August 27, 2010 Visual Development Program Now Available Film & Art Institute has now added a new area of study - visual development, focusing on learning the tools and workflows of creating digital artwork , such as digital painting, digital illustration, etc. 'Intro to Photoshop' will be the first course under this area of study. For more information, please visit our Visual Development course program.

July 19, 2010 New Curriculum For Film & Video Program Beginning this September, the Film & Art Institue will be introducing a new curriculum for students interested in filmmaking. The previous 2 courses has now been replaced by 4 courses, focusing on specific areas of film study such as, video editing, film language and screenwriting. For information, please visit our Film & Video course program.

July 12, 2010 3 New Courses Added For CG Program 3 new courses have been added to the 3D animation section. The 'Digital Sculpting' course caters to students wanting to learn more about modeling. 'Introduction to Rigging for Animation' course is for students interested in learning how to do animation setup. Finally, the 'Photo-Realisitic Lighting & Rendering' course is for students heading for photo-realism renders. For more information, please visit our Computer Graphics course program.

May 16, 2010 Film 201 - 'Short Film Project' Class Ends The short film project class which spanned over 24 weekends is finally over. 7 students ages between 10 and 14 worked together to create the short film based on Ashena Sedehi's story titled "Something Missing". After the class, Ashena testified that she would like to create more short films that have good storylines and better technical qualities.

May 16, 2010 CG 301 - 'Introduction to 3D Animation' Class Finishes 'Introduction to 3D animation' class ended today. Having gained the knowledge of implementing 2D animation fundamentals in a 3D program, students can now create their own CG short film. Aftab Sedehi, one of the students in the class, mentioned in the class presentation that she never thought of the possibility that she could animate, but now, she not only gained confidence in creating animation, she found herself liking animation and would like to learn more.

May 15, 2010 CG 101 - 'Introduction to 3D' Student Reel The 16-week introduction to 3D class has ended. The students all submitted their final 3D renders of their interior visualization project. A slideshow was created showcasing their work. Students who participated aged between 10 and 13.

March 20, 2010 Digital Painting Session For Kids In The Community Film & Art Institute has introduced a digital painting class for children between the ages of 5 - 12 to join in and have fun. This program will be held every weekend for children to enter the world of digital content creation. Emphasis will be on learning the tools to create digital artwork, and exploring the world of colors and design.

January 16, 2010 2010 'CG 301 - Introduction to 3D Animation' Starts Today In January 2010, Film & Art Institute adds a new course into the computer graphic learning program - Introduction to 3D Animation. This is an intermediate CG program where students enter the exciting world of animation. Having learned the basics of 3D, students now go through a 16-week course learning the basics of 3D animation, where they will learn about keyframe animation, using rotoscoping as references, and be introduced to the principles of what makes an animation great.

January 16, 2010 2010 'CG 101 - Introduction to 3D' 16 Week Class Commences The 2nd 3D introductory class commences today for youths interested in knowing how to create 3-dimensional (3-D) animation and computer generated images (CGI). Throughout the 16 week course, students will learn the process of modeling, texturing, lighting and rendering.

 

December 27, 2009 CG 202 - 'Cartoon Character Modeling' Course Finishes The 16-week course on 3D cartoon character modeling had ended. Throughout the course, students learn the process of organic modeling, skeleton setup and rigging and creating blendshapes. The image on the left is provided by Aftab Sedehi, a 15 years old workshop participant, depicting Sonic the hedgehog running down the castle bridge while escaping from the blazing fire behind him.

October 31, 2009 Film 201 Week 6 - Short Film Screening With Q&A Session This week, the students finalized the audio part of their short film. In the afternoon, parents were being invited to attend the short film screening at Paul Robeson Community Center, where there was an amazing Q&A session between the students, instructors and parents.

October 24, 2009 Film 201 Week 5 - Finalizing The Edit On Week 5, students worked on finalizing the edit. This week, the students formed 2 groups to work on editing the film. Having only 5 hours to work on the edit, the students were able to finish cutting the film but lack the time to work on the music.

October 17, 2009 Film 201 Week 4 - Location Filming Continued And Draft Edit This week, the students continued to film the alley scene on Friday evening. The next day, they did a re-shoot of the interrogation room scene as they discovered a discontinuity problem with their shots. After lunch, they proceeded to do the draft edit of the short film.

October 10, 2009 Film 201 Week 3 - Location Filming This week, students spent two days filming their scenes. On Friday evening, together with the supervision of the parents and Paul Robeson Community Center's staff, the students filmed the scenes in the alleyway. The next day, they filmed the interrogation room scene and the confession scene.

