An image of a backyard with projections on multiple white sheets that have been hung around the space.

Ruby Que, "Ghost Trains"

Film, Video, New Media, & Animation

Graduate Curriculum & Courses

Graduate Curriculum & Courses

The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program is designed to offer maximum flexibility in addressing the needs of each individual student. Following admission through a department, students design their two-year plan of study based on optimizing the offerings and opportunities available throughout SAIC. 

AreaCredit Hours

Studio

  • MFA 6009 Graduate Projects (21)
  • MFA 6009 Exhibition (3)

24

 

Seminar

  • Graduate Level Seminar
12

Art History

  • ARTHI 5002 OR ARTHI 5120 (3)
  • Art History Courses, 4000-level or above (9)
12

Electives—any course in any area at 3000-level or above 

  • Additional Graduate Projects sections used as electives must be approved by the Graduate Program Advisor
  • Students interested in writing a thesis must take a research methodologies course elective
12
Participation in four graduate critiques 
Participation in ONE of the following as appropriate to artistic practice: Graduate Exhibition, Graduate Performance Event, Graduate Screenings. Students who wish to use an alternative venue or presentation outside of these options must receive permission from the dean of graduate studies. 
Total Credit Hours60

* Students who wish to use an alternative venue or presentation outside of these options must receive permission from the Dean of Graduate Studies. The AIADO Department encourages students in their MFA design programs to participate in the AIADO and Fashion Graduate Exhibition.

Degree Requirements and Specifications

  • Completion schedule: You have a maximum of four years to complete your MFA in Studio degree. This includes time off for leaves of absence. Students will have access to studios for four semesters only.
  • Transfer credits: You must complete a minimum of 45 credit hours in residence at SAIC. You can request up to 15 transfer credits at the time of application for admission, which are subject to approval at that time. No transfer credits are permitted after a student is admitted.
  • Art History requirement: MFA students are required to take ARTHII 5002 Graduate Survey of Modern and Contemporary Art OR ARTHI 5120 Survey of Modern and Contemporary Architecture and Design. Art History courses must be at the 4000-level and above.
  • Undergraduate studio courses: Graduate students are permitted no more than one undergraduate studio course (3000-level and above) per semester without permission of the Dean of Graduate Studies. Courses at the 1000 and 2000-level are allowed only with permission.
  • Full-Time Status Minimum Requirement: 12 credit hours

MFA 6009 Graduate Projects

MFA 6009 Graduate Projects advising, an ongoing individual dialogue with a wide range of faculty advisors, is at the heart of the MFA program at SAIC, encouraging interdisciplinary study across the curriculum. Standard enrollment consists of two MFA 6009 Graduate Projects advisors, one graduate-level seminar, and an art history course each semester. The remainder of credits required for the full-time 15-credit hour load may include academic or studio electives. All MFA students must register for a minimum of one and no more than two MFA 6009 sections each semester. Students may request permission from the Graduate Program Advisor to take a third MFA 6009 section after priority registration.

In their final year, students must take one MFA 6009 Exhibitions section. The advising and grade for this course will be tied to the final exhibition. When taking undergraduate studio coursework, the student is responsible for understanding the faculty member’s expectations about completion of assignments, attendance, and any other criteria for earning credit. MFA students interested in completing a written thesis must take a research course and MFA 6009 Research section and obtain approval from the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies.

Graduate Critiques

As one of the principle means of assessment each semester, you will be required to participate in Critique Week, a week-long schedule of critiques during which classes are suspended.

Fall semester critiques are organized by department with panels representing the discipline. This provides you with an opportunity to understand the department’s expectations, have your work reviewed from a disciplinary point of view, and to reiterate the expectations for graduate study.

Spring semester critiques are interdisciplinary, with panel members and students from across SAIC disciplines. Interdisciplinary critiques allow for a broad range of responses to your work, and are intended to assess the success of your work for a more general, albeit highly informed audience. Critique panels include faculty, visiting artists, and fellow graduate students.

Graduate Exhibition or Equivalent

At the conclusion of your studies, you will present work in the SAIC Graduate Thesis Exhibition, other end-of-year events at SAIC, or the Gene Siskel Film Center—or arrange with the graduate dean or division chair for an alternative thesis of equal professional quality. Each year more than 200 graduate students exhibit work, screen videos and films, and present time-based works, writings, and performance to a collective audience of 30,000 people.

Students wishing to install work around prevalent themes, strategies or stylistic affinities can participate in a juried and curated section of the SAIC Graduate Thesis Exhibition. A faculty and staff committee conducts extensive studio visits and, as a collaborative project with student participants, organizes and installs the show in designated space at the exhibition.

Undergraduate Courses

MFA students are advised to understand the expectations of their faculty when enrolled in undergraduate studio classes. Although graduate students are an asset to the group dynamic, faculty requirements for graduate students in undergraduate classes are variable. The student is responsible for understanding the faculty member's expectations about completion of assignments, attendance, and any other criteria for earning credit. To assure that graduate students are working at degree level, they are permitted no more than one undergraduate studio course (3000 level and above) per semester without permission of the dean of graduate studies. Courses at the 1000 and 2000 level are allowed only with permission.

Course Listing

Title Catalog Instructor Schedule

Description

This course is designed to introduce students to the language and histories of the moving image arts and the diverse ways in which artists have contributed to them. Throughout the semester we will examine a range of approaches to creating moving image work. We will compare and contrast established ?norms? with radical and experimental approaches to these various media, leading to an understanding of the rich, complex, and evolving landscape upon which individuals have been making, and continue to make, moving image art.

Students will engage with this expanded field through lectures, readings, screenings, meetings with visiting artists as well as becoming active in discussions and practitioners in the field via group projects.

