Perhaps Walt Disney had an inkling of the virtual, augmented, and mixed realities that would emerge in the decades since he helped found the California Institute of the Arts. The school, known as CalArts, is certainly incorporating next-gen tech into its curriculum these days, as PCMag found out on a recent tour.
In 2012, CalArts received a grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a STEM program, and many of today's CalArts students study computer science with an arts-based approach, enabling them to translate their work into the digital realm.
Dr. Steven Lavine, CalArts president, is passionate about big ideas, but also preparing students for a tough employment climate. CalArts prides itself on turning out graduates who are familiar with the latest digital tools and platforms, from Adobe's creative suite to Unity and ChucK, an audio programming language.
"We educate people here to not only generate art, through serious critique, and a robust curriculum—but to sustain a life in the arts," Lavine explained. "Most conservatory programs are based on assignments. But the real world doesn't run on those lines so many students are lost when they graduate.
"If you're not getting cast in a part, do your own one-person show. We challenge students to develop a sense of autonomy," he said.
"It's a cauldron of creativity here," according to Gordon Kurowski, Chief Video Engineer at the School of Film/Video, who's been at CalArts since 1996 and believes his purpose is to "expand the language of cinema."
"I'm really interested in exploring the psycho-sensory effect of acoustics and immersive visual environments on humans," Kurowski said, pointing to a 360 project the CalArts Immersion Group worked on with production and design company Vortex Immersion Media (video below).
As we've seen with many recent VR projects, the old rules just don't apply, something Peter Flaherty at the School of Theater, who teaches Interactive Media for Performance, explored with his own VR project, The Surrogate, which was a finalist for the Interactive Innovation Award in VR at SXSW 2016.
Virtual reality includes "branching narratives [and] different levels of participation," which appeals to "a large population of gamers and…film lovers who are looking for a new platform of interactive storytelling," he said.
We saw this in action with CalArts grad and now-instructor Matthew Reed, who brings an 80s-retro vibe to futuristic animation concepts; his film Cosmic Egg screened at several international film festivals. He met us at the school's VR lab, and gave us a Muse headset for a demo of some new experimental work, dubbed the Mental Light Prototype.
"This is a visual display of brain patterns within virtual reality," Reed explained. "I love the playful idea of generating a simple visual relationship with the brain, creating a virtual reality with our minds, allowing the spheres to fade in and out depending on the intensity of brain activity. So you can effectively control your surroundings with your brainwaves. A mix of VR and bio-design, in effect."
Reed's students are getting ready for the 2017 Biodesign Challenge with some far-out ideas, but he's also deeply practical and wants to solve some of the navigation issues inherent inside VR. To this end, he and fellow faculty member Theotime Valliant built a VR movement system called "Real Moves," which lets you ditch the VR motion controllers and move intuitively through a space. It's pretty cool.
At the far end of the main building—inside the Music Technology: Interaction, Intelligence & Design (MTIID) studio—Spencer Salazar, who is pursuing his Ph.D. at Stanford while teaching at CalArts, was making final tweaks to a robot sound machine.
Max Keene, one of Salazar's third-year BFA music students, was using Salazar's own Auraglyph software, manipulating sinewaves, delays, and sensors. The sounds that emerged were unearthly and definitely new to the ear. Keene counts Frank Zappa among his influences, which makes sense.
Salazar explained the concept behind his tech-saturated approach to music composition. "I'm focusing on how gesture, translated through computer programming on devices, allows us to create music through oscillators and filters, changing frequencies, through gestures, in a way that is apt for live performances, for example," he said.
Check out Salazar's students in action in the video below.
Finally, as we approached sensory overload, PCMag stopped by the CalArts cafe and talked with two international students from China, Yichong "Della" Hu and Jinglin Liao, who are studying Art and Technology and Choreography and Integrated Media, respectively.
Hu acknowledged that "the biggest culture shock coming to CalArts was how individual everyone is, and how that's celebrated. In China everyone is very much into each other's business, part of a close knit community, so as an artist, CalArts is helping me realize my own particular strengths. I don't want to conform to traditional values, so it's very freeing."
Liao agreed, arguing that CalArts allows her to study many different disciplines. "If I was just at a dance school, I wouldn't have a chance to study technologies associated with my craft," she said.
One thing is very noticeable at CalArts. While there is plenty of the ponderous, deep experimental theorists' speak that drives Hollywood "suits" crazy, there is also a refreshing, no-nonsense practical application of some really mind-blowing creativity.
Related
- At USC, J-School Kids Train to Be 'Third Space Talent'At USC, J-School Kids Train to Be 'Third Space Talent'
For example, Hu and Liao were nonchalant about the fact they storyboarded, lit, shot, laid down audio tracks, and did the edits on some of their recent work. In the future, creatives who can't do this won't be employable, and CalArts is clear on this point. Conversely, if you don't have any artistic creative craziness, it doesn't matter how good the tech gear is.
"We don't teach 'the right answer' here at CalArts," President Lavine told PCMag. "For example, when John Lasseter [Toy Story] was here, he was already thinking about computer animation—before the tools had been invented. Tim Burton, who was in the same class, was developing his own unique gothic imagination."
Much wild and wonderful strangeness has emerged from the brains of CalArts graduates, like Burton and Lasseter, and this weekend's Academy Award nominees, Rich Moore (Zootopia) and John Musker (Moana). From our day at CalArts, it felt clear that such excellent madness shall continue throughout the next generation as they create the future of immersive and interactive entertainment.