As future ambassadors to the next digital revolution, students of the Masters of Digital Media (MDM) program at the Great Northern Way Campus (GNWC) in Vancouver, BC desire to make themselves better known throughout the digital media community.  The curriculum of the MDM program provides the students with the chance to develop real world projects commissioned by external companies and institutions – but the students have decided that they want even more from their experience at the MDM.

To that end, a number of small student groups have sprung up which are individually focused on content creation in various mediums.  In particular: three groups, focused respectively on animation, video games and virtual reality software.  Stay tuned and expect to see some exciting innovations from the MDM students over the coming months!

The first ever SPARK animation festival presented by ACM SIGGRAPH and Vancity Theatre took place last week in Vancouver.  Five days of screenings and seminars hosted by some of the Animation Industry’s best and brightest, including directors, animators, creative designers and more.

A number of MDM students had the opportunity to attend a variety of the seminars offered at SPARK.  The experiences the students had were one and all first-rate.  Some students had a chance to explore issues such emotive experiences in animation and video games – examining the importance of establishing empathy for characters.  Others were able to hear first-hand the inspiring story of Pixar Animation Studio and its rise to fame through sacrifice and hard work.  The SPARK festival was a huge success for the animation community in Vancouver – watch for it around this time next year.