Working in small groups, students will complete a series of short projects to introduce them to the various pathways of the department. By the end of the semester, students should have gain basic production and postproduction skills as well a good understanding of the key concepts relevant to contemporary film, video, new media, installation and animation.

Class Number

1570

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Imaging, Social Media and the Web, Animation

Location

MacLean 314

Description

This course is designed to introduce students to the language and histories of the moving image arts and the diverse ways in which artists have contributed to them. Throughout the semester we will examine a range of approaches to creating moving image work. We will compare and contrast established ?norms? with radical and experimental approaches to these various media, leading to an understanding of the rich, complex, and evolving landscape upon which individuals have been making, and continue to make, moving image art.

Students will engage with this expanded field through lectures, readings, screenings, meetings with visiting artists as well as becoming active in discussions and practitioners in the field via group projects.

Working in small groups, students will complete a series of short projects to introduce them to the various pathways of the department. By the end of the semester, students should have gain basic production and postproduction skills as well a good understanding of the key concepts relevant to contemporary film, video, new media, installation and animation.

Class Number

1570

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Imaging, Social Media and the Web, Animation

Location

MacLean 314

Description

This course is designed to introduce students to the language and histories of the moving image arts and the diverse ways in which artists have contributed to them. Throughout the semester we will examine a range of approaches to creating moving image work. We will compare and contrast established ?norms? with radical and experimental approaches to these various media, leading to an understanding of the rich, complex, and evolving landscape upon which individuals have been making, and continue to make, moving image art.

Students will engage with this expanded field through lectures, readings, screenings, meetings with visiting artists as well as becoming active in discussions and practitioners in the field via group projects.

Working in small groups, students will complete a series of short projects to introduce them to the various pathways of the department. By the end of the semester, students should have gain basic production and postproduction skills as well a good understanding of the key concepts relevant to contemporary film, video, new media, installation and animation.

Class Number

1571

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Imaging, Social Media and the Web, Animation

Location

MacLean 314

Description

This course is designed to introduce students to the language and histories of the moving image arts and the diverse ways in which artists have contributed to them. Throughout the semester we will examine a range of approaches to creating moving image work. We will compare and contrast established ?norms? with radical and experimental approaches to these various media, leading to an understanding of the rich, complex, and evolving landscape upon which individuals have been making, and continue to make, moving image art.

Students will engage with this expanded field through lectures, readings, screenings, meetings with visiting artists as well as becoming active in discussions and practitioners in the field via group projects.

Working in small groups, students will complete a series of short projects to introduce them to the various pathways of the department. By the end of the semester, students should have gain basic production and postproduction skills as well a good understanding of the key concepts relevant to contemporary film, video, new media, installation and animation.

Class Number

1571

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Imaging, Social Media and the Web, Animation

Location

MacLean 314

Description

This course is designed to introduce students to the language and histories of the moving image arts and the diverse ways in which artists have contributed to them. Throughout the semester we will examine a range of approaches to creating moving image work. We will compare and contrast established ?norms? with radical and experimental approaches to these various media, leading to an understanding of the rich, complex, and evolving landscape upon which individuals have been making, and continue to make, moving image art.

Students will engage with this expanded field through lectures, readings, screenings, meetings with visiting artists as well as becoming active in discussions and practitioners in the field via group projects.

Working in small groups, students will complete a series of short projects to introduce them to the various pathways of the department. By the end of the semester, students should have gain basic production and postproduction skills as well a good understanding of the key concepts relevant to contemporary film, video, new media, installation and animation.

Class Number

1572

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Imaging, Social Media and the Web, Animation

Location

MacLean 314

Description

This course is designed to introduce students to the language and histories of the moving image arts and the diverse ways in which artists have contributed to them. Throughout the semester we will examine a range of approaches to creating moving image work. We will compare and contrast established ?norms? with radical and experimental approaches to these various media, leading to an understanding of the rich, complex, and evolving landscape upon which individuals have been making, and continue to make, moving image art.

Students will engage with this expanded field through lectures, readings, screenings, meetings with visiting artists as well as becoming active in discussions and practitioners in the field via group projects.

Working in small groups, students will complete a series of short projects to introduce them to the various pathways of the department. By the end of the semester, students should have gain basic production and postproduction skills as well a good understanding of the key concepts relevant to contemporary film, video, new media, installation and animation.

Class Number

1572

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Imaging, Social Media and the Web, Animation

Location

MacLean 314

Description

This course is designed to introduce students to the language and histories of the moving image arts and the diverse ways in which artists have contributed to them. Throughout the semester we will examine a range of approaches to creating moving image work. We will compare and contrast established ?norms? with radical and experimental approaches to these various media, leading to an understanding of the rich, complex, and evolving landscape upon which individuals have been making, and continue to make, moving image art.

Students will engage with this expanded field through lectures, readings, screenings, meetings with visiting artists as well as becoming active in discussions and practitioners in the field via group projects.

Working in small groups, students will complete a series of short projects to introduce them to the various pathways of the department. By the end of the semester, students should have gain basic production and postproduction skills as well a good understanding of the key concepts relevant to contemporary film, video, new media, installation and animation.

Class Number

1587

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Imaging, Social Media and the Web, Animation

Location

MacLean 314

Description

This course is designed to introduce students to the language and histories of the moving image arts and the diverse ways in which artists have contributed to them. Throughout the semester we will examine a range of approaches to creating moving image work. We will compare and contrast established ?norms? with radical and experimental approaches to these various media, leading to an understanding of the rich, complex, and evolving landscape upon which individuals have been making, and continue to make, moving image art.

Students will engage with this expanded field through lectures, readings, screenings, meetings with visiting artists as well as becoming active in discussions and practitioners in the field via group projects.

Working in small groups, students will complete a series of short projects to introduce them to the various pathways of the department. By the end of the semester, students should have gain basic production and postproduction skills as well a good understanding of the key concepts relevant to contemporary film, video, new media, installation and animation.

