News
Motion Picture Science BS

RIT’s MAGIC Spell Studios is partnering with Pure Imagination Studios, an award-winning independent entertainment studio best known for combining proprietary technology with groundbreaking storytelling, to launch a satellite office and spatial computing studio in Rochester.

Scientific American references Flip Phillips, professor in the School of Film and Animation, and his work studying how sculptors create the effects of multiple materials, and how viewers can mentally separate the layers.

RIT's Schools of Art, American Crafts, Film and Animation, and Photographic Arts and Sciences are all under new leadership.

Shanti Thakur—who began her new role as director of RIT’s School of Film and Animation in the College of Art and Design earlier this month—is an award-winning fiction and documentary filmmaker who has taught for nearly two decades.

Frame.io, a video collaboration platform co-founded by John Traver '10 (Motion Picture Science), was acquired by Adobe in a deal worth $1.275 billion. Frame.io built a user base of more than 1 million, including the likes of HBO, MasterClass and Netflix.

Selma Peña '22 MFA (Film and Animation), a screenwriter with an undergraduate psychology degree, is using her varied background to create compelling stories that are both meaningful and beautiful.

In working with Dave Sluberski, senior lecturer in the School of Film and Animation, two local filmmakers became the first professional clients to use the sound mix theater in RIT's MAGIC Spell Studios. 

Simon Yahn '22 (Motion Picture Science) is spending the spring on co-op with MAGIC Spell Studios, chronicling RIT's leap into virtual production, an emerging filmmaking method only a few universities around the world are working with.

Gayle McAdams '21 is confident her experiences in the Motion Picture Science program — one of RIT's 12 New Economy Majors — have her ready to enter the job market.

Film and photography students worked as camera operators and videographers as indie pop band MisterWives filmed a visual album in MAGIC Spell Studios. It's among the many examples of MAGIC providing professional-level experiences for students.

Analytical thinking, complex problem solving, creativity, resiliency, and flexibility are among the top skills needed for emerging careers by 2025. Anticipating these rapid changes in the workplace—further accelerated by lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic—RIT is seizing on the opportunity to guide students to “new economy majors” that are multi­disciplinary, transformative, and future-focused.

Debugger talks to Ricardo Figueroa, interim co-director of the School of Film and Animation, about the technical limitations to the Princess Leia hologram.