CalArts School of Film/Video Admissions Book

CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS AINROFILAC ETUTITSNI EHT FO STRA

CAL ARTS

School of

FILM/ VID EO

CHARACTER ANIMATION EXPERIMENTAL ANIMATION FILM DIRECTING FILM AND VIDEO

Film and Video students Lucy Kerr and Dovile Aleksaite in cinematography class learning about the Red Raven.

SCHOOL OF

FILM/VIDEO

The School of Film/Video at CalArts is one of the preeminent educational settings for the study and practice of the art of the moving image. We offer a unique forum to develop your cinematic practice and build the necessary techniques, creative agility, critical thinking, and practical skills to become innovative artists within a broad scope of contemporary contexts.

Each Film/Video program has a specialized curriculum and is committed to combining rigorous practical training with theoretical inquiry, hands-on production with bold aesthetic exploration, formal strategies with dynamic content. We support an expansive range of film and media production—documentary, dramatic narrative, essay film, experimental and abstract work, characterbased story animation, experimental animation, interactive media, live projection performance, installation, hybrid forms, and interdisciplinary collaborations.

The richness of the CalArts Film/Video experience comes from several distinct elements. We seek out motivated, intellectually curious student-artists ready to find new forms and expressions for the moving image. Our outstanding faculty of professional artists, technicians, and scholars offer rigorous teaching and individual mentorship to guide your course of study. We maintain an extensive inventory of production facilities, equipment, and resources. All our film programs interact with the unique cross-pollination of disciplines that is the hallmark of CalArts.

This environment allows you to make truly innovative work, experience a diversity of practices, and broaden your aesthetic and cultural knowledge. Each student is asked to push the boundaries of media, foster curiosity about difference, and embrace creative risks in their work. As a result, alumnx of the School of Film/ Video have distinguished themselves in every area of independent and commercial filmmaking, with their work exhibited as widely at major festivals and museums around the world as it is in the film, television, art, animation, and gaming industries.

Installation by Emily Drossner (MFA Film and Video).

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CHARACTER ANIMATION FACULTY

Jesse Aclin Abe Audish Andrew Bac Ruth Baraz Jerry Beck Andrew Bialk Alanna Blair Steve Brown Maija Burnett Nicholas Butera Mallory Coronado Robert Domingo Linda Dorn Daniel Eaton Ruah Edelstein Monica Ekabutr Eric Elrod Marjan Hormozi Robert Huth Daniel Hynes Todd Jansen Mindy Johnson Judith Karfiol Brooke Keesling Kathryn Kosmala Fran Krause Dave Lebow Sylvia Liu Mark McDonnell Jon Messer Christopher Mitchell Nicole Panter Dailey Lindsey Pollard Jorge Ernesto Ruiz Emiko Sawanobori Sasha Schotzko-Harris Jennie Serrano Melissa Sheng Julia Smythe Suanne Spoke Nathan Strum Nicholas Sweet Ann Telnaes David Thomas Théotime Vaillant Maria Vasilkovsky Hugh Webber Christopher Wood Dawn Yamazi Henry Yu

CHARACTER N ANIMATIO Recognized worldwide, the BFA in Character Animation provides comprehensive artistic and technical training in the art of character performance and storytelling in animation, using both traditional and CG tools.

The curriculum is sequential in structure, with each year adding depth and complexity to the concepts explored. Emphasis is placed on performance and acting in a variety of courses that include hand-drawn character animation, life drawing, story, design, and visual development. This comprehensive approach allows you room to best develop your creative interests and voice—in any direction you wish to pursue.

Over the course of the program you will create four short films, as well as build up a professional-caliber portfolio, allowing you to go on to a career in such areas as major studio animation and independent filmmaking to gaming and graphic novels.

FOUR-YEAR BFA

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Character Animation Life Drawing Class.

Walter by Lorenzo Fresta, winner of the top award at the 2019 Producers Show.

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EXPERIMENTAL ANIMATION FACULTY Amanda Bonaiuto Pia Borg Musa Brooker Lilli Carre Stephen Chiodo Maureen Furniss Katie Gately Aimee Goguen Hillary Kapan Kangmin Kim Lei Lei Michael Scroggins Maureen Selwood Alexander Stewart Helder Sun Danski Tang Mark Toscano Théotime Vaillant Paul Vester Jamie Wolfe Jordan Wong

L EXPERIMENTA ANIMATION The Program in Experimental Animation is for artists who regard animation as an ever-evolving form.

It offers a framework to develop and refine aesthetically progressive concepts and professional practices.

The program supports a wide variety of approaches— including 2D, 3D, and stop-motion animation, installation and performance work, and emerging new media. As an experimental animator, you will shape the direction of animation as you develop your own artistic vision. You will work closely with a mentor from the Experimental Animation faculty and other members of the Institute’s accomplished faculty.

FOUR-YEAR BFA THREE-YEAR MFA

OPPOSITE PAGE: Sam Gurry (MFA Experimental Animation) working on the biggest wad is mine, a stop-motion animation.

THIS PAGE: Creation Myth by Angela Stemple (MFA Experimental Animation).

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FILM DIRECTING FACULTY Giulia Caruso Juan Pablo González Jessica Hanna Ki Jin Kim Gary Mairs Ernest Marrero Jon Reiss Lee Anne Schmitt Abigail Severance Suanne Spoke

FILM DIRECTING This unique MFA program in narrative filmmaking fosters the individual voice of the filmmaker in developing innovative approaches to narrative in cinema.

