. Recently, the breakaway Chinese game “Honor of Kings” which features a variety of Watt’s pieces, exceeded over 50 million active players.

Outside of digital games, his music is featured in 2013’s summer blockbuster “Now You See Me” and appears in a number of popular TV shows, including “The Good Wife”, “NCIS”, and “Any Day Now”.

“Scoring for video games presents some pretty powerful challenges for the young composer,” Watt said. “While some aspects of the process are similar to traditional linear film scoring, in many cases the player is the one directing the action—which means the story can play out in many different ways. For example, in a film-noir setting, we might know the player will enter a bar—but will he or she make friends with the bartender, or shoot the place up? It’s the composer’s job to score for all outcomes, all emotions. Done well, a great game score makes a player feel the music was specifically written for their choices, actions, and decisions. And providing students with tools to accomplish that is the focus of my teaching…”

For additional information contact Lecuyer at mlecuyer@necc.mass.edu.

Northern Essex offers an associate degree General Studies: Music Option which provides students with a foundation for success in musical performance, music education, and music computer technology. Those who complete the program will have gained a diverse range of skills, from reading and writing music to teaching and performing, and will be prepared for transfer to a four-year institution.

For more information on the music program contact Professor Ken Langer coordinator of the NECC Music Program, at klanger@necc.mass.edu or 978 556-3223.

 

 

 

Proof your PowerPoint, know your audience, watch your body language, dress appropriately and watch out for those pesky  “ummmmms’…These were just a few of the tips Northern Essex Community College alumna Reanne Malesky’s shared with NECC hospitality and business majors recently.

Her Presentation Skills Workshop was co-sponsored by the new Business & Accounting Academic Center and Career Services. It was held in the newly renovated Lecture Hall A in the Spurk Building on the Haverhill campus.

Malesky dispensed advice she said she never heard in high school or college regarding presentations, yet “presentations are an important part of the corporate structure.” The first dozen times she presented, she said she was “terrified”. Now that she’s a corporate trainer, it is second nature, but only because she reports for every presentation prepared and practiced.

She earned her business transfer degree in 2010 and then transferred to UMass Amherst. She graduated

from UMass in 2012. Malesky who is now a trainer for Charles River Development in Burlington, visited the Haverhill campus recently. Using equal parts humility, levity, and professionalism, she passed along real world experience in the hopes of helping students avoid embarrassing situations or worse give a poor presentation.

“PowerPoint should be a visual aid to support a message,” she said. “A poor PowerPoint can kill a presentation. Rule of thumb – don’t use more than 10 slides and establish a message.”

Malesky presents on presenting a PowerPoint presentation.After graduating from UMass Amherst, where she changed her major from business to political science, she worked as an unpaid intern for U.S, Senator Elizabeth Warren’s campaign. Through networking, she landed a job at Putnam Investment’s call center eventually moving into the training department. After several years, she migrated to Charles River Development where she trains clients on how to use the investment management software.

She loves the autonomy of the job as well as the potential for travel within the international company.

Some of the finer points she has learned along the way she said include not completely appreciating Northern Essex faculty and small class sizes until after she graduated. As an NECC student, she said, she valued the fact she was able to take a variety of classes including accounting, business, art, biology, and physics.

“I really got to know my professors,” she said. “I still stay in touch with (business professor) Pat Morrow and visit the campus a few times a year.”

Networking is imperative, she said. “Networking is about communicating. It’s helped move me forward.”

Other tips? “Expect to be frustrated in your job search. Rejection is part of the process,” she said. Once she went through a series of four interviews and a full background check and still didn’t land the job.

“Take your frustration and use it as inspiration,” she said. “Don’t beat yourself up. I take my mother’s advice and appreciate those times when I get the ‘carrot’. ”

Malesky, who grew up in Merrimac and graduated from Pentucket Regional High School, said she would encourage Northern Essex students to explore transferring to a state school. “They make the process really easy.”

She also said students should consider getting involved in extracurricular activities on the NECC campus as well as wherever they transfer. As a Northern Essex student Malesky was president of the Community Outreach Group and involved with the Gay/Straight Alliance Club.

Goal oriented, the 27-year-old who now lives in Malden, hopes to purchase her own home in the not too distant future and get involved in politics at the local level.

“Local politics feel more impactful,” she said.

 

Northern Essex Community, with campuses in Haverhill and Lawrence, is the only college in New England that graduates sleep technologists, and the college is now partnering with Neurocare, Inc., the largest employer of sleep technologists in Massachusetts, to offer the program to Greater Boston residents, beginning in January.

“There is a tremendous demand for sleep technologists in the Greater Boston area, which is why we decided to expand our program,” said John Murray, program coordinator.  “All 2017 graduates were placed in jobs.”

The two-semester certificate program is offered online and students will meet once a month on Saturdays at a Neurocare, Inc. sleep lab in Newton for clinical and practicum work.

Students are currently being recruited for this new program, and an open house is scheduled for Wed, Nov. 8 from 5 to 8 pm at Neurocare, 70 Wells Ave, Newton, MA.

The field of sleep technology requires excellent communication and critical thinking skills. Technologists score studies, evaluate EKG’s, take vital signs, and work closely with patients to explain sleep disorders and therapies.  Starting salaries for sleep technologists are $19 an hour with the potential to earn up to $30 an hour.

There are over 80 sleep disorders with sleep apnea being the most common.

Neurocare has been a clinical site for Northern Essex students for eight years and they recently decided to expand their relationship with the college.

“If we didn’t have Northern Essex, we wouldn’t be able to service our clients’ needs,” said Pam Hurlburt of Neurocare, who said she has confidence in the quality of the Northern Essex program and the preparedness of its graduates.

Neurocare, Inc. is a provider of hospital-based sleep disorders management programs and free-standing sleep diagnostic centers accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine in New England.

For more information on the new program in Boston, starting in January, or the Merrimack Valley program, which will begin again in September, contact Murray at 978 655-5892 or jmurray@necc.mass.edu or visit the website www.necc.mass.edu.

For a full list of health programs available at Northern Essex visit the website.