Class Number

1587

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Imaging, Social Media and the Web, Animation

Location

MacLean 314

Description

This course is designed to introduce students to the language and histories of the moving image arts and the diverse ways in which artists have contributed to them. Throughout the semester we will examine a range of approaches to creating moving image work. We will compare and contrast established ?norms? with radical and experimental approaches to these various media, leading to an understanding of the rich, complex, and evolving landscape upon which individuals have been making, and continue to make, moving image art.

Students will engage with this expanded field through lectures, readings, screenings, meetings with visiting artists as well as becoming active in discussions and practitioners in the field via group projects.

Working in small groups, students will complete a series of short projects to introduce them to the various pathways of the department. By the end of the semester, students should have gain basic production and postproduction skills as well a good understanding of the key concepts relevant to contemporary film, video, new media, installation and animation.

Class Number

1589

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Imaging, Social Media and the Web, Animation

Location

MacLean 314

Description

This course is designed to introduce students to the language and histories of the moving image arts and the diverse ways in which artists have contributed to them. Throughout the semester we will examine a range of approaches to creating moving image work. We will compare and contrast established ?norms? with radical and experimental approaches to these various media, leading to an understanding of the rich, complex, and evolving landscape upon which individuals have been making, and continue to make, moving image art.

Students will engage with this expanded field through lectures, readings, screenings, meetings with visiting artists as well as becoming active in discussions and practitioners in the field via group projects.

Working in small groups, students will complete a series of short projects to introduce them to the various pathways of the department. By the end of the semester, students should have gain basic production and postproduction skills as well a good understanding of the key concepts relevant to contemporary film, video, new media, installation and animation.

Class Number

1589

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Imaging, Social Media and the Web, Animation

Location

MacLean 314

Description

Form and Meaning is a rigorous investigation of the art of moving image editing and provides a historical and theoretical understanding of both classical film editing and newer modes and models of editing and perception. The course provides a working foundation and framework.

A close reading of films will train the student in the core aesthetic decisions, structures, strategies and demands of editing cinematic works. In addition, we will look at examples and discuss how editing functions for the installation artist, and further, how the Internet, New Media, television and video art have made an impact on concepts surrounding editing. Weekly readings will expand on the work presented in class.

Students should expect to research and write both a midterm and final papers as well as a few short responses to works presented in class. Form and Meaning is a theory-based seminar and is not designed to offer critique for works in progress.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: FVNM 2000

Class Number

1574

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Public Space, Site, Landscape, Social Media and the Web

Location

MacLean 517

Description

Form and Meaning is a rigorous investigation of the art of moving image editing and provides a historical and theoretical understanding of both classical film editing and newer modes and models of editing and perception. The course provides a working foundation and framework.

A close reading of films will train the student in the core aesthetic decisions, structures, strategies and demands of editing cinematic works. In addition, we will look at examples and discuss how editing functions for the installation artist, and further, how the Internet, New Media, television and video art have made an impact on concepts surrounding editing. Weekly readings will expand on the work presented in class.

Students should expect to research and write both a midterm and final papers as well as a few short responses to works presented in class. Form and Meaning is a theory-based seminar and is not designed to offer critique for works in progress.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: FVNM 2000

Class Number

1593

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Public Space, Site, Landscape, Social Media and the Web

Location

MacLean 517

Description

Sonics and Optics is an intensive study of lenses, optics, sensors, stocks, materials, laboratory processes, microphones, and recorders as essential tools in film/video making. Throughout the semester students will learn the fundamentals of a lens (focal length, aperture), its relationship to the camera (shutter, ISO), and aesthetic options available. The course will offer the same immersive perspective of sound technologies; including choosing microphones (stereo, cardioid, shotgun, contact, etc), recording options (sound device, field recorder, mixing board), and methods of field recording. This course is an essential technical base for all advanced moving image work.

In-class screenings of films and videos and weekly readings will expand on the technical workshops at the core of the course.

Students should expect to complete a series of quick technical exercises as well as a more in depth final project.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: FVNM 2000

Class Number

1575

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Game Design, Digital Imaging, Animation

Location

MacLean 1304

Description

Sonics and Optics is an intensive study of lenses, optics, sensors, stocks, materials, laboratory processes, microphones, and recorders as essential tools in film/video making. Throughout the semester students will learn the fundamentals of a lens (focal length, aperture), its relationship to the camera (shutter, ISO), and aesthetic options available. The course will offer the same immersive perspective of sound technologies; including choosing microphones (stereo, cardioid, shotgun, contact, etc), recording options (sound device, field recorder, mixing board), and methods of field recording. This course is an essential technical base for all advanced moving image work.

In-class screenings of films and videos and weekly readings will expand on the technical workshops at the core of the course.

Students should expect to complete a series of quick technical exercises as well as a more in depth final project.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: FVNM 2000

Class Number

1576

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Game Design, Digital Imaging, Animation

Location

MacLean 1304

Description

This class is inspired by Johannes Itten?s radical early twentieth-century basic art course developed for the Weimar Bauhaus School of Art, but here using the Maya 3D software, typically used for commercial productions by the entertainment industry. Students will solve a series of formal problems, introduced in increasing levels of complexity. Moving from the 2-dimensional to the 3-dimensional and ultimately to the four-dimensional or time-based, students will evolve their abilities to utilize aspects of light and dark, form, rhythm, color, proportion and volume but in terms of a post photographic discourse, with the intention of advancing a new virtual cinema.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: FVNM 2000

Class Number

1588

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Imaging, Social Media and the Web, Animation

Location

MacLean 519

Description

This class is inspired by Johannes Itten?s radical early twentieth-century basic art course developed for the Weimar Bauhaus School of Art, but here using the Maya 3D software, typically used for commercial productions by the entertainment industry. Students will solve a series of formal problems, introduced in increasing levels of complexity. Moving from the 2-dimensional to the 3-dimensional and ultimately to the four-dimensional or time-based, students will evolve their abilities to utilize aspects of light and dark, form, rhythm, color, proportion and volume but in terms of a post photographic discourse, with the intention of advancing a new virtual cinema.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: FVNM 2000

Class Number

1591

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Imaging, Social Media and the Web, Animation

Location

MacLean 519

Description

This introductory studio course focuses on screen-based new media works, their historical contexts, their specific aesthetics and theoretical concerns. Students gain an understanding of the emerging culture and historical antecedents of new media. Interactive, network and web based technologies are introduced from the perspective of media art making.

