Students lounging in the Art and Journalism Building may no longer have to watch soap operas on the television during their breaks.
Instead, John Fillwalk, an art professor, wants to showcase his students' work - and the beginning of a new minor in electronic arts at Ball State.
Although some classes included in the electronic arts curriculum have been offered in the past, Fillwalk said fall 2002 will be the first semester students can officially declare it as a minor.
Though the minor is open only to art majors, Fillwalk said students from different areas are eligible to take the classes independently.
Fillwalk said the opening of the AJ Building, and the latest technology, has allowed students to push their boundaries and be creative.
Fillwalk also credits the Apple G4 computers in the lab. He said Apple has newly positioned itself as the leader of converging technologies because of their computers' standard abilities.
These abilities also helps students who want to take their work home with them.
"It's really kind of amazing anymore, the stuff you can do with a computer out of the box," Fillwalk said.
This out-of-the-box technology includes cutting and editing videos, creating DVDs and digital imaging.
Along with his previous classes, Fillwalk will teach an advanced production seminar for students wanting to do advanced work in digital video and 3-D animation. The seminar will include higher level projects.
Fillwalk will also bring in Hollywood animator Matt Welker, whose feature film work included lead animator for "Hollow Man." Welker will do a masters class in character animation and a public presentation, to be announced in the fall.
In the spring, Fillwalk will teacher a class on Maya (Art 201: Computers in Fine Arts), which will allow students to work with 3-D modeling and character animation which generates 3-D short films.
According to Fillwalk, Maya is Hindu for illusion. Fillwalk said the class is a "high-end 3-D package." The technology was used in the movie "Lord of the Rings."
According to Fillwalk, electronic arts minors will be exposed to different programs, including Photoshop, digital painting on Painter, production on Apple DVD Studio Pro, that will help them in their careers.
"Students are really exposed to a lot of different applications and if they want to find a job in their field they can," Fillwalk said.
When the program starts in the fall, Fillwalk said many students from different art classes will be able to broaden their areas by taking electronic arts classes.
"For instance, if you're a sculpting, painting or drawing major, a minor is a technological extension and a different type of experience which you can expand the range of your discipline," Fillwalk said. "Students that are in traditional 3-D sculpture can come here and do virtual, or vice versa....If you're in painting and natural media, you can come up and do digital media."
Fillwalk recently developed a curriculum for an electronic arts major and is finishing the details. For more information students can visit www.bsu.edu/web/Fillwalk/electronicarts.
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