Archive for July, 2010

Cogswell Alum Ernest Chan Interviewed in LightWave Newsletter

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

NikDigital

Nick Digital is in the spotlight this month, and Ernest Chan, CG Supervisor, Post Production Department, talked about how his talented team of artists use LightWave in their production pipeline to create their outstanding work for Nickelodeon Studios in Burbank.

You might have heard of some of the characters they have worked on? SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents, Invader Zim, Jimmy Neutron, Avatar: The Last Airbender.

You can read the interview here. Thanks, Ernest for the Cogswell shout out.

-Michael Martin, Dean of the College

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Cogswell Alumna Lectures in India

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

lilly

2009 Digital Arts and Animation graduate Lilly Vogelesang, now a technical consultant for Toon Boom Animation Inc, presented a lecture and demonstration on using storyboard software to streamline and simplify the storytelling process to a crowd of student filmmakers at SRM Sivaji Ganesan Film Institute in Chennai, India.

“It saves a lot of time and money for the producers. The trick is to get into the practice of storyboarding and rehearse each scene,” said Vogelesang.

The event was covered by The Hindu newspaper.

Michael Martin, Dean of the College

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Cogswell is at Siggraph Next Week! Talks Announced!

Monday, July 19th, 2010

Siggraph2010Cogswell Polytechnical College will be exhibiting at next week’s Siggraph convention in Los Angeles, California.  Please visit us in booth #1110 to see recent student work and to attend demos from The Offering!  Here is the schedule:

“Sure Fire Tips for Creating an Awesome Short Animation”
Michael Zachary Huber and David Perry
11:30AM & 1:30PM Tuesday & Wednesday, July 28 & 29

“Challenges of Rigging a Six-Armed Goddess”
Joshua Cogswell and Ryan Rogers
4:30PM Tuesday & Wednesday, July 28 & 29

We will also be discussing the new Entrepreneurship degrees!  Make sure you stop by!

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Join Us at Summer Fest Tomorrow

Friday, July 16th, 2010

BBQStarting at 2:00PM on Saturday, July 17, join Cogswell for a fun-filled day of outdoor water attractions. Drench your favorite past, present or future teacher in the dunk tank, take a spin on the inflatable slip and slide or water slides or cool yourself and friends off in a water gun fight!

We’ll also have games (PC, console, board games, magic) going on inside and BBQ all day long! At night we’ll continue the games inside, while outside we’ll be showing movies on …a giant screen! This will be a really fun event and we hope you can make it! Drop on by whenenver you get a chance!

-Bonnie Phelps, Dean of Institutional Advancement

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The Offering Selected to Screen at the Animation Attack! Festival

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

AnimationAttack!Cogswell Polytechnical College is pleased to announce that The Offering, the first animated, short film produced under the umbrella of the Project X class, has been selected to screen at the Animation Attack! Festival in Atlanta. Filmgoers can catch the film on August 7 during the Animation Attack Program Two at the Plaza Theater.

The festival takes place from August 6 to 8, 2010 and is part of the Independent Film Month Atlanta produced by the Festival League – an umbrella for several specialty festivals including: Atlanta Underground Film Festival, Atlanta Shortfest, Atlanta Horror Film Festival, Animation Attack! And DocuFest Atlanta.

The Festival League began in 2002 when a group of eager filmmakers, musicians and artists decided to create multi-media events to showcase and promote work which transcends the typical Hollywood productions, the radio hits and the high-priced art market. We constantly searched for work that brings audiences something fresh and alive.

In 2007, Festival League created an annual film festival in Costa Rica. The Montezuma International Film Festival is held every year in November and has proven to be one of the largest events the Festival League produces. The successful film festival in Montezuma has grown into an eight day, two city festival held in Manuel Antonio and Montezuma, Costa Rica.

Project X is a one-of-a-kind, project-based class – unparalleled in its scope and study as it incorporates every component of animation film production for the big and small screen. This class, under the direction of Animation faculty member and long-time professional animator Michael Huber, is only available at Cogswell. Students worked tirelessly for three semesters to produce this studio-quality short film. They were supported by a massive collaborative effort from faculty, staff, visiting artists, industry professionals and alumni.

-Bonnie Phelps, Dean of Institutional Advancement

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The Offering Wins Best Animation Award at Route 66 Film Festival

Monday, July 12th, 2010

Route66Cogswell Polytechnical College is pleased to announce that The Offering, the first animated, short film produced under the umbrella of the Project X class, has received the Best Animation Award at the upcoming Route 66 Film Festival. The Festival takes place from September 17 to 19, 2010 at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in Springfield, Illinois.

The mission of the Route 66 Film Festival is to support and recognize independent filmmakers of all ages and backgrounds. The general theme of the festival is journey, whether emotional, physical, spiritual or personal. Moviemaker magazine listed the Route 66 Film Festival as one of the 25 festivals worth the entry fee in the spring 2008 issue, citing the low fees and the opportunity to have short films and interviews aired on the cable-access show “Watch My Shorts.” The Route 66 Film Festival began in 2002 as a part of the Mother Road Festival celebrating the vehicles and history of the famous highway.