Students will be exposed to relevant theoretical texts. Historical and contemporary new media works are screened, demonstrated and discussed.

Through a series of workshops, assignments and a final project, students will gain a general understanding of how to read and write new media using various techniques such as HTML ++ CSS, JavaScript, Realtime systems, Generative systems, and Art Games.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: FVNM 2000

Class Number

1594

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Communication, Social Media and the Web

Location

MacLean 807

Description

This class introduces the traditional animation techniques of creating movement through successive drawings. Techniques include metamorphosis, walking cycles, holds, squash and stretch, blur and resistance. Students use the pencil test Lunch-Box to view their work . Students complete a series of exercises encouraging a full range of animation skills and a final project. Films illustrating drawn-animation techniques are screened regularly.

Class Number

1577

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Illustration, Animation

Location

MacLean 717

Description

This class introduces the traditional animation techniques of creating movement through successive drawings. Techniques include metamorphosis, walking cycles, holds, squash and stretch, blur and resistance. Students use the pencil test Lunch-Box to view their work . Students complete a series of exercises encouraging a full range of animation skills and a final project. Films illustrating drawn-animation techniques are screened regularly.

Class Number

1578

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Illustration, Animation

Location

MacLean 717

Description

This class introduces the traditional animation techniques of creating movement through successive drawings. Techniques include metamorphosis, walking cycles, holds, squash and stretch, blur and resistance. Students use the pencil test Lunch-Box to view their work . Students complete a series of exercises encouraging a full range of animation skills and a final project. Films illustrating drawn-animation techniques are screened regularly.

Class Number

1590

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Illustration, Animation

Location

MacLean 717

Description

This course introduces video as a medium for artistic expression and social inquiry. Students gain an understanding of the video image-making process and develop proficiency with video equipment, including portable and studio production and editing systems. Strategies for the use of video as an art-making tool are explored. Works by video artists are viewed and discussed.

Prerequisites

FVNM 2000 or FVNM 5020

Class Number

1573

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Communication, Social Media and the Web

Location

MacLean 518

Description

This course focuses on the relationship of sound to moving image, and introduces post-production techniques and strategies that address this relationship as a compositional imperative. Thorough instruction is given on digital audio post-production techniques for moving image, including recording, sound file imports, soundtrack composition and assembly, sound design, and mixing in stereo and surround-sound. This is supplemented by presentations on acoustics and auditory perception. Assigned readings in theories and strategies of sound-image relationships inform studio instruction. Assigned projects focus on gaining post-production skills, and students produce independent projects of their own that integrate sound and moving image.

Artists include Chantal Dumas, Walter Verdin, Deborah Stratman, Lucrecia Martel, Martin Scorcese, Abigail Child, Frederic Moffet, Gyorgi Palvi, Francis Ford Coppola, Gary Hill, and others. Writings in theory include texts by Michel Chion, Rick Altman, and others.

The student?s independent image-and-sound work is foregrounded and supported; supplemental assigned projects include sound sequence composition and ADR recording and mixing.

Prerequisites

SOUND 2001 or FVNM 2004 or FVNM 5020

Class Number

1604

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Communication

Location

MacLean 1413

Description

The Digital Bodies Performed class teaches the fundamental and advanced 3D animation technical skills relating to digital bodies. Students will be appropriating and customizing standardized body models from multiple resources. Exploring movements that both imitate and go beyond the limitation of reality, the class will incorporate various strategies in narrative, cinematic, game, sculptural, and performative practices to expand conceptual themes. Besides technical exercises, students are encouraged to create a self-directed final project. Contemporary artists such as David O?Reilly, LaTurbo Avedon, Jose Carlos Casado, and Gregory Bennett's work will be shown and examined in class. Artist visits, field trips, and exhibition will also be arranged.

*The class is suitable for students with basic experience in 3D Animation in Maya.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: FVNM 2015 or FVNM 5025

Class Number

1601

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Game Design, Gender and Sexuality

Location

MacLean 519

Description

This is a Production Laboratory class for students interested in working with the ideas and techniques of directing performers for the camera. We will consider issues of scripting, pre-production, rehearsing, shooting, and editing performances. The course requires active participation in 3 roles -- as a director, performer, and camera operator -- as these constitute the primary collaborative relationships of a director. The main objective of this class is to get students to consider various methods of directing performers that both explore and elaborate on traditional theatrical schools of directing. Through hands-on experience, readings, critique and screenings, students will begin to carve out their own style of working.

Prerequisites

FVNM 2004 and FVNM 2005 or FVNM 5020

Class Number

1579

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Imaging, Narrative

Location

MacLean 1304

Description

This course introduces students to the basic elements of a screenplay, including format, terminology, exposition, characterization, dialogue, voice-over, adaptation, and variations on the three-act structure. Weekly meetings feature a brief lecture, screenings of scenes from films, extended discussion, and assorted readings of class assignments. This is primarily a writing class, with students required to write a four-to-five page weekly assignment related to the script topic of the week.

