UC Irvine to Launch Digital Filmmaking Minor

The Claire Trevor School of the Arts (CTSA) at the University of California, Irvine is launching a new Minor in Digital Filmmaking. The Department of Art is accepting applications for the first classes which commence Fall Quarter 2015. The new program will give students across campus the skills to create sophisticated time-based media projects and learn expertise in production. The program boasts a hybrid of traditional and creative approaches with emphasis on the production of new works for delivery online. With the Minor, Undergraduate students will have the opportunity to produce digital film works with content that contributes to the future of film as an art form.

Digital Filmmaking students learn both traditional and experimental components of structure and content. Students will study a range of pre-production, production, and post-production courses to learn how to conceptualize, plan, execute, finish and deliver film works. Students will learn to produce films for distribution on emerging platforms.

"The inauguration of the new Digital Filmmaking Minor in the Claire Trevor School of the Arts is a tremendously exciting addition to our curriculum, establishing new possibilities for creative research and art-production," stated Stephen Barker, Interim Dean for Claire Trevor School of the Arts. "The Minor offers in-depth research into-and professional-level practice in-the expansion of filmmaking into emergent technologies and their application to the formation of new art media. The Claire Trevor School of the Arts is proud and excited to introduce this newest art-making platform to UCI, the region, and the world."

The Minor in Digital Filmmaking consists of eight courses coordinated to take the student well beyond the introductory level in the subject matter and discipline of filmmaking. Issues courses give the students grounding in history, criticism and theory of experimental film, and video art. Projects courses include documentary, narrative, and episodic web content to provide a range of creative opportunities for artistic expression and achievement. Courses include: Production I - Project I, 3 minute personal documentary; Production II - Issues in Video Art History & Criticism or Issues in Experimental Film History; Pre-Production; Post-Production; Advanced Project I - 5 minute film; Advanced Project II - 7 minute film or Web Series - episodic content.

Digital Filmmaking production facilities include a Sound Stage, Equipment Office, Undergraduate Post- Production Lab, Lecture spaces and teaching labs. Students will continue to work with visiting artists; recently, as production crew for the Koki Tanaka video installation "a piano played by 5 pianists at once (first attempt)" featured in his show "abstract speaking - sharing uncertainty and collective acts" which won Special Mention to Japan, 55th International Venice Biennale in Art, The Japan Pavilion.

"The new Digifilm Minor marks a major expansion of the Digital Filmmaking production program in the School of the Arts and recognizes the importance of film in every discipline," said Bruce Yonemoto, Professor of Art, Digital Filmmaking. "With the growing demand of online digital content, the Digifilm minor will teach students in all areas the basic and advanced structures of filmmaking. The Department of Art has developed a comprehensive filmmaking program which brings a creative approach and filmmaking skills to the entire campus."

Digital Filmmaking premiered its first UCI Collegiate Showcase at the Newport Beach Film Festival in April 2015. The program also engages the community through Open House events and Saturday Academies in Digital Filmmaking. The Summer Academy in Digital Filmmaking creates outreach to HIGH SCHOOL students and prospective UCI applicants. The Digital Filmmaking Festival is held each June in the Arts Amphitheater featuring a selection of the best film works produced through the program.

Digital Filmmaking alumni are active in the film industry in production and post-production, camera and film technology companies, and in the art world. Alum Edward Patrick Alva served as Assistant Editor on Kirby Dick's Academy Award nominated and Sundance Film Festival audience-award winning 'The Invisible War' and 'The Hunting Ground.' Alumni have also founded production companies, and several have won the Visual Communications 'Armed with a Camera Fellowship.'

To post a comment, you must register and login.