VCU news

By Leila Ugincius

The Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts will launch a certificate in Advanced Media Production Technology this spring.

Designed to connect graduates with employment opportunities in the expansive field of digital media production, AMPT is a hands-on, project-based program that brings disciplined craftsmanship together with innovative technology. Students will be encouraged to approach the development of digital media with a cross-disciplinary, entrepreneurial spirit and to apply information and communications technology in novel ways.

Students will be working with professionals in the vast arena of the media production industry.

“Students will be working with professionals in the vast arena of the media production industry,” said Matt Woolman, VCU School of the Arts’ executive director of entrepreneurship. “And that includes sound, sight and motion. Those are the basic three categories in the technologies involved. So the applications range from animation [and] music videos to commercials ... video games, everything that involves all those in one integrated form. The students will get an immersive experience in learning the technology while developing dynamic content for a range of applications.”

Students entering new media industries, such as gaming or postproduction, must master the specific artistic demands and technologies of the trade and have experience with a wide variety of disciplines, including story development, audio production, video editing, digital photography and basic live film production. AMPT provides this broad base of skills while requiring students to concentrate in one of three professional areas: audio production, digital cinema production or postproduction.

The two-semester program will be held at Richmond’s In Your Ear Studios. While the school anticipates a sizable amount of the students coming from an arts or creative undergraduate background, the program is designed for anybody from any major.

The AMPT certificate joins a growing list of entrepreneurial programs developed by the School of the Arts, which offers four courses that provide the groundwork for the practice of entrepreneurship, emphasizing creative and design methodologies. Undergraduate majors may enroll in any of these courses independently, or apply for admission into the undergraduate certificate program in Venture Creation for a deeper grounding in entrepreneurship and business development.

Additionally, as part of the VCU da Vinci Center — a partnership between the VCU Schools of the Arts, Business, and Engineering and the College of Humanities and Sciences — the School of the Arts offers VCU INNOVATE, a living-learning program that promotes understanding of innovation and entrepreneurship through academic coursework and cocurricular activities.