Class Number

1580

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Playwriting/Screenwriting, Books and Publishing

Location

MacLean 517

Description

This course introduces students to the basic elements of a screenplay, including format, terminology, exposition, characterization, dialogue, voice-over, adaptation, and variations on the three-act structure. Weekly meetings feature a brief lecture, screenings of scenes from films, extended discussion, and assorted readings of class assignments. This is primarily a writing class, with students required to write a four-to-five page weekly assignment related to the script topic of the week.

Class Number

1598

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Playwriting/Screenwriting, Books and Publishing

Location

MacLean 517

Description

An interdisciplinary studio that develops skills specific to the challenges of writing for time-based projects, especially works in film, video, installation, and performance. The primary focus is in-class writing, a range of textual experiments, and workshop /critique of students' writing in relation to their own works-in-progress. We pay attention to 'invisible' texts--the writing before the script, free-writing, conceptual issues--as well as overt ones. Special emphasis is placed on developing the ear in work on monologue, dialogue, and voice-over. The class reads and discusses selected scripts and writings by artists, screens films and videos, attends exhibitions and performances, and performs close analyses (another form of 'reading') of texts.

Prerequisites

FVNM 2004 or FVNM 3003 or FVNM 5020

Class Number

1597

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Playwriting/Screenwriting

Location

MacLean 517

Description

Filmmakers often run into a problem of depending too much on equipment. This makes one believe that it is impossible to be creative without elaborate 'tools.' Artists of film can produce images in any circumstance-with or without complicated tools. If a filmmaker understands the process and mechanism of how images can be generated, equipment can be as minimal as one paper clip.

This class is designed to introduce a variety of skills and ideas to make images with simple tools. Students are encouraged to make their own equipment to produce their own image effects.

The course mainly focuses on reproduction of images without using large equipment. Some of the ideas introduced in this course are making images without camera and/or lenses; animation; pixilation; time exposure; time lapse; images using slides, stills, and newspapers; all phases of in-camera effects; rephotographing frames; printing in camera; optical printing; and contact printing.

Prerequisites

FVNM 2000 or FVNM 5020

Class Number

1581

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Imaging, Animation

Location

MacLean 1408

Description

How can physicality and spatial properties of performance be transformed through a flat rectangular projection of light? How can a film director's shot list be influenced by the acting techniques of Meisner? What can a cinematographer learn from the breath control and movement techniques of Japanese Butoh dance? When film/video and performance are approached as a hybrid form, exploring and exploiting the unique properties of each, fusions between these mediums can truly be successful. This course will give an introduction to established theories and methods in four areas: 1) Dance/Movement for the camera. 2) Experimental Theater/Performance Art combined with film/video. 3) Acting for the camera. 4) Directing performers for film/video.

Readings and screenings typically include an introduction to Japanese Butoh Dance, featuring works by Tatsumi Hijikata, Kazuo Ohno, and Shuji Terayama. Cinedance works by DV8, Alla Kovgan, and Liz Aggiss. Various approaches to acting and directing with readings on Konstantin Stanislavski, Sanford Meisner, and John Cassavetes.

Students will participate in weekly movement workshops, a group acting and directing video shoot with professional actors, a Cinedance project, and a final film/video/performance fusion of the student's design.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: FVNM 2005 or FVNMA 5020

Class Number

1614

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Location

MacLean 1408

Description

This class focuses on the study of film language, shot composition and idea development for time based media. Through the creation of storyboards, animatics, mood boards, character designs, and concept development students gain a thorough understanding of how to develop their ideas in the pre-preproduction process. Students who work in film, video, performance, and animation will learn narrative and experimental methods. Practical, conceptual and artistic topics will be addressed.

A variety of short films and excerpts from live action films or animations will be shown in class, like work by Brad Bird or independent filmmakers like Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels. Reading excerpts on composition, editing and storyboarding will be assigned.

Coursework may vary but typically includes drawing character designs and storyboards, making animatics and some reading through weekly or bi-weeklt assignments. The final project involves concept development and a presentation, followed by a final animatic with sound.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: FVNM 2000 or FVNM 2420 or FVNM 5020

Class Number

1603

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Game Design, Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels, Narrative, Animation

Location

MacLean 314

Description

This class focuses on the study of film language, shot composition and idea development for time based media. Through the creation of storyboards, animatics, mood boards, character designs, and concept development students gain a thorough understanding of how to develop their ideas in the pre-preproduction process. Students who work in film, video, performance, and animation will learn narrative and experimental methods. Practical, conceptual and artistic topics will be addressed.

A variety of short films and excerpts from live action films or animations will be shown in class, like work by Brad Bird or independent filmmakers like Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels. Reading excerpts on composition, editing and storyboarding will be assigned.

Coursework may vary but typically includes drawing character designs and storyboards, making animatics and some reading through weekly or bi-weeklt assignments. The final project involves concept development and a presentation, followed by a final animatic with sound.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: FVNM 2000 or FVNM 2420 or FVNM 5020

Class Number

1612

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Game Design, Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels, Narrative, Animation

Location

MacLean 1408

Description

16MM is an advanced production course, which builds on the skill sets of Media Practices: the Moving Image, Sonics & Optics, and Form & Meaning. All shooting is done on 16mm film utilizing classic film set-ups and strategies. The sync sound shoot will be a guiding topic of the course, but many other production strategies and technical topics will be introduced. By the end of the course, students will be proficient with advanced 16mm sync sound cameras, lighting for film, audio field and sync recording. The class is very hands-on, requiring both personal and in-class group projects. Towards the end of the semester, students work together as a crew on a group film shoot using the classic hierarchical Hollywood style divisions of labor. Students will get an overview of two finishing workflows ? completion on 16mm film and digital completion. This is an ideal class to round out cinematic skills, which may be also applied to a digital interface.

The course includes technical, aesthetic and practical readings from the 'Filmmaker's Handbook' by Ascher & Pincus, 'Voice & Vision' by Mick Hurbis-Cherrier, 'Film Art' by Bordwell and Thompson, as well as 'Audio-Vision' by Michel Chion.

