Last chance for early registration: Art History of Games, Feb. 4-6

The Art History of Games is a three-day public symposium in which members of the fields of game studies, art history and related areas of cultural studies gather to investigate games as an art form.

Speakers include:

• John Romero, designer of Doom and co-founder of Gazillion Entertainment
• Christiane Paul, New School professor and Whitney Museum adjunct curator
• Jesper Juul, author of “A Casual Revolution”
• Brenda Brathwaite, creator of Vanguard Award-winning Train
• Frank Lantz, designer of Drop7 and Parking Wars
• and more: http://www.arthistoryofgames.com/schedule

Attendees are also invited to the premiere of three commissioned art games by Jason Rohrer, Tale of Tales, and Nathalie Pozzi and Eric Zimmerman at Kai Lin Art (800 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta).

Late registration ends Tuesday, Feb. 2: $25 for SCAD and Georgia Tech students, $40 for SCAD and Georgia Tech faculty and staff and academics and students from other institutions, and $60 for the general public. Please note that on-site registration fees increase to $30 for SCAD and Georgia Tech students, $50 for SCAD and Georgia Tech faculty and staff and academics and students from other institutions, and $75 for the general public.

Register at: http://www.arthistoryofgames.com/registration.

For more information, visit http://www.arthistoryofgames.com or e-mail arthistoryofgames@scad.edu.

‘IRM’ has magnetic resonance

After collaborating with Air on her previous album, Charlotte Gainsbourg’s Francophone dream-pop has since undergone a darker transformation. Musical experimentation with Beck and medical procedures following a waterskiing accident gave birth to Gainsbourg’s most recent brainchild, “IRM” (the French acronym for MRI).

Gone are the tender, hesitant vocals; they’ve been replaced by odd assertions, dark whispers and in-your-face eccentric thoughts that harbor unsettling elements on every track. “IRM” wanders heedlessly on the line of the surreal. And while Beck’s hand is detectable throughout the album, it serves primarily as a ground for her otherwise day-dreamy cloud walk through clear and stormy.

Beck and Gainsbourg collaborate on “Heaven Can Wait,” but the nature of this track is most fully revealed in the jarring, yet inviting, bizarreness of the music video. The song poses a carefree and upbeat attitude, yet the video speaks of everyday instances misshapen and malformed, so they are alien and familiar at once. Its brevity belies its impact, as the collection of scenes is the equivalent of experiencing an entire art gallery in less than three minutes. The real disconnect is the abruptness and lack of resolution. As a cinematic device, it develops a yearning for more. A yearning that is never fulfilled.

In a later track, “La Collectionneuse”, Gainsbourg strikes this chord again, but in a more subtle, meditative way than the video’s abusive push-pull. Lyrics like, “I add up all these moments/In a long narrow ledger/Decimals of pain/Integers of pleasure,” add to the album’s essence — little bits of otherworldly thoughts that are recognizable yet irresolvable.

Even though “IRM” seems trapped in this emotional, dream-like netherworld, it meshes and plays well, just as Beck and Gainsbourg’s collaboration does. It sounds both candid and elegant. “Time of the Assassins” demonstrates this the most. In it, Gainsbourg muses, “And can something change/And still feel the same/The beginning’s the end/I start all over again.”

“IRM” was released Jan. 28 and is available streaming on Charlotte Gainsbourg’s Web site.

Give it a try. You’ll feel right at home in a place you’ve never been.

Simply Carl

Illustration by Simply Carl

Kool Beanz

Where smartphones never sleep

Just a few minutes before classes start at 11 a.m., a few SCAD students in the elevator have their eyes glued to machines the size of a deck of cards, with screens displaying tiny text. The students’ thumbs move at feverish speeds, scrolling through tweets or updating their statuses. Read more

Applications now available for Connector editor-in-chief, 2010-11

The Student Media Council is now seeking applicants for 2010-11 editor-in-chief of The Connector, SCAD Atlanta’s online student news source. The position also oversees production of SCAD Atlanta’s award-winning quarterly student magazine, SCAN.

This stipended position offers an unparalleled opportunity to manage a talented staff of writers, photographers, designers and illustrators, as well as gain outstanding career-building experience in media, journalism and publications.

Application deadline is Tuesday, Feb. 9, at noon. Qualified applicants will interview with the Student Media Council on Friday, Feb. 12. For more information and application materials, e-mail twillia@scad.edu.

Photo of the Week

Artist walks audience through her creative process

Artist Terry Berlier stopped by SCAD Atlanta on Jan. 21 to share her creative process with students, staff and visitors. Read more

I See When I Want To See

Options endless for television producing majors

The opening of the Digital Media Center has brought SCAD students a host of opportunities, including a new television producing major. SCAD already offered a major in film and television, but there are some slight differences between the two majors.

The main difference is that students in the new major are trained in producing rather than for production positions such as cameraman, writer, director, sound engineer, said Matthew Maloney, associate dean of the school of film and digital media.

“Though a producer is expected to have a little knowledge in all areas of production, the focus is more on producing the actual show — setting budgets, securing permits, hiring talent, controlling content, making executive decisions. Essentially
running the whole thing,” Maloney said.

However, Maloney said, television producing and film and television production complement each other.

“They’re different career paths, but they overlap a lot, and students can move
in between the majors as needed,” he said.

A wide array of facilities are available to the students in the program.

“[It] has a full three-camera HD studio located at the DMC as well as a lab with Digital Audio Workstations and Final Cut Pro,” Maloney said. “The studio is run through a master control room similar to what one might see at CNN or Turner.  It’s very impressive.”

Joel Dobson, a third-year television producing student, said he chose to pursue the degree because of his experience working at his high school TV studio and his impression of the facilities at SCAD.

“We have an amazing TV studio with new high tech cameras and an amazing lighting
rig,” Dobson said of the equipment in the DMC.

Michael Cooke, a third-year television producing student, said because of the major and the equipment available, he has been able to begin work in the field.

“I’ve been assistant directing on music videos that come through to Atlanta. The
most recent video I worked on now airs on MTV and BET,” Cooke said. “The skills I learned in the television production major helped me become ready to take these positions.”

And the Atlanta location is also a big advantage for television producing majors, Dobson said.

“In terms of jobs, I think Atlanta as a city itself can help me prosper,” he said. “Turner Studios is here, with channels like CNN, Cartoon Network, etcetera. There’s a lot of opportunity.”

Some of the career paths for television producing majors include, line producer, story producer, associate producer and executive producer, as well as position in writing and editing.

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