Digital Filmmakers are on the cutting edge of an inventive, exciting field. Today’s new generation of filmmakers are shooting with digital video cameras, recording sound with DAT recorders and are using the latest software to edit and create special effects and mix sound.

The democratized production and distribution methods and the convergence of global media networks means that there have never been more opportunities to produce.

Today’s academic challenge is to foster visionary creators who produce high-quality content by making the best use of the technologies available. Champlain’s new Digital Filmmaking program is positioned to address that need.

As student filmmakers in Champlain’s Digital Filmmaking program you will use the same technologies as professionals in the industry. As a Champlain graduate, you will form the crest of the emerging wave of filmmakers who are:

As a Champlain graduate, you will form the cusp of the emerging wave of filmmakers who are:

• Skilled in the latest digital production technologies
• Malleable in their ability to adapt to an ever-changing, increasingly competitive media landscape
• Fluent in distribution technologies such as web streaming, DVD authoring and podcasting.

One-of-a-kind program

 As the only digital filmmaking program of its kind in the state of Vermont and throughout New England the Digital Filmmaking program plugs into Champlain’s long-standing commitment to cutting edge digital media creation technology. You will learn the technical skills of digital filmmaking including time-based narrative, visual aesthetics, sound design and the business of filmmaking.

Beginning with hands-on experience in your first year and continuing on a progression that develops both your technical skill and scholarly intellect throughout your four years at Champlain, you will learn the skills to become a successful director, writer, producer and editor.

 You will develop your personal voice by producing in the four areas of filmmaking:

• Narrative/dramatic
• Documentary
• Instrumentalist/pragmatist
• Experimental
  

Using emerging digital technologies to develop both your critical acumen and technical abilities in visual communication and media, you will be engaged initially in all four of these areas. In your third and fourth years, you will focus on one or two areas to expand your creative interests and skills. You will complete an internship within the film industry or write a thesis in your senior year.

All digital filmmaking seniors produce a professional quality portfolio film and the students are required to shop that film to national and international film festivals prior to graduation. Third year student films are featured in The Vermont International Film Festival’s Vermont Colleges Student Film Showcase.

Students will learn technical, aesthetic and theoretical skills essential to success as well as business concerns, such as budgeting, funding, and marketing.  Upon graduation, you will be able to generate screenplays and plan and produce film projects.

Outstanding resources

Students will benefit from extraordinary facilities and equipment that include 72 Apple G5 dual-processor stations equipped with software packages such as Final Cut Pro HD, DVD Studio Pro, Compressor, Motion, Soundtrack Pro, Garage Band, and After Effects. In addition, you’ll gain access to four professional private editing suites complete with dual-screen monitors, NTSC viewing capability, analog and digital sound mixing, and one-terabyte dedicated RAID drives. The video lab has in stock more than 30 digital video camcorders, lighting kits, tripods, microphones, booms, field DAT recorders, external drives, and an array of special effects and prosthetic makeup materials.

 The future is bright

Student Filmmakers will benefit from the exploding range of career opportunities in digital filmmaking, including feature film production, screenwriting, narrative film directing, producing, documentary filmmaking, cinematography, post-production and editing, special effects, art direction, digital sound design and digital cinema distribution.

 Learn more by contacting Digital Filmmaking Program Director:

Karen Klove at klove@champlain.edu or 802-651-5984

Curriculum (2008-2009)