Pages 21-22: Dynamic Media - UCF’s New Entertainment Academy

Advanced technologies are no longer just the domain of computer scientists; they have also become a playground for artists and entertainers. This technological shift in entertainment is forcing artists and entertainers to rethink the visual creation process, as well as the way stories are told. To address these needs, UCF developed the Dynamic Media Initiative-an integration of story, performance, and technology.

The Dynamic Media Initiative was developed with the support of the State of Florida and through partnerships between the university and entertainment industry leaders, including Electronic Arts. The Initiative consists of a research institute, post-baccalaureate academy, incubation center, graduate program, and community initiatives.

Beginning in the fall of 2005, the academy, called the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy, will open its doors. The academy will prepare post-baccalaureate students to design, program, and test video games.

The Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy is supported by Electronic Arts, the world’s leading interactive entertainment publisher. EA officials worked with UCF administrators to convince the State of Florida to provide a $3.2 million grant last year to start the academy and $1 million annually in operating funds. In addition to many of its staff serving as Academy instructors, EA’s Orlando studio, EA-Tiburon, is providing the services of its vice president and studio chief operating officer Ben Noel through an executive in residence arrangement. Noel’s addition to FIEA is especially notable because as the chief operating officer of one of the world’s most successful game development studios, the industry veteran knows what it takes to succeed in the field of interactive entertainment.

The academy is located in downtown Orlando and should produce about 100 graduates a year. Students, who are required to have completed undergraduate degrees in fields such as computer science, art, or digital media before enrolling, can complete the program after about 16 months of intense work. They will receive graduate certificates, which allow for more flexibility and a condensed schedule than masters’ degrees.

The academy offers students state-of-the-art computer laboratories and classrooms facilities, equipped with the most current software for 3D modeling, animation, simulation, software engineering, real-time software performance monitoring and digital asset management. Classrooms contain high-performance render farms, full-body and facial motion capture systems, and gigabit networking technology.

One the academy’s most unique features is that students are given their own office areas, complete with individual computers and desks. Students are also organized into cohort groups, which each have dedicated production and development spaces.

The opening of the new school comes at a time when the role of video games in the entertainment industry continues to grow. In the past five years, successful video games have spawned top movies—a reversal of the past trend of good movies leading to the production of video games based on them.

In Central Florida in particular, the video game industry is growing. EA-Tiburon, EA’s nine-year-old studio in Orlando, has about 400 full-time employees, but plans to double that number of employees in the next five years. “EA hopes to rapidly grow the Orlando area studio, one of our five globally focused growth studios, in terms of new game franchises and employees in the coming years,” said Rusty Rueff, EA’s executive vice president of Human Resources.

“The UCF academy is something that will benefit the community,” Rueff said. “At EA, we like the studio environment in Central Florida, but the high demand for skilled artists and engineers forces us today to bring talented people from other locations. In the future, we’d like to hire talent locally from UCF for these highly skilled positions.”

“EA applauds the creation of FIEA,” adds Steve Seabolt, the company’s vice president of University and Marketing Education. “EA has been involved with helping to shape the academy since its inception. EA personnel helped shape the creation of the academy’s curriculum and culture. We have confidence in FIEA’s faculty, and believe that students who excel in the program will be well-poised for careers building video games.”

The Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy is only one part of the whole Dynamic Media initiative. The initiative consists of so much more—such as a research institute, an incubation center, and master’s and doctoral programs. Many of these projects and programs begin this year, like the academy, but the Dynamic Media initiative will continue to develop in the years to come.

Want to know more?
FIEA website: www.fiea.ucf.edu
School of Film & Digital Media website: www.sfdm.ucf.edu
Terry Fredrick: fred@cs.ucf.edu

QUEST 2005

DATE
Spring 2005

CONTACT
Sae Schatz
Arts & Sciences
Academic Promotions
407-823-5164
sae@cs.ucf.edu

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