DMA’s Maya Certification program centers on its series of 3d modeling and animation courses. These courses are broad and deep and tackle some of the most complex problems and powerful tools in Maya, Autodesk’s industry standard software for 3D modeling, animation, rendering, and visual effects. From a beginning of how to create basic shapes in Maya I, to a finalized piece with finished facial animations, body rigging, and narrative based story -- the Digital Media Academy series of courses provides an intense submersion into the Maya toolkit and workflow.
Paul Randall and Karen Laszkiewicz – who attended DMA at Stanford University as part of a partnership with NOVA this past summer – in collaboration with other students at animation summer camp created the sample project displayed below. Both Paul and Karen were among the Digital Media Academy attendees who tackled all four courses back to back. The amount of technical information was huge. The requirements to process and apply the information were quick. And the necessity to work as a team came as an extra spice to the mix. Paul and Karen were integral parts of a diverse team that included participants of varying ages, abilities, gender, and nationality. They both kept learning, kept producing and working with the team through the deadline to create the final piece seen here.
This project is based on a story from a children’s book and due to time constraints does not have voice over or final render. That said, in this format you can see the scripted words (for voice over) and the skeleton (rigged, model) and other directional tools. The important thing to remember is that Paul and Karen started with no experience in 3d or Maya and after 20 days of class were able to produce this. Digital Media Academy will get you started on your new career path! The skills they departed with will enable them to pursue the field of 3d art, modeling and animation as a viable career path. What are you interested in learning with Maya? Is it time to learn new skills to be competitive in today’s employment marketplace? Why not learn new skills and have fun too at Digital Media Academy’s Maya summer camp? Please join the conversation, and leave a comment below!
Looking for more information on Maya Certification? Please click here: Maya Certification Which Digital Media Academy location will work best for you? Take a look! Please click here: Digital Media Academy Adult Training Locations.
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Surfing and Filmmaking
Camp Life, Digital Media Academy News + Events, Kids Computer Camp | July 31st, 2009 by Margaret Lim
This summer the Digital Media Academy is proud to announce another exciting sports action course – surfing and filmmaking! Held only at UC San Diego, this new course is offered in partnership with La Jolla Surf Academy, based in La Jolla, CA. In this “hybrid” course, students spend the morning gaining new or improving surfing skills, under the guidance of certified instructors of the La Jolla Surf Academy. In the afternoon, students return to the UC San Diego campus and to DMA’s studio classroom to view and edit video footage taken earlier in the day or week. By the end of the week, students go home with their very own surf video – uniquely edited by each student!
The first “pilot” of this course, taught San Diego native Chris Owen, was held the week of July 13-17 with six students and was deemed a huge success by all! Some of the students who took the course had surfed before, but a few had not. One student who wasn’t naturally enthusiastic about surfing felt confident and excited about surfing by the end of the week. As his mom commented, “David didn’t want to learn to surf before he started the class. The idea of making a movie of his adventure kept him motivated, and now he loves surfing!”
To see one student’s surf video, click below:
DMA Surfing and Filmmaking
Surfing and Filmmaking, for both teens (ages 13-17) and Adventures students (ages 9-13), is being offered again the week of August 3-7 at UC San Diego. For more information and to register, call 866-656-3342.
Music & Video Production at UCLA
Camp Life, Digital Media Academy News + Events, Kids Computer Camp, Teen Technology Courses, lennon bus | July 27th, 2009 by Margaret Lim
Among the many new Digital Media Academy courses featured this summer is Music and Video Production, taught in partnership with the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus. This course provides teens with an experience in the entire music video production process – from mixing music with Apple’s Logic Studio, to writing lyrics, to editing video footage with Apple’s Final Cut Pro.
I recently sat down with students taking Music Video Production at DMA’s UCLA location. Several of these students came from outside of California to participate in this very unique course. When asked what they enjoyed most about this course, I got a variety of enthusiastic responses. Christian Cox, from Monroe, Georgia, commented, “Teachers are young and can relate to any music style.” He explained that their class had divided into two groups, one writing a reggae song about nature and another writing a hip-hop song about having attention deficit disorder. Whatever genre of music they wanted, their instructors were talented enough to adapt!
Many of these students had never done anything like this before and were amazed at how much they were learning in a short amount of time. As Stephen Herandez from La Canada, CA explained, “You can go into this course without any knowledge and by the end of the week, you’ll think you can anything with Logic and Final Cut Pro!” Another student explained to me that she didn’t have any prior experience playing a musical instrument, but had learned a few simple guitar chords that week – enough to make a song! In addition to working with industry standard software and several musical instruments, students worked with high end Sony cameras to capture video footage around campus.
It was obvious as I talked with these kids that they had learned to work closely together. Many were also staying together in DMA’s residential UCLA program. “We have fun meeting new people and working together as a team to make videos and share memories, “ said Ron Magana from Canoga Park, CA.