Each student is expected to show a final 16mm film edited to a fine cut state by the end of the semester. Due to the expense of 16mm filmmaking, students have the option of producing and funding their own individual projects, or editing the class funded group project for the final critique. The course also includes a final technical exam towards the end of the semester.

Prerequisites

FVNM 2004 and FVNM 2005 or FVNM 5020

Class Number

1605

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Location

MacLean 1304

Description

In this course, students will use 3D software to animate characters for narrative and non narrative films. Lectures and discussions will focus on both traditional and less-than-traditional 3D character pipeline with a strong emphasis on Character and Acting.

Screenings will include a variety of films utilizing 3D character and puppet animation, especially those with exceptional use of personality and performance. Filmmakers screened include: Aaron and Amanda Kopp; Géraldine Gaston; Nikita Diakur.

After a brief introduction to the fundamentals of the software (Maya), students will work on multiple short projects designed to develop skills as 3D character animators including those pushing strong animation mechanics and dialogue. These early animations will be critiqued rigorously. Projects will engage students as animators and actors, and will include a final project that focuses on creating engaging animation for a longer piece.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: FVNM 2015

Class Number

1615

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Imaging, Comics and Graphic Novels, Animation

Location

MacLean 819

Description

This is an intensive studio course for advanced students of film/video to explore the creative uses of light in their projects. Through the examination of cinematographic approaches across the various genres including narrative, experimental, and documentary, students apply advanced techniques of lighting and composition to their work. Emphasis is placed on the changing role of the cinematographer in the world of digital media.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: FVNM 2004 & FVNM 2005 or FVNM 3003 or FVNM 5020

Class Number

1609

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Playwriting/Screenwriting, Animation

Location

MacLean 1304

Description

This course is an introduction to the concepts and processes utilized in the production of digital and analogue to digital 2-D animation. Students work especially with Photoshop and After Effects to develop projects. Complex compositing and layering are also explored in this class.

Screenings vary but include primarily contemporary filmmakers / animators using tools covered in class, ranging from student films from other countries and institutions to professional and more commercial examples - all of which will be critiqued and discussed heavily each week.

The first 7-8 weeks of class are spent creating ultra short animated films, along with a longer final project at the end of the semester.

Prerequisites

FVNM 2420 or 5020

Class Number

1592

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Imaging, Animation

Location

MacLean 714

Description

This course gives students the opportunity to comprehensively explore industry-standard devices in digital editing and visual effects, bringing to bear the power and versatility of nonlinear editing on their creative projects. The class offers advanced editing techniques including data management, sound mixing, visual effects, color correction, compression and output options. The course is structured around a series of technical lectures and hands-on workshops as well as discussions of theoretical texts and screenings of films specifically selected to address important issues in the post-production process. Students will be working on the post-production of a single self-directed project. Students should come prepared with some of their footage ready for editing at the beginning of the semester. Students must participate in a mid-term critique and end-of-semester critique. Students will also generate a press kit for their project.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: FVNM 2004 & FVNM 2005 or FVNM 3003 or FVNM 5020

Class Number

1602

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Imaging, Animation

Location

MacLean 819

Description

This course will explore new artistic possibilities of real-time 3D technologies that depart from traditional video game paradigm and typical tech fantasies of VR/AR. It will investigate real-time 3D as an art form itself, and encourage students to explore new forms of poetry and artistic expression enabled by 3D game engines. It will also expose students to experimental areas within the technical pipelines and encourage students to embrace a DIY spirit to develop their own artistry and language for the medium.
We will watch, play, and discuss about different forms of artworks produced using real-time 3D technologies, including autonomous 3D simulation, interactive virtual world, real-time cinema, generative animation, mixed reality performance, and experimental video game. Some of the artists we will study in this course include Jeffrey Shaw, Harun Farocki, Tamás Waliczky, Tamiko Thiel and Tale of Tales.
This course will use the 3D game engine Unity and 3D modeling software such as Maya or Blender. Students should expect to produce a mid-term project and a final project, to be presented in critique sessions of the course.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: FVNM 2015 or FVNM 5020 or FVNM 5025

Class Number

2143

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Game Design, Digital Imaging, Animation

Location

MacLean 917

Description

One set of technical workshops will address advanced 3D modeling and animation techniques with an introduction to the Maya MASH network, the basics of modeling and texturing in zBrush and an exploration of 3D-scanning tools for use within Maya culminating in a Midterm 3D project. A second set of techniques will be taught to integrate a 3D/virtual object within an existing space (represented by a photographic or 3D-scanned environment); this process will cover Maya software Render-Pass techniques, HDRI acquisition via a 360? camera and compositing methods in AfterEffects for a Final 3D project. Other techniques may be instructed as appropriate.

Screenings, readings and discussions focus on speculative 'NextNature' concepts, the virtual domain, ecology and technology, symbiosis, and non-binary, feminist, post-human and Anthropocenic topics. Virtual 'worlds' will be created within this context. Midterm and final projects function to amplify or critique the conceptual materials; works can address innovative proposals, solutions, or concerns. The 3D tools within 'xyz' space permit deviation from the material world; 3D physics simulations, forces such as gravity, and other environmental qualities can be utilized or subverted to present dystopic, utopic or heterotopic themes. Potential output includes computer-generated moving-image installations, interactive artworks, and digital 2D or 3D prints.

Weekly software assignments, individualized project research, and engaged participation in class readings, discussions and critiques are essential to successful 3D Midterm and Final projects.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: FVNM 2015 or FVNM 5025

Class Number

1596

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Game Design, Animation

Location

MacLean 519

Description

Students learn a wide range of post-production digital techniques for 2D animation, compositing (layering, collaging), and creating visual effects for video productions. Students produce projects that incorporate manipulated still images, animation, desktop video, and audio. Those who are intrigued by this kind of image manipulation will find the capabilities of the software dynamic and inspiring. Screenings and analysis focus on the use of such techniques in the world of video art, television, and film.