Project X is a one-of-a-kind, project-based class – unparalleled in its scope and study as it incorporates every component of animation film production for the big and small screen. This class, under the direction of Animation faculty member and long-time professional animator Michael Huber, is only available at Cogswell. Students worked tirelessly for three semesters to produce this studio-quality short film. They were supported by a massive collaborative effort from faculty, staff, visiting artists, industry professionals and alumni.

-Bonnie Phelps, Dean of Institutional Advancement

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Cogswell College Announces Entrepreneurship Bachelor Degree Program

Friday, July 9th, 2010

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Innovate, Creative, Self-Starters with Fresh Ideas Get Hands-on Educational Opportunity

Cogswell Polytechnical College looks forward to welcoming students who have a zest for thinking-outside-the box, an ability to recognize new trends, and a desire to take your pioneering ideas to the next level. If this description sounds like you, then now is the time to act. Classes begin in August with the Fall 2010 term pending final WASC approval.

Cogswell’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Bachelor of Arts Degree Program focuses on creating an immersive, hands-on educational environment that offers students an inter-disciplinary and collaborative approach for creating new ventures. Rather than engrossing themselves in theory, students at Cogswell College get to roll up their sleeves and get to work on creating a viable plan for their own enterprise. Students are also given the option of specializing in the area of digital media.

The program is designed to challenge students – from a one semester required internship, to entrepreneur forums, a speakers’ series that utilizes the expertise of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, local business mentors and the opportunity to incubate your venture. The faculty leading this program are experienced entrepreneurs, ready to pass on their hard-won knowledge. The program is especially suited to students who are geared toward team learning, have good interpersonal skills, are strategic thinkers, are comfortable with ambiguity and are able to benefit from a deep, actionable and practice-based education in entrepreneurship.

For those specializing in Digital Media, they should be passionate about digital gaming, sound or animation but also eager to understand the business principles underlying the industry. The ideal student for the Entrepreneurship and Innovation program will not only be a leader and committed to creating a new path but values the need to learn organizational skills, strategic planning and financial acumen in order to succeed.

If you are a Product Manager in an innovative company, want to launch your own start-up or are in Sales, Marketing or Business Development, then this is the program for you. Visit Cogswell College’s website to learn more.

-Bonnie Phelps, Dean of Institutional Advancement

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Meet Our Digital Audio Faculty

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

Dr. Timothy Duncan is an award-winning composer, performer and educator who is equally at home working with technology and with traditional media. He has composed and performed a body of new music compositions as well as created visual pieces and music for modern dance that have brought him recognition in the form of awards and grants from the Southeast Interdisciplinary Fund, Meet the Composer, Inc., the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs, and the Mississippi Arts Commission (among others), as well as guest composer residencies in places such as the Meadows School of Music at SMU, the Conservatory at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and the University of Memphis. Dr. Duncan was music director for 14 regional and university theatrical productions, which earned him a citation (as composer) in the Shakespeare Music Catalogue.

Dr. Duncan has been a member of the faculty of Cogswell Polytechnical College for over a decade. In addition to full-time teaching he was Dean of the College from 2005-2008. Dr. Duncan founded the Digital Audio Technology program, where he teaches many of its courses. He has synthesized his broad understanding of the music profession and the music industry to create an innovative audio program that targets both the manufacturing and the music production sides of the audio industry.

Dr. Duncan completed degrees at the Universities of Tennessee, Memphis and Cincinnati, as well as pursuing additional study at Brooklyn College, Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford University and the Atlantic Center for the Arts. In addition to teaching, he has worked for Leapfrog Enterprises and the Asonda Corporation. He is a member of the College Music Society, the International Computer Music Association and the Interactive Audio Special Interest Group. Dr. Duncan’s areas of specialization include sound synthesis, music composition and computer programming.

Learn more about Cogswell’s Digital Audio degree program.

-Bonnie Phelps, Dean of Institutional Advancement

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Campus Closed for July 4 Holiday

Monday, July 5th, 2010

Enjoy the holiday!

We also encourage each voting-age citizen to exercise his/her civic responsibilites to learn more about the issues and vote in each election.

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Meet Our Game Design Faculty

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

Albert Chen is the Assistant Professor of Game Design and Development and joined Cogswell’s full-time faculty in 2007. He heads the Game Art concentration under Digital Arts and Animation (DAA) program and Digital Arts and Engineering (DAE) under the Engineering program. He is also the Associate Director for Cogswell’s Engineering Simulation and Animation Laboratory (ESAL), and the recipient of the Boeing Performance Excellence Award in 2008.

His goal is to provide the mentoring and support students need to excel at Cogswell and in the video game and digital media industries.

Mr. Chen was a professional game developer for over twelve years with credits in nearly two dozen game titles. His roles included Game Designer at EA, Game Design Director and Senior Level Designer at Factor 5, Level Layout Manager at 3DO, and Mission Designer, 3D Art Technician, International Lead Tester and QA Tester at LucasArts. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from the University of California at Davis.

Learn more about Cogswell’s Game Design Program.

-Bonnie Phelps, Dean of Institutional Advancement

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