To see an example video produced by the UCLA Music and Video Production class, click below:
Advanced Filmmaking for Teens
Digital Media Academy News + Events | July 26th, 2009 by Travis
The Stanford 2009 Hands-on Digital filmmaking for teens beginning and advanced courses have been a huge success. We have had students make comedy, suspense, horror, extreme sports, and even music videos. Basically, we have covered ever genre you can think of in these classes. The Advanced class gives students with some filmmaking experience to step there skills up a notch. During the camera operation portion of the class we work with Sony HDV cameras and teach advanced techniques to achieve a shallow or deep depth of field and really begin to control the image captured on the camera. We also introduce several techniques for working with a 3point light kit. The editing instruction is done in final cut pro and caters to each student different experience levels. With eight hours of instruction each day we treat this class like a 48-hour film festival. Much like any film festival the exciting part of this class comes during the screening when each student gets the opportunity to show their work on the “big screen”. There is now way to really describe how much fun the DMA filmmaking screenings are, but I have posted a few examples of films created by DMA students so that everyone can see how much the students accomplish in such a short amount of time. Please take the time to watch these videos that I have posted from my students this year.
Sincerely,
Travis Schlafmann
"Come Together" Music & Video Production
Digital Media Academy News + Events | July 26th, 2009 by Travis
I’m very proud to have been a part of DMA’s 1st “come together” music and video production class. Three groups of four or five students, from all different backgrounds, got together recorded a song and made a music video. The class was awesome! We recorded songs using an electric Roland drum kit, and midi controllers that triggered the software instruments within Logic Studio Pro. The first 2 days were spent learning Logic, recording our songs, using loops, and mixing down our songs. When the songs were complete, we got to learn camera operation with the new Sony Z5U cameras. After learning how to use the cameras we into “production” and shot music videos to go along with the songs we recorded. The footage the students shot was amazing and in some cases, down right hilarious. To complete the week we took the footage back to the studio and taught the students how to edit their music videos with Final Cut Pro. We topped it off by teaching them how to author DVD’s with DVD Studio Pro. The end result was amazing! We screened all the student projects for family and friends. Everyone was blown away! I had a blast watching students create such amazing projects in such a short amount of time. I don’t think there is anywhere else in the world where you can learn how to write and record a professional song, go out and shoot a music video with Sony video gear, come back and learn how to edit your video with Final Cut Pro, and then author a DVD with DVD Studio Pro all within one week’s time. Here are some of the videos from the class please watch.
Sincerely,
Travis Schlafmann
Meet Jada-Grace Gordy
Camp Life, Kids Computer Camp, Success Stories, girls and technology | July 9th, 2009 by Margaret Lim
As one of the main characters on Terminator 4, nine-year old Jada-Grace Gordy has had extensive experience in front of the camera. She recently, however, came to Digital Media Academy’s Adventures in Movie Making and Special Effects course at UCLA because she wanted to learn what happens behind the scenes.
Working with DMA instructor and UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television graduate Anthony Puente, Jada-Grace has learned what it means to be a storyboard writer, a camera operator, a director and an editor, in addition to being an actress. As she explained to me, “I have learned that directors have to be really specific, and that actors and actresses really have to listen to their directors!” When asked about her experience learning Final Cut Pro, Apple’s premiere software program for film editing, she said, “It’s harder than I thought! At first I had no idea what I was doing, but now it’s really fun. I think editors have the hardest job because they have to decide what scene they like and don’t like.”
Because of DMA’s partnership with Sony, Jada-Grace has also had an opportunity to work with high-end Sony HDV cameras. When asked about her experience being a camera person, she exclaimed, “camera people really have to know what you’re doing before they start shooting!”
Jada-Grace has taken her learning of the entire movie making industry so seriously that mid-week she asked her instructor Anthony if she could have an “extra” assignment, which she would design herself. As it turns out, her extra assignment is a set of very detailed notes on the different roles of movie making!
DMA Summer 2009 is Underway!
Camp Life, Digital Media Academy News + Events, Kids Computer Camp | July 8th, 2009 by Margaret Lim
We are now in our third week of summer 2009! As of this week, we have four locations up and running across the country, including Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, UCLA and The University of Texas at Austin. The University of California at Irvine ran for two weeks, June 22 – July 3, focusing on filmmaking courses for both teens and adults. Next week, four more locations will be launched, including Brown University, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego (UCSD) and our first ever international location, The University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
DMA students include adults, teens and kids as young as seven years old. At each age group, a variety of courses are offered, including movie making, video game creation, robotics, animation and web design. Summer 2009 also features several new courses, including Adventures in Cartoon and Comic Creation for kids ages 9-13 and Junior Adventures in Digital Art and Movie Making for kids ages 7-9. Among our new teen courses is the very popular Music and Video Production course, taught in conjunction with the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus. Students in this class use the latest audio, video and music gear to create their own songs and music videos! Stay tuned for more features on each of these new courses!
