THE DIGITAL MEDIA DESIGN (DMD) program was established in response to what we perceived as a growing rift within the computer graphics and animation industry.
The field had traditionally employed two kinds of people: artists and technologists. Each profession had its own vocabulary and perspective, and each had very different educational backgrounds. As a result, the professionals from these two areas often could not communicate effectively.
The DMD program was created to educate a new generation of people to work in computer graphics; people who, through a combined education in both disciplines, could collaborate effectively with technologists and artists. In addition, through their communications courses, DMD students delve into what the audience of these future collaborations might perceive. For more information, view our informational videos
DMD has clearly grown significantly since its conception. Now celebrating 11 years, it has 67 current students and over 60 alumni members.
For information regarding specific course requirements and related classes, visit these links to:
Recent Projects
Grace Fong, Class of 2010
As Real as Your Life > In the spring of 2004, DMD freshman Michael Highland (personal website with more of his work) created a film in a Fine Arts film course, called As Real As Your Life (website). As Michael describes it, the film is "part documentary, part narrative, and part animation. As Real As Your Life chronicles my own experiences as a video game addict, as I attempt to understand the effect video games have had on my real life."
In the spring of 2005, the film was accepted to the Ivy League Film Fest and received rave reviews. Scot Rubin, a film and TV producer in Los Angeles, happened to read a DP article written about the festival, and contacted Michael about the film. That Summer, Michael reproduced a longer version of the film with the help from Scot. In the fall of 2005, game developer David Perry asked Micheal if he could show the film at the exclusive Ted Conference in Monterrey, CA. The film was well received and earned Michael a free ticket for the following year's conference.
And now, in the spring of 2007, the film has been accepted to the Cannes Film Festival. While the film is not in the competition, it will be shown along with other short films at the Cannes Film Festival.
Currently Michael is working on two new feature length screenplays as well as pursuing a possible career in video game design. He has spent this semester in Hong Kong, attending the Polytechnic University and working at MERECL, the University's digital media development laboratory.
Digging for the Truth > In the Bolivian Andes, a sprawling ancient city rests 13,000 feet above sea level. With its giant, freestanding monoliths and grand design, Tiwanaku has long been compared to Stonehenge. The two sites were built on opposite sides of the globe, but they both share a design that pays tribute to the sun. What's the "real" connection between Stonehenge and Tiwanaku? Flying out from La Paz, host Josh Bernstein tours Tiwanaku from both the air and ground. He harvests and transports the very stone used to build Tiwanaku and, he dives Lake Titicaca to explore evidence of a lost civilization. Watch Digging for the Truth: Stonehenge of the Americas Monday March 26th at 9pm on the History Channel. The animations and 3D Models were contributed by DMD sophomores Ariela Nurko and Calley Levine, who traveled to Tiwanaku over the summer through NS funding (NSF-IIS-0431070).
Buzztracker > A new Internet art project, by Criag Modzelesky, DMD '03, is creating buzz over world news! The interactive piece is the first of its kind to show how interconnected our world is by visualizing relationships among locations mentioned in the news on an interactive map. In the first two days, the site received 75,000 visitors. In the first week, it received more than one million hits. Buzztracker's simple interface allows you to zip between daily images, seeing precisely how long events linger in our collective consciousness. www.buzztracker.org
DMD and Anthropology > Two DMD students have been working with Anthropology professor Alexei Vranich on a series of projects including animations for a film for the Discovery Channel and the excavation of an anthropological site in Bolivia. DMD senior Jean Tsong spent part of her summer in Bolivia collecting laser scanned data of the site. Students in Dr. Erickson's and Dr. Badler's collaborative course, offered this fall, will re-create the site by creating 3D models. Computer animation as a mean of preserving cultural heritage is a newly emerging field, but one that has crucial implications for anthropology and computer graphics. See Full Article
