On Campus News

Maine Media College Launches One-Year Multimedia Program

By Staff
posted Jul 24, 2009, 08:55

(Rockport, Maine) Maine Media College, a world leader in photography and film education, this week announces the inaugural year of its Multimedia Professional Certificate Program. This new program curriculum provides artists the training-ground and state-of-the-art digital technologies necessary to create work which combines the art of storytelling with the cross-over applications of still images, video, audio, graphics, and animation.

Founded in 1996 on the campus of Maine Media Workshops (then The Maine Photographic Workshops), Maine Media College follows the Workshops' mission and long tradition of unparalleled intensive hands-on industry training for photographers and filmmakers. Graduates of the Professional Certificate Program follow an intensive 30-week curriculum that includes the study of craft and production, history of media and contemporary trends, as well as professional development to prepare them for the next phase of their careers.

Maine Media has been a pioneer in this emerging field, offering one-week workshops with combined media formats before the term "multimedia" was defined in the industry. "Maine Media students, exploring new approaches to storytelling, broke ground in this area years ago," says College Dean, Elizabeth Greenberg, "blending the skills they gained in both photography and filmmaking courses, and working to bring both forms of media to their projects - photographers recording sound to give their documentaries a literal voice; filmmakers editing with still photographs to add historical impact to their narratives."

Advances in digital technologies in recent years, and the advent in 2009 of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera, which allows for both still and HD video capture, make this an ideal time to launch a comprehensive program in multimedia. Support like that of Canon and other industry leaders, along with funding from foundations and individuals, has made it possible for the school to stay on the cutting edge of media technologies.

"With so many applications in the industry - documentary television and filmmaking, journalism, photojournalism - multimedia is the natural next step for our Professional Certificate Program," says Greenberg.

"The growing demand throughout our internet culture for content which is produced efficiently, often by an individual journalist, filmmaker, or photographer, makes this training essential for artists entering the field today," says Charles Altschul, Maine Media College President, "As a leader for over 35 years in the fields of photography and filmmaking, the school is ideally placed to play a leadership role in the education of multimedia artists."

Maine Media College also offers a low-residency Master of Fine Arts degree program, attracting students from across the country and around the world to pursue their terminal degree in photography, filmmaking, and multimedia, while continuing to live and work at home.

For more information about Maine Media College, including detailed program curriculum, enrollment and application information, visit www.mainemedia.edu, email registrar [ at ] mainemedia [ dot ] edu, or call toll-free 877.577.7700, internationally 1-207-236-8581.