files/pictures/picture-35.jpgPress Release from GenArts, Inc.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – April 6, 2011 – GenArts, Inc. and the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts (USC SCA) announced today a broad collaboration designed to provide USC students and faculty access to GenArts visual effects (VFX) tools. As part of the collaboration, the GenArts software will be taught in the curriculum each semester to aid in the advancement of the next generation of filmmakers.
Visual effects have become an essential component to the art of storytelling and video communication. Used in thousands of films, television programs, commercials, music videos, interactive games and corporate communications, VFX drive audience reach, engagement and recall. VFX form the visual vocabulary used by writers and producers to create realism and emotion from storyboard to post production. The critical role of visual effects presents new challenges and opportunities for schools such as USC SCA as they prepare the next generation of film and video makers.
“Preparing graduates for the challenges of working in the film industry is a top priority for the USC School of Cinematic Arts,” said Elizabeth M. Daley, Dean, USC School of Cinematic Arts. “Essential to this endeavor is ensuring students are well-versed in the state-of-the-art tools needed to turn ideas into reality. GenArts software will help enable our graduates to meet the challenges of a constantly evolving craft and push the boundaries of how the stories are told.”
“This relationship is a natural catalyst for educating students in the critical tools required to better prepare them to make an immediate impact both during and after they complete their studies.” said GenArts CEO Katherine Hays. ‘We are honored to be working with USC SCA to advance storytelling through the use of visual effects.”
GenArts will provide licenses of its Sapphire, Monsters, Raptors and wondertouch particle Illusion software to USC SCA and access to its engineering team during coursework development. USC and GenArts will also explore new research topics in the creation, utilization and impact of visual effects in the storytelling process.
About University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts
Founded in collaboration with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1929 over 80 years ago, the USC School of Cinematic Arts has fueled and mirrored the growth of entertainment as an industry and an art form. The school offers comprehensive programs in directing, producing, writing, critical studies, animation and digital arts, production, and interactive media, all backed by a broad liberal arts education and taught by leading practitioners in each field. Its more than 10,500 alumni are among the world’s most distinguished animators, scholars, teachers, writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, editors, sound experts and industry executives. Since 1973 not a year has passed without an alumnus or alumna being nominated for an Academy Award.
About GenArts
GenArts, Inc. is the premier provider of specialized digital visual effects software for the film, broadcast and video industries. As visual effects have become essential to the art of storytelling, GenArts' tools have emerged as the standard for creating breathtaking visual effects in thousands of feature films and television shows, and more than 5,000 commercials and music videos. The explosion of online and corporate video creation has led to the widespread adoption of GenArts software by a range of S&P 500 companies, leading museums, and educational institutions for communications, marketing and learning applications. GenArts' software enjoys the unique distinction of having been a key component of an Oscar-nominated film for the past 14 consecutive years.
The GenArts Sapphire, Monsters, Raptors, Tinder and particle Illusion portfolio equips digital artists with a collection of state-of-the-art visual effects such as glows, light rays, lens flares, film, fire, fluid and particles to create the continually innovative looks that bring the entertainment industry's dazzling stories and broadcasts to life. GenArts' tools seamlessly integrate as software plug-ins into all leading editing and compositing systems. GenArts was founded in 1996 in Cambridge, Mass.
www.genarts.com 