Visiting Zugara and Zoic Studios

On Dec 6th, 12 Di students, DATA math teacher Cami Saliba and Di instructor Matt Cauthron, had an extremely rare opportunity to visit two ground breaking digital production studios in Culver City, California.

 Zugara - "an Augmented Reality Software Developer dedicated to creating strategy driven software that improves people's everyday lives."

 Zoic Studios - "an Emmy Award-winning visual effects company specializing in visual effects for feature films, episodic television, commercials, video games, advertising design, and interactive online media."


Students were able to sit with studio executives to learn how Augmented Reality and special effects for film and television are designed and produced for specific markets. Exclusive production facility tours, QandA, and educational/career pathways were addressed to ignite student curiousity and the pursuit of potential future goals.

Throughout the tours, students were exposed to advances in hardware and software production pipelines, advanced graphics/multimedia/animation commercial applications, and what the future might look like for individuals looking to enter highly technical creative fields.

A very special thank you goes out to 

- Matt Szymczyk and Hans Forsman at Zugara -

- Loni Peristere at Zoic Studios -

for making this opportunity happen!

Di 9th Grader Shoots Epidemic Skate Contest

Incoming Di 9th grader Austyn Moreno spent all day (and night) shooting the 2010 Epidemic Skateboard Competition at the Palm Springs Skateboard Park on Saturday, Dec 4th. The all ages competition, sponsored by Epidemic Skateboard Shop, hosted kids from all over the Coachella Valley, as well as the Epi skate team and professional skaters from major companies like Circa, Etnies, Element, Volcom, LRG, and DC Shoes.

View Austyn's Photostream!

Austyn's images can also be found on the Epidemic blog.

Shadowing Rock for Isaih

On November 20th, DATA Di student Reymundo Hernandez had the rare opportunity of shadowing photographer Chris Miller at the Rock for Isaih Benefit Concert held on the Blue Moon Ranch in rural Thermal, CA.

Not only did the concert have great local music from musicians of all ages, but it gave to a great cause. The concert was for Isaih Poag, a local two year old boy who was diagnosed with stage three Ependymoma Anaplastica, a rare form of brain cancer. All the proceeds were given to Isaih's family for assistance with their medical needs while at the St. Jude Children's Cancer Research Center.

"It was great working one-on-one with a pro like Chris. The relaxed, yet very low light, environment allowed for plenty of time to get pointers on taking pictures, as well as some good insight on what the career of a photographer is like. I also learned what degrees should be looked into, what equipment to consider, and what kind of jobs are available for aspiring photographers".

-Reymundo Hernandez

For information on Isaih, please visit....
Hope for Isaih
on Facebook

Please also visit Chris' images here!

(all proceeds go to the Paog family)

FiDM Returns to the Di Classroom

On November 30th, the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FiDM) returned to the Di classroom. This years presentations engaged students in learning more about the creative process, characteristics of the brain, and types of careers in the media design arts.

Learn more about the presentations @

Discovering Your Creative Abilities 

Design & The Entertainment Industry

 

(Digital) Art Rocks the EduBlogs!

 The 2010 Edublog Awards is graced this year by the excellent work of classroom art educators from around the globe, including our beloved DAE Ning, the DATA Wikis, and the Student Creative wiki!

Please cast your vote for creativity before December 14th by visiting the links below

 Best Educational Use of a Social Network 
Digital Arts Education 

Best Educational Wiki
The Student Creative and DATA

 Best New Blog
New City Arts
 
Best Group Blog
Teaching Palette
 
Best Class Blog
The Mac Lab
 
Resource Sharing Blog
Art is Messy
 
Best Educational Use of Video/Visual
Fugleflicks

Student Design Hits Flak Photo

Congratulations to Di senior Victor Gonzalez for his design work being selected to represent the Earth Through a Lens (ETaL) contest on the Flak Photo photography community!

Flak Photo is a daily photography website that celebrates the art & culture of photography online. Produced by Andy Adams, the site highlights new series work, book projects and gallery exhibitions from an international community of contributors.

ETaL is a national juried photographic display held annually in Palm Springs to commemorate Earth Day.