Prerequisites

FVNM 2000 or FVNM 5020

Class Number

1582

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Imaging, Animation

Location

MacLean 917

Description

This course addresses a wide range of animation techniques and materials, both analogue and digital. Students explore drawing materials, cut-outs, cameraless animation, under the camera destructive and constructive animation, and compositing. Expanding on skills developed in Animation I, students create more painterly and material-based work.

The class is structured around a series of workshops, lectures, discussions and critiques. Relevant works are screened as source of inspiration for our material explorations.

Students produce a series of quick assignments exposing them to new techniques, culminating in a final project due at the end of the semester.

Prerequisites

FVNM 2420 or 5020

Class Number

1607

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Game Design, Illustration, Digital Imaging, Animation

Location

MacLean 714, MacLean 717

Description

Students further develop 2-D drawing animation skills, with focus on complex movement, animating dialogue, and drawing with backgrounds. Drawings on paper are scanned into Toon-Boom Studio for digital cell production. Time is spent on creating backgrounds and camera moves in the program. Some Knowledge of Final-Cut Pro, After Effects or Flash is recommended.

Prerequisites

FVNM 2420 or 5020

Class Number

1584

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Illustration, Animation

Location

MacLean 714, MacLean 717

Description

The goal of the course is to understand, analyze and confront in practice various aspects of installation art in general and video installation in particular. The course will focus on themes such as site specific work; positive and negative spaces (use of light and projection); formation of an event or a situation (use of material, gesture and movement); the integration of video within sculptural/architectural, as well as narrative configurations etc. The examples shown in accordance with each topic will demonstrate various solutions to the issues discussed in class, and will include gallery and museum field trips as well as possible guest artist lectures. Visual examples will range from Cornell's boxes, minimalist and post minimalist art work, site specific projects by artists including Walter de Maria and Smithson, through pioneer installation makers such as Nauman, Bill Viola, Gary Hill and up to contemporary video installation makers such as Eijal liisa Ahtila, Stan Douglas, Isaac Julian, Doug Aitkins and many others. Readings will include articles by Peter Selz, Michael Archer, Fried Michael, Barbara London, Chrissie Iles, John Hanhardt and numerous others. Students will be required to plan and draw installation sketches as well as to videotape and construct actual video installation work. Class Requirements include weekly reading of relevant articles, two in-class team presentations of relevant artists, as well as 3 short installation production assignments and a more elaborate final project.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: FVNM 3003 or 5020

Class Number

2149

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Community & Social Engagement, Public Space, Site, Landscape

Location

MacLean 1408

Description

Realtime explores audio-visual systems and performances of live experimental new media art. Artists create, code, control, and transform digital and analog media in realtime using systems created by and for artists. Students learn, play and perform with artware, open source tools and systems, and commercially available software.

This studio course includes a historical, media archaeological approach to realtime systems, using the Sandin Image Processor?an analog patch programmable computer optimized for video processing from 1971-1973?to introduce improvisational audio/video exploration and critical concepts related to contemporary user interface design. Current praxis is discussed through lectures, screenings, and visiting artists in relation to the earlier realtime forms from early cinema (such as Oskar Fischinger?s Lumigraph), video (such as Steina Vasulka?s Violin Power), new media (such as JODI?s Prepared Desktop), and the internet (such as Wafaa Bilal?s Domestic Tension).

Emphasis is placed on the conceptual and technical development of independently driven projects and the completion of professional exhibition proposals for realtime work.

Prerequisites

FVNM 2100 or FVNM 5020

Class Number

1585

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Public Space, Site, Landscape, Social Media and the Web

Location

MacLean 807

Description

This course teaches students how to use language creatively and practically in the development of animated media. As well as the role of art direction in the development of animation works. Students will develop skills in writing for the animated short, in relation to dialogue and visual description, treatments, and full scripts. The class will also cover in-depth art direction and pre-production. The goal of this class is to make students literate in the use of language and visuals in the creation of their work, as well as the utilization of these skills in professional animation studios. The class will also cover skills like pitching stories, writing project proposals and creating look books, decks etc.. Books will include; Writing for Animation, Comics, and Games by Christy Marx; Art Direction for Film and Video by Robert Olson Students will complete a series of assignments, based on their own ideas, and adapting existing texts, as well as each other¿s writing into visuals. The class will culminate in a final project proposal that will contain a script, synopsis, and visual art direction for an animated work.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: 2900 course

Class Number

1869

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels, Animation

Location

MacLean 717

Description

This course is for students who have a sustained interest in using video technology as part of their art making. Participants work on a project-oriented basis that include individual critiques, special class meetings, practicums, and equipment workshops. Students should be both self-directed and interested in developing a support system for producing each other's work.

Prerequisites

must take two 3000 level FVNM

Class Number

2311

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Location

MacLean 518

Description

Advanced Screenwriting is designed for students who have completed Beginning Screenwriting, or its equivalent, and are interested in pursuing the art and craft of feature-length screenwriting. The entire semester will be devoted to the completion of the first draft of one feature-length script by each student. All ten students in the class will be working on their own individual scripts, and by reading them aloud during class in a workshop structure, complete with post-reading discussion, it will allow students to participate in the creation of not just one, but ten, feature-length scripts.

Since Advanced Screenwriting is first and foremost a writing class, requiring copious amounts of scripting and drafting, there will be no formal reading or viewing assignments. However, throughout the semester, the professor will recommend books or films that will assist in the development or completion of the students' first drafts. For instance, a film such as Aki Kaurismaki's 'Ariel' will be referenced as an example of how to develop powerful themes in a relatively short amount of screen time.