All DMA courses are project based, so students are going home every Friday with their very own portfolio of project work. In the coming weeks, we will feature many of these projects, as well as profile some of the students whose creativity is filling college campuses nationwide!
All courses are taught by professionals with classroom teaching experience and/or experience in the industry, so students are learning from the “masters” themselves! Please check out our instructor biographies to learn more about our teaching staff.
Spots are still available at several locations. Please call 866-656-3342 for course availability!
DMA Training Courses Changed My Life : 3d, Animation, Film, and Special Effects
Success Stories, Teen Technology Courses | May 19th, 2009 by Philip Harding
Written by Albert Frates : DMA Teen Alumnus
Throughout my three summers spent at Digital Media Academy, I have met many new people, that share common goals, and interests. I have grown more aware of the different aspects of digital media, and have been inspired by both instructors and other students. However DMA has brought me more than inspiration, and new friends. It’s brought me a solid footing for my future.
I began at DMA summer 2006 only fourteen years old at the time. I took Maya I with Adam Watkins, knowing very little about Maya, or what could be achieved. In less than a week Adam had brought the class out of the unknown, and into what I would call my first true steps of digital media at a professional level. Opening many new doors I began to pursue other aspects of media, (Film, Animation, TV, Games, Web Design, etc…). The following school year I worked on many media projects, for my school. Live event recording such as Graduation, and sporting events was the beginning. Later entered into a student film festival. Using Adobe After effects, and Final Cut Pro for the first time I managed to craft what would be a festival winner. Knowing this was something to potentially pursue I went back to DMA summer 2007. Taking classes that both focused on After Effects (Motion Graphics, and Compositing) with Betsy Kopmar, and Hands on Digital Filmmaking with Travis Schlaffman. (On a side note I recommend both courses). Sure enough I was right that fall I was had met up with a producer on a school trip in Seattle who was working on live events for DECA (A High school organization for business and marketing students). After talking to him briefly during a seminar he had invited me to come check out the production backstage. Getting to sit in on, and at one point help out with the production I was offered an internship at the end of the show for the next conference in spring. This is where I love to point out that this would not have been possible without Digital Media Academy playing a role in my past. Because of the tools, and concepts learned at DMA I was fluent working in a professional environment at at the age of sixteen when the challenge of a live production was presented to me I was able to tackle it without any issues. My point is it’s never to early to start achieving your goals, especially with DMA.
On a last note which is something I kinda blew off at the start of this post. Friends and connections you make at Digital Media Academy, is possibly one of the best parts of DMA. The more people anyone knows in life the better off they are, and once again most of the people at DMA will share goals, and interests that you do.
It’s never too early to start, achieving your goals.
Make Your Brain Grow at Digital Media Academy!
Digital Media Academy News + Events, Kids Computer Camp, Pro Technology Courses, Success Stories, lennon bus | May 18th, 2009 by Philip Harding
Written by Seamus Harte from the John Lennon Bus
Visit http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org to find out how to grow your digital brain.
Visit http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/give to sign up for your chance to win a trip to one of the many digital media camps happening this summer.
Learn How to Use Apple Logic Pro : Audio Recording and Editing
Pro Technology Courses, Tips from DMA Pros | May 18th, 2009 by Philip Harding
Written by Ben Hazen from the John Lennon Bus
Apple’s Logic Pro 8 is a really amazing and intuitive program for recording/arranging audio, and its great comping function is just one example why. This is especially effective with vocals since it can sometimes be difficult for a singer to hit every note and rhythmic value of the melody. With Logic Pro 8, the process has been made much easier on both the engineer and the artist. This also really helps to keep the vibe nice and mellow in the studio.
Start by recording a take of your vocalist. Don’t even start to stress about any mistakes that are made. When this is done, simply re-record over that take on the same track, concentrating on the sections that you think need to be re-done. Do this as many times as you like until you’re satisfied that the different sections from each take will add up to one great take. Now comes the real digital magic, my friends.
With the pointer tool selected, click in the left corner of the track’s region to open the take folder, showing all recorded takes within the track. Then, click-drag over the desired section of each take. As you do this, notice that Logic automatically compiles or “comps” each highlighted section into the topmost region, complete with crossfades. Notice too that selecting one area of a take de-selects that same area in the other takes because only one take can play at a time for each section. Next, drag the end points of each section to fine-tune your selections. When you have all the best sections chosen, click on the arrow in the top right of the take folder to Flatten or Flatten and Merge the comped sections. The Flatten option will turn your selections into a series of regions that are movable within the track. The Flatten and Merge option will create one new region that includes all the chosen sections. Now just push play and watch the surprise on your vocalist’s face as they listen to the “perfect take”.
You also can use this technique to get a killer whalin’ guitar solo, thumpin’ bass groove, or to nail a difficult passage for any instrument. Give it a shot and let me know how it goes. P-Schwaze from the B-Haze.
=)BHazen
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