You will work closely with your faculty mentor, who helps guide your course of study as you create a body of work that best illustrates your vision and voice.

The program’s concept of narrative is expansive and aesthetically diverse, exploring a variety of methodologies from independent dramatic filmmaking to hybrid and experimental narrative practices. Grounded in the history of narrative cinema, the curriculum provides a rich understanding of the fundamental aesthetic and technical components of narrative filmmaking, including scriptwriting, staging and visual design, working with actors, narrative theory, cinematography, scene study, sound and editing, and a broad variety of graduate-level seminars in contemporary cinemas and practices.

THREE-YEAR MFA

OPPOSITE PAGE: On the set of Knock, Knock, Knock by Arom Choi (MFA Film Directing).

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What We Don’t Say by Esther Zeilig (MFA Film Directing).

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FILM AND VIDEO FACULTY Thom Andersen Rebecca Baron James Benning Betzy Bromberg Jheanelle Brown Zaina Bseiso Nathan Crow Timothy Fryett Milton Guillén John Hawk Chris Hill Andrew Kim Nellie Kluz Gordon Kurowski Paul Kyle Gary Mairs Alicia Maye Nina Menkes Christopher Morocco Julie Murray Benjamin Neufeld Nicole Panter Dailey Charlotte Pryce Berenice Reynaud Craig Smith Mike Stoltz Nora Sweeney Janice Tanaka Eduardo Thomas Danielle Wakin

FILM AND V I D EO The intensive Program in Film and Video is designed for artists who seek to use moving image and sound as a mode of personal expression. In the workshop environment, you will develop and refine your practice as a respected member of a community of artists.

The program supports an unparalleled breadth of work—from personal essays and political documentaries to experiments in narrative, from lyrical and abstract films to installation and expanded cinema. Importantly, the program embraces the rapid technological changes that are broadening and democratizing access to the means of making films and videos while continuing to teach and support the use of technologies such as 16 mm film. You will be encouraged to develop and utilize this wide array of potentials in order to better control the means of production and thus establish yourself as a truly independent artist.

FOUR-YEAR BFA THREE-YEAR MFA

OPPOSITE PAGE: Film and Video students in Visiting Artist Workshop with Sabrina Ratte.

If They Don’t See Happiness in the Picture...

by Hayat Hyatt (MFA Film and Video).

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CHARACTER ANIMATION ALUMNX STEVE ANDERSON BRAD BIRD CHRIS BUCK TIM BURTON BRENDA CHAPMAN PETE DOCTER LAUREN FAUST MIKE GIAIMO JENNIFER HAGER DON HALL ALEX HIRSCH ELIZABETH ITO SHIYOON KIM JASMIN LAI MINKYU LEE CRAIG MCCRACKEN RICH MOORE JOHN MUSKER DARON NEFCY BOB PERSICHETTI J.G. QUINTEL ALONSO RAMIREZ RAMOS JOE RANFT ANTHONY STACCHI ANDREW STANTON GENNDY TARTAKOVSKY ANN TELNAES SHANNON TINDLE JOSIE TRINIDAD J.J. VILLARD PENDLETON WARD STEVIE WERMERS-SKELTON

EXPERIMENTAL ANIMATION ALUMNX SEAN BUCKELEW JEANETTE BONDS JASON CARPENTER ERIC DARNELL JORGE GUTIERREZ STEPHEN HILLENBURG GLEN KEANE KIRSTEN LEPORE MIWA MATREYEK MARK OSBORNE KATHY ROSE ALLISON SCHULNIK HENRY SELICK SIQI SONG MOMO WANG

FILM DIRECTING ALUMNX ANDREW AHN SHARINE ATIF XIN YI BAO CHRISTINE BEEBE GIULIA CARUSO ILANA COLEMAN SCOTT CUMMINGS JAVIER FUENTES-LEÓN ZI GAO RACHEL GOLDBERG AURORA GUERRERO ELIZA HITTMAN KI JIN KIM CASEY KRILEY ARACELI LEMOS JAMES MANGOLD NIJLA MU’MIN DAVID NORDSTROM ANDREA PALLAORO HANNAH PETERSON IAN SAMUELS MANEESH SHARMA TARIQ TAPA RICHARD VAN

FILM AND VIDEO ALUMNX AKOSUA ADOMA OWUSU ANNA BILLER PATRICK BRICE BILL BROWN VERA BRUNNER-SUNG SOMPOT CHIDGASORNPONGSE ALEXANDRA CUESTA DANE A. DAVIS MANUELA DE LA BORDE RHYS ERNST RODNEY EVANS DAVID FENSTER MARIAH GARNETT KARISSA HAHN VASHTI HARRISON DANIEL HUI WILLIAM E. JONES GINA KIM MINJUNG KIM LAURA KRANING EVE LAFOUNTAIN LAIDA LERTXUNDI NATASHA MENDONCA M. DAVID MULLEN MIKE OTT KELVIN PARK PETER BO RAPPMUND RAJEE SAMARASINGHE NELSON CARLO DE LOS SANTOS ARIAS MIKE STOLTZ DEBORAH STRATMAN LISA TRUTTMAN PACHO VELEZ CLAIRE VOGEL TRAVIS WILKERSON

“It’s amazing that you have exposure to so many new things here— and it comes out in your own practice.”

—Ana Pérez López, MFA from Collado Villalba, Madrid, Spain

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Permanent Set shoot with Red camera.

Liminal Edge installation by Sian Bliss (MFA Experimental Animation).

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