by Bryan Gibel
Daily Lobo
A new program is in the works that lets students create superheroes, design alien worlds and look inside the human body without cutting it open.
And you don't have to be a computer science major to enroll.
UNM's film and digital media program will offer bachelor's and master's degrees with concentrations in engineering, fine arts, business and arts and sciences.
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The program is expected to be approved by the regents by the end of the school year, said Jim Linnell, associate dean of arts and sciences.
The $5.3 million program is revolutionary because it combines high-tech facilities, on-the-job training and a diverse academic curriculum, said Eric Witt, director of Media Industries for New Mexico.
"It will probably be the world's first seamless, interconnected facility and training program where students can do post-production work, effects, gaming and online design," he said. "It will move us into a whole new world in terms of the kind of jobs and projects we can get here."
The film and digital media program hopes to build a "native New Mexican Hollywood" and create jobs for University graduates, administrators say.
And with UNM and Sony training students for a career in gaming and movie production, there's one more reason to pursue film, administrators say.
Sony broke ground June 25 for a 100,000 square-foot studio at Mesa del Sol, an office and industrial space ten minutes south of Downtown Albuquerque.
The studio will give students access to Imageworks' staff for workshops and guest lectures.
Fields of study include production, digital visualization, critical studies, computer science and computer engineering.
The first core course begins in the fall. A second core class will follow in the spring.
Students can register for the fall course at Unm.edu/~finearts/ifdm/
Both classes will count toward the degree program if it is approved,
Linell said. If not, he said they will count as electives.
How it started
Student Rosalyn Nguyen, former student regent, said she first thought of the program in March 2006, and she brought the idea to UNM faculty, administrators and regents.
"The ball actually got rolling with just a random idea I had," she said. "When I presented the idea for this program, a lot of faculty and administrators just gravitated toward it and were really excited."
After the program gained support, UNM began working with the governor's office and the state Legislature to get funding, Nguyen said.
In 2005, the governor's office helped establish UNM's ARTS Lab with a $3 million grant, said Christopher Mead, dean of fine arts.
The facility gives students access to cutting edge film and digital imaging technology for film-making and digital graphics research, according to its Web site.
After the 2007 legislative session, the film and digital media program received more than $5 million, with almost $600,000 coming from the state Legislature and $4.7 million coming from the Gov. Bill Richardson's Film Initiative, Mead said.
The program wouldn't have been possible without backing from the University and the state government, Nguyen said.
"You can't get almost $6 million from accounts at UNM. So, the governor's office has been a real backbone of support," she said. "But getting that funding would have been impossible without the constant support of the Board of Regents, the faculty and the administration."
Components of the program
Together with the ARTS Lab, the program looks to increase the state's economy by developing new approaches to digital media and employing professionals trained in New Mexico, Linnell said.
To achieve this, UNM entered into a partnership with Sony Pictures Imageworks to train students to be successful in digital animation, graphic design and computer visualization.
On Feb. 2, UNM became the 10th member of a program called IPAX, the Imageworks Professional Academic Excellence program.
The program works with universities to offer students advanced training and experience in a production environment.
Other universities already in IPAX include Stanford, the Michigan Institute of Technology and Carnegie Melon.
UNM stands out among the big-name schools because its program is designed to bridge many schools and colleges, Linnell said.
"Sony Imageworks was particularly interested with our program because we were taking a broad interdisciplinary approach," he said. "Our curriculum includes computer scientists, engineers, humanists, artists and business people. We also have the law school, architecture and the education school involved in this effort."
Sony will also offer students scholarships, internships and on-the-job training.
UNM's partnership with Sony will help film and digital media students get jobs when they graduate, Nguyen said.
"There's nothing better than hands on experience," she said. "Now, students can come to UNM to get that training. They will be able to get this degree and then jump out on a movie set and know what to do, rather than just theorizing."
Professional prospects
Graduates of UNM's film and digital media program will have plenty of job opportunities, Linnell said.
"The program will build up strengths in the area of animation, visualization, gaming and filmmaking," he said. "We can hook students up to the way the world actually works in a variety of professions."
The film and media industry has directly invested about $335 million in New Mexico since Richardson took office in 2003, Witt said.
He said the cumulative impact of that investment just passed the $1.1 billion mark, if you account for its impact on other aspects of the economy as it is spent and invested.
There are about 10 films in production in the state, including parts of the new Indiana Jones film and projects starring Kevin Costner, John Malkovich and Val Kilmer, Witt said.
UNM's proposed program will train students for highly skilled jobs in post-production and effects work, he said.
Film and digital media graduates can also prepare for jobs in the video game industry, said Chuck Fleddermann, associate dean for the school of engineering.
Students can also find work in computer-based scientific imaging, Fleddermann said.
"There's a huge industry that's burgeoning out there in any kind of digital visualization," he said. "For medical technology, that might involve the ability to visualize inside the human body without cutting it open. For architecture, it would be doing a design and having it visualized on the computer so you can walk through the building in every angle you could imagine."
The program will be good for UNM students and New Mexico's economy if approved by the University, Nguyen said.
"It will help keep business and jobs from the media industry in New Mexico, and it will help students to get good jobs in a growing industry," she said. "So, it's a two-way street. It will help UNM, and it will help the state."
She said the program, along with the arrival of Sony Imageworks, will put New Mexico on the map in the film and media industries.
"Now, the word is out on film in New Mexico," she said. "Now, Hollywood knows that they have another option instead of California to go shoot and do post-production work."