October 3, 2009 Film 201 Week 2 - Production Planning This week, students agreed on one film idea and worked together to flesh out the story. They built the script, storyboarded the scenes, discussed on possible actors for respective roles and scouted filming locations. Paul Robeson Community Center staff also participated in the location scouting session. At the end of the day, everyone was tired but glad that things worked out well and on schedule, mainly due to the constructive give and take between the filming crew members.

September 26, 2009 Film 201 Week 1 - Story Development This week, students learnt what the basic elements are in making a good short story. Watching various successful short films and breaking down their structures, students came to understand the basic building blocks of making a film work. Not only were students asked to focus on creating simple but engaging story and characters, they were also encouraged to think deeper the message they would want to carry across to their viewers.

August 30, 2009 'CG 202: Cartoon Character Modeling' Course Commences The third CG course, 'Cartoon Character Modeling', will build upon the previous course and allow students to dive into the area of organic modeling. Students will not only learn the tools needed to build characters, but also the techniques to pull it off.

August 10, 2009 'CG 201: Hard-Surface Modeling' Class Ended Positively The second CG course ends today with the students presenting their 3D models to the class. The presentation showcases the students work in the form of turntables and image portfolios. Parents were invited to participate in this presentation session, to ackowledge the hard work that their children had done, and to give their full support to their children.

July 5, 2009 Promotional Video Reel We have compiled footages of various courses and created a promotional video reel. This is to showcase the types of classes that we offer to the community.

May 30, 2009 Film 101 Week 6 - Certificate of Completion Ceremony On week 6, the students learn the process of exporting their edited film and putting them onto DVD. It was also the week where the ceremony of completion was being held. The parents joined the students as they watched their childrens' work with great joy. At the end of the day, everyone gathered around the founder of Paul Robeson Community Center and took pictures.

May 15, 2009 Film 101 Week 5 - Editing the Scripted Scene On week 5, the students get to edit their shot footages. The two film groups, one working on an interior scene and another on the exterior, are each further split into two groups to work on the edits. The editing process was brought into an extra week where some students dropped by the community center during their Memorial Day week to continue learning and working on their projects. They also participated in a full hands-on sound recording session where using the boom mic was essential in capturing good

May 9, 2009 Film 101 Week 4 - Filming an Interview On week 4, the students get to participate as the filming crew for the interview with Paul Robeson Community Center's founder. They get to experience how to setup camera and lighting for interviews, film the interview session and also document the process with another camera. After the interview, the students gather around the founder for a group photo.

May 2, 2009 Film 101 Week 3 - Scripted Scene Pre-Production Starting week 3, students started their 4-week 'A Scripted Scene' group filming project. This week, they learned the areas of pre-production, mainly script breakdown and storyboarding, and applied them to their project. We were also able to get Justin from Challenger to share his testimony on his 17 minute documentary entitled 'Grow'.

April 25, 2009 Film 101 Week 2 - Lighting a Scene This week, students learned how to setup indoor lighting and sound recording for a video film shoot. They experienced setting up 3-point and 4-point lighting for in-class mock-up interview, used boom mics and lavliers to record the interviews, and took turns to be in front of the camera. Overall, it was a blast for the students and the staff members.

April 18, 2009 Film 101 Week 1 - Camera Setup and Dolly Shot Practice The first week of class at Paul Robeson Community Center turned out great as students not only get to learn about the camera, they all had a chance to setup and do a dolly shot!

January 18, 2009 'CG 201: Hard-Surface Modeling' Course Commences Starting this week, students who completed the first computer graphics course can now attend the second CG course - hard-surface modeling. In this course, students will focus on learning the tools to create hard-surface models, such as vehicles, robots and planes.

 

December 27, 2008 Film & Art Institute Visits Paul Robeson Community Center The New Hope Foundation Film & Art Institute visited the Paul Robeson Community Center in South LA on Saturday Dec. 27th in preparation for the upcoming film workshop in early 2009. Staff and volunteers of the Film & Art Institute met with the founder of the Paul Robeson Community Center, O'Neil Cannon, and supporting staff to discuss the many possibilities for the coming film workshop.

December 18, 2008 'CG 101: Introduction to 3D' Course Ends With Great Results The 10-week computer graphics course, which began in September 2008, has come to an end. To wrap up the course a video reel of the students work was produced and shown to the students to showcase their hard work and accomplishments. Please enjoy the video presentation we've prepared that showcases the successful course that gave all involved smiling faces.

September 28, 2008 'CG 101: Introduction to 3D' Course Commences Film & Art Institute commences its first computer graphics course for youths interested in knowing how to create 3-dimensional (3-D) animation and computer generated images (CGI). Students will be introduced to the process of modeling, texturing, lighting and rendering.