Santa Fe College recently issued the following announcement on Aug. 31.
In a new virtual production studio being built at the Northwest Campus, Santa Fe College (SF) students in the Fine Arts and Entertainment Media Department will soon be able to learn the same creative Hollywood technology skills that were used to make the hit Disney+ television series, “The Mandalorian.”
Continuing its long tradition of student-centered innovations, SF is the first state college in Florida to install a virtual video and movie production studio. The college is partnering with Tampa-based Vū Studios to build a 23- by 13-foot curved LED screen that will display worlds built in Unreal Engine by Epic Games. Unreal Engine is the software that was used to create popular video games such as Fortnite and Borderlands. The new technologies will enable Digital Media Technology students to create large virtual background images against which actors can be filmed as the system tracks camera movements and moves the virtual backgrounds in real time. Acting and Technical Theatre students will also benefit from the new facility.
“Virtual production studios are technological innovations that are disrupting the industry and transforming how videos and movies are made,” explained SF Digital Media Technology Professor Marc Shahboz. “With this new technology, you can shoot in real time with the background behind the actor instead of a green screen. That eliminates a large amount of post-production time and what once took weeks can now take only days to produce.”
In addition to learning how the new technology works, students will also learn about lighting, camera usage, digital effects and motion graphics for all fields of media including narrative film, advertising, and Internet video. “Skilled video production workers are in high demand and that translates into potential jobs for our students,” Shahboz said. “Those skills will take them from TikTok to the big screen and everything in between!”
“This new studio is a turning-point investment for students at Santa Fe College and for the community and district that we serve,” added SF Coordinator of Digital Media Technology Eric Flagg. “The studio puts our area on the map as having an educational institution dedicated to preparing our students for high-tech and creative jobs, brings together multiple disciplines and career paths and gets potential students excited about education.”
Scholarships are available for students in the Fine Arts and Entertainment Media Department, including students in the Bachelor of Applied Science degree program in Multimedia and Video Production Technology and the Associate of Science degree program in Digital Media Technology. Students in the SF degree programs reflect the community’s diversity in ages, genders, ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds.
For more information about Digital Media Technology degree programs and classes in virtual production, call Eric Flagg at 352-395-4145.
Original source can be found here.
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