Alexander Johnstone was intrigued when he saw a poster a few years ago for a machinima class to create 3-D graphics for video games.
Johnstone, a senior in film studies, took the class and became exposed to the U’s computer science department. Now, the two-year-old entertainment, arts and engineering program is continuing to expand.
“I was a kid who was always modeling my favorite games growing up, but the idea of using them to create film had never occurred to me,” Johnstone said.
Roger Altizer, a film studies professor, said that if students want to study gaming and animation, this is the program for them. The program includes about 30 to 40 students out of the 400 involved in the film studies department.
“(It’s) gotten a ton of support from students and a massive amount of industry support,” he said. Students are already applying for internships with graphics and video game companies.
The program is designed to “provide undergraduates an interdisciplinary academic path toward careers in the digital entertainment industry with experience in both computer science and the arts,” said Kevin Hanson, another film studies professor.
The U is one of the first schools to bring gaming and animation together in a collaborative movement.
Hanson said that gaming had a small presence on campus before the program came along, but with the support of the dean of the College of Fine Arts, Raymond Tymas-Jones, the U has been able to broaden its horizons.
“(Tymas-Jones) has been a big support,” Hanson said. “He’s seen a broader vision of art (and he’s) responded in a positive way and pulled out all the stops now.”
The students in the program are enthusiastic about it, too.
Christopher Diller, a senior in the program, said the U is the third college he has attended and that the program is “one of the best programs (he has) been involved with out of all three universities.”
He found out about it through a game theory class taught by Altizer, who introduced the program to him.
“I know entertainment, arts and engineering is a fancy name for video games, but there is a lot more work involved than a lot of people think,” he said. “The great thing about it is that the program is set up to where they mix the engineers, the film makers and the artists together where you get a sense of where everyone is coming from. You know what it takes on all ends of the spectrum to build something out of nothing and for that something to be fun.”
Johnstone and Diller said the program has helped them focus their life and professional goals and prepared them for the real world.
“The program has offered something I have not yet experienced at the U8212;a real-world experience (in video games and animation),” Johnstone said.