VCU School of the Arts and In Your Ear Studios proudly present new elective courses in advanced media production for Fall 2012. These offerings are aimed at VCUarts majors seeking to build their knowledge of audio, production, post-production, 3D and mobile device technologies. Taught by industry professionals, the courses are designed to engage students in innovation, creativity, and building strong industry connections with creative professionals, manufacturers, and potential employers.
The 3-credit Core Courses focus on the history, art, practice and technological standards of dynamic media. Areas of study include audio and music production; cinematic editorial; emerging digital cinema production; 3D animation and gaming; and screenplay development.
The 2-credit Focused Discipline courses cover a wide range of lab-based study for sound producers, post-production professionals and even mobile device media development!
All courses are taught at the post-production studios of In Your Ear, in Shockoe Bottom, east of the VCU Medical Center campus at 19th and E. Broad St. Designed by the renowned LA-based Studio Bau:ton, the studio facility maintains the professional equipment, acoustics, and infrastructure necessary for modern media creation.
All of our classes are open enrollment and full time VCU students may take our classes for credit under ARTS or MHIS. These courses are 400, 500, and 600 level classes, so the prices reflect a discounted rate of $300 per credit for VCU students and $400 per credit for non-VCU students.
MHIS 382-C90 Computers and Digital Recording (or Listen and Capture) 3 Credits - $1,200 ($900 VCU students)
Listen and Capture is an audio foundation course adapted from the original Computers and Digital Recording class currently offered. The course covers proper acoustics, microphone types and techniques, audio physics, audio history, computers and computer parts, and basic software used in recording and editing. Cubase Elements software is required for the class and is used in teaching recording and editing concepts. There is a limit of 15 students.
The course runs every Monday night from 7-9:40 pm for 15 weeks, starting August 27th and ending December 3rd.
MHIS-491 Advanced Computers and Digital Recording (or Sound Manipulation) 3 Credits - $1,200 ($900 VCU students)
Sound Manipulation is a follow up to Listen and Capture for students concentrating in audio production. This course focuses on the start to finish process of recording a band, including running equipment, setting up for the recording, mixing and marketing. The final project for this class is to record and mix a demo for an artist of our choosing. Students must take Listen and Capture as a prerequisite.
The course runs every Wednesday night from 7-9:40 pm for 15 weeks, starting August 29th and ending December 5th.
Creative Editorial is an introductory course on motion visual editing techniques. Special insight into the new features and design overview of AVID Media Composer and Final Cut will be covered. Topics covered include editorial history, film editing history and techniques, importing media, transcoding options, organizing your project, basic editing techniques and media format and interchange workflow. Avid Media Composer software is required and is used as the standard software for editorial lessons. There is a limit of 15 students.
The course runs every Wednesday night from 6-8:20pm for 15 weeks, starting August 29h and ending December 5th.
ARTS 491-C92 The Emerging Digital Cinema 3 Credits - $1,200 ($900 VCU students)
The Emerging Digital Cinema is a mini course in how traditional film and video production has been transformed by today lower cost technology. The course covers DSLR cameras, high resolution RED camera technology, production crew positions and their duties, preproduction, sets, use of teleprompting, green screen techniques, location sound and much more. There is a limit of 15 students.
The course runs every Wednesday afternoon from 2:30-5pm for 15 weeks, starting August 29h and ending December 5th.
ARTS 491-C93 The Art of 3D 3 Credits - $1,200 ($900 VCU students)
An introduction to the realm of 3D graphics. From dinosaurs to avatars and beyond this course explores the creative possible that 3D graphics brings to film, television and gaming. An exploration of 3-D graphical history, ideas, application, and practice. There is a limit of 15 students.
The course runs every Tuesday night from 6-8:20pm for 15 weeks, starting August 28th and ending December 4th.
ARTS 491-C94 Script 3 Credits - $1,200 ($900 VCU students)
Script is a screen writing and story development lab. Traditional linear and non-linear plot development as used in gaming will be explored. Topics covered include preproduction, storyboards, animatics and interview techniques. Students will produce a short treatment they must pitch to the class. There is a limit of 15 students.
The course runs every Monday afternoon from 3:30-5pm for 15 weeks, starting August 27th and ending December 3th.
ARTS 491-C07 Foley and Sound Design 2 Credits - $800 ($600 VCU Students)
Foley and Sound Design is a lab course for adding sound created by actors and audio engineers to picture. The course is focuses on traditional techniques combined with current DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software to improve workflow and sonic flexibility. There is a limit of 10 students.
The course runs every Friday afternoon from 12-2:20pm for 8 weeks, starting August 31st and ending October 26th.
ARTS 491-C95 Trance 2 Credits - $800 ($600 VCU Students)
Music production for modern styles including Hip-Hop, R&B, Rock and Alternative Acoustic music. Virtual Instruments, loops and vocal production techniques including Autotune, Melodyne and others will be explored. There is a limit of 10 students.
The course runs every Tuesday night from 6-8:20pm for 8 weeks, starting August 28th and ending October 16th.
ARTS 491-C96 JAM 2 Credits - $800 ($600 VCU Students)
Music production for Jazz and Acoustic music focusing on acoustic recording of traditional American music. Analog processing and microphone selection, placement and acoustic surroundings are a focus of this mini course. Recording a Jazz group a singer songwriter performance are part of the lab for this class. There is a limit of 10 students.
The course runs every Friday afternoon from 3:30-5pm for 8 weeks, starting August 31st and ending October 26th.
ARTS 491-C97 DAW: Digital Audio Workstations Level One 2 Credits - $800 ($600 VCU Students)
Digital Audio Works is a first level intensive course on operating various audio software programs. The course covers the basics in running Pro Tools, Cubase and Logic including track types, setting up projects and performing midi and audio recording, editing, mixing, and exchange with video editing software. This is part one of a two-part course leading to Pro Tools certification. Students must own Pro Tools software to take this course. There is a limit of 12 students.
The course runs every Tuesday afternoon from 3:30-5pm for 15 weeks, starting August 28th and ending December 4th.
ARTS 491-C98 Digital Compositing 2 Credits - $800 ($600 VCU Students)
Digital image capture is the new road ahead, but it’s only part of the story. Digital image manipulation and the art of visual effects and compositing of multiple images in motion allow content creators to push their projects to the next level of production value. Applications like The Foundry's Nuke and Adobe After Effects are used to create seamless blending of multiple moving image elements to create and augment both imaginary and existing environments. There is a limit of 10 students.
The course runs every Friday afternoon from 2:30-5pm for 15 weeks, starting August 31st and ending December 7th.
ARTS 491-C99 Mobile Application Development 2 Credits - $800 ($600 VCU Students)
The "Post PC" era is here. Development of mobile applications and games is a multi-billion dollar business. The integration of apps and devices into the production, post-production and distribution workflow for content creators is a key to success in new media. Apple and Google development platforms will be used. There is a limit of 10 students.
The course runs every Thursday night from 6-8:20pm for 15 weeks, starting August 30th and ending December 6th.
The following courses run from August 27th till December 7th. Each class meets once a week for 1.5-3 hours. Contact Andrea Stefl at andrea.stefl@lobe.com if you have any questions.
