Sound plays a crucial part in cinematic storytelling. However, its contribution to film narrative and our experience is often overlooked. The course introduces the fundamentals of sound design through lectures, production and post-production sound workshops, and experiential sound design assignments.

Welcome to Digital Magic: Introduction to Animation and Visual Effects. Students learn the art and technique of illusion, manipulating images through the use of digital animation and visual effects in service of storytelling. Lectures and hands-on workshops guide students through several styles and methods of animation, including stop motion, 2D, and basic 3D digital animation, and through the practical creation of visual effects for filmmaking such as green screen compositing, mattes and masks, and CGI. The course culminates in a public screening of student’s final projects

Post-production is often viewed as the unsung hero of the filmmaking process. But what else is there to editing other than simply putting a film together? How do sound and music work in the context of building an emotional, cinematic landscape? And just how much can you rely on post-production to “fix it in post”? This course seeks to uncover the mysterious reputation of post-production and examine how editing, sound, and music can determine a film’s success or failure. We will explore fundamentals of the fiction and nonfiction post-production process via numerous short projects, both in groups and individually. The projects will culminate in a screening of the final films. Like filmmaking itself, it is designed to be a collaborative and hands-on experience. Attendance and participation are mandatory.

Sound plays a crucial part in cinematic storytelling. However, its contribution to film narrative and our experience is often overlooked. The course introduces the fundamentals of sound design through lectures, production and post-production sound workshops, and experiential sound design assignments.