School of Communications Art at Higher Digital

Max had noticed the school from the Wakefield Trail, a part of the expanding Raleigh Greenway System. From his vantage point on the hills above the school, Max could see the three multicolored domes that look a little like the top sides of beach balls.

Having visited the school briefly after it moved to this location, Max thought it would be a good time to check it out. Perhaps they had some courses that could improve his photographic skills, he thought.

They do indeed have courses where people can improve their photographic skills. Many of these courses deal with the use of computers with all the variations that this can take on.

Max was introduced to Alicia who kindly offered to take him on a tour. This is a tour any young person who is interested in professional photography, visual marketing, movie making, audio recording or any of dozens of related fields should check out.

The tour started with Alicia showing Max into the dome containing the "Green Screen". Anyone who has watched people fly through the air in a movie or give a weather report on television should be familiar with this screen.

Beside this screen was a small room where students were putting the pieces together on computers. Most, if not all, of the computers are Apples. Much of the movie and graphics industry has standardized on software that works well on these machines.

Alicia continued the tour from room to room. Most were occupied by students working on projects of one sort or another. The classrooms are around the outside shell of the dome.

Inside the center of each dome is a room or set of rooms that provides an anchor for the studies. Along the walls that form the corridors of the domes are visual art created by students in a vast array of media.

Visual art created by former students who have gone on to studios like Disney and DreamWorks was represented by posters containing their work.

Alicia let me know the school had been founded in a smaller building in 1992 but soon outgrew its walls. That led to the creation of the circus like balloon shaped buildings that have been nicknamed the "Digital Circus".

There are far too many wonderful things to describe in this short article. They have open house days, and from time to time they have special speakers visit them from the many industries that they provide new innovators for.

One room that I found to be special was the audio sound lab. On the trails, Max often has to use sound to figure out where birds and small animals might be. That is how Max gets some of the beautiful pictures he takes with his Nikon D50 and its 300mm lens.

Back to the audio room. The ceiling in this room is designed to create nearly flawless audio sound. Even with the bustle behind the walls there is no infiltration into the room. If you are not talking the very sound of breathing is audible. Max would love some magic way to make the greenways this quiet while his camera targets revealed themselves.

Max never can keep his mind fully on what he is about. Alicia is a wonderful representative of the school. Her education is in anthropology and she obtained her degree from Western Michigan (Max hopefully took his notes correctly).

The tour can take a while for an interested student looking to set themselves up in a career in the visual arts. The website link at the end of this article can provide more information for the potential student.

The school does have some programs for "professionals" who would like to improve their skill set. Time prevented Max from getting all the details on this at this meeting. Max has promised to return for more detail.

As schools go Max doubts that a student would have great trouble finding a better positioned educational opportunity in roles that will have a future. The equipment appeared to be state of the art in photographic, audio and visual art computers.

The parts of the program where Max could see the results of several stages of work appeared to be thorough. Not skipping some of the tedious steps is important for students who will need to be prepared for a realistic view of what it takes to do a piece of work.

Max recommends a tour of the school to anyone who has an interest in the visual arts related to photography and the audio arts in related applications.

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Links one to three: different parts of the School of Communications Arts website.