Students are required to complete the first draft of a feature-length screenplay, approximately 90-110 pages. Completion of the draft, and a final thumbs-up by the teacher, are required to pass the course.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: FVNM 3024 or FVNM 3124.

Class Number

1586

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Playwriting/Screenwriting, Books and Publishing

Location

MacLean 517

Description

Art Games considers computer based games as New Media artworks and art as a game-like system. Computer-based games constitute a significant form of new screen media and cultural activity. Artists work with game-like structures and approaches to create New Media projects. Students will play, discuss and develop art games that share relationships to forms of gameplay from text-based adventure games to first-person shooters, strategy games and simulators to conceptual games of chance. This advanced level studio course enables students to hack, modify, and critique existing games, and independently author games as New Media artworks.

Class Number

1610

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Game Design, Social Media and the Web

Location

MacLean 807

Description

This two day 6 credits studio course, taught by two faculty members (one on each day), is designed for students who made a serious commitment to animation as a major part of their art practice and who wish to focus on the completion of an animated project for public presentation. All animation techniques are welcome. The structure of the class consists of periodic workshops, regular critiques of student works as well as individual meetings. Additionally, students will be exposed to diverse examples of contemporary animated works and will participate in discussions of relevant critical topics. This course will give students the necessary time and resources to complete an elaborate animated work. Additionally, students will be exposed to diverse examples of contemporary animated works and will participate in discussions of relevant critical topics. This course will give students the necessary time and resources to complete an ambitious animated work.

Prerequisites

Any 3000-Level Animation Course and Any 3900-level Course

Class Number

1606

Credits

6

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Exhibition and Curatorial Studies, Animation

Location

MacLean 714, MacLean 714

Description

This two day 6 credits studio course, taught by two faculty members (one on each day), is designed for students who made a serious commitment to animation as a major part of their art practice and who wish to focus on the completion of an animated project for public presentation. All animation techniques are welcome. The structure of the class consists of periodic workshops, regular critiques of student works as well as individual meetings. Additionally, students will be exposed to diverse examples of contemporary animated works and will participate in discussions of relevant critical topics. This course will give students the necessary time and resources to complete an elaborate animated work. Additionally, students will be exposed to diverse examples of contemporary animated works and will participate in discussions of relevant critical topics. This course will give students the necessary time and resources to complete an ambitious animated work.

Prerequisites

Any 3000-Level Animation Course and Any 3900-level Course

Class Number

1606

Credits

6

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Exhibition and Curatorial Studies, Animation

Location

MacLean 714, MacLean 714

Description

This course is designed to acquaint first year, first semester Film, Video, New Media, and Animation (FVNMA) graduate students with the technical and conceptual aspects of the FVNMA department and to prepare students for their first formal critique. Students get authorized on FVNMA equipment and facilities.

Some examples drawn from contemporary art and current theoretical materials will be considered for discussion.

Students will have to write a project proposal and present work in progress in preparation for critique week. A group project at the beginning of the semester will introduce students to the available equipment and facilities.

Class Number

1608

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Location

MacLean 518

Description

This course is designed to acquaint first year, first semester Film, Video, New Media, and Animation (FVNMA) graduate students with the technical and conceptual aspects of the FVNMA department and to prepare students for their first formal critique. Students get authorized on FVNMA equipment and facilities.

Some examples drawn from contemporary art and current theoretical materials will be considered for discussion.

Students will have to write a project proposal and present work in progress in preparation for critique week. A group project at the beginning of the semester will introduce students to the available equipment and facilities.

Class Number

1608

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Location

MacLean 518

Description

This class is inspired by Johannes Itten's radical early twentieth-century basic art course developed for the Weimar Bauhaus School of Art, but here using the Maya 3D software, typically used for commercial productions by the entertainment industry. Students will solve a series of formal problems, introduced in increasing levels of complexity. Moving from the 2-dimensional to the 3-dimensional and ultimately to the four-dimensional or time-based, students will evolve their abilities to utilize aspects of light and dark, form, rhythm, color, proportion and volume but in terms of a post photographic discourse, with the intention of advancing a new virtual cinema.

Class Number

1595

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Digital Imaging, Social Media and the Web, Animation

Location

MacLean 519

Description

One set of technical workshops will address advanced 3D modeling and animation techniques with an introduction to the Maya MASH network, the basics of modeling and texturing in zBrush and an exploration of 3D-scanning tools for use within Maya culminating in a Midterm 3D project. A second set of techniques will be taught to integrate a 3D/virtual object within an existing space (represented by a photographic or 3D-scanned environment); this process will cover Maya software Render-Pass techniques, HDRI acquisition via a 360? camera and compositing methods in AfterEffects for a Final 3D project. Other techniques may be instructed as appropriate.

Screenings, readings and discussions focus on speculative 'NextNature' concepts, the virtual domain, ecology and technology, symbiosis, and non-binary, feminist, post-human and Anthropocenic topics. Virtual 'worlds' will be created within this context. Midterm and final projects function to amplify or critique the conceptual materials; works can address innovative proposals, solutions, or concerns. The 3D tools within 'xyz' space permit deviation from the material world; 3D physics simulations, forces such as gravity, and other environmental qualities can be utilized or subverted to present dystopic, utopic or heterotopic themes. Potential output includes computer-generated moving-image installations, interactive artworks, and digital 2D or 3D prints.

Weekly software assignments, individualized project research, and engaged participation in class readings, discussions and critiques are essential to successful 3D Midterm and Final projects.

Class Number

1600

Credits

3

Department

Film, Video, New Media, and Animation

Area of Study

Game Design, Animation

Location

MacLean 519

Take the Next Step

Visit the graduate admissions website or contact the graduate admissions office at 312.629.6100, 800.232.7242, or gradmiss@saic.edu.