The elective courses in the Tutorial House teach students the technological skills required to make original digital work.
This line of technical study, much of which uses industry-standard technologies, works in tandem with sections on electronics, robotics, design, storyboarding and narrative storytelling, experiments in sound and image, composition, graphic design and programming. There is a large campus audience for student work, and many graduates of the program create digital portfolios. Their work helps them gain admission to college programs in technology, arts and sciences.
Design for Problem Solving (Tutorial One)
Design as a problem-solving tool. Utilizing the process of design, students will be challenged to conceive solutions for their everyday environment. Students will be presented with a challenge, (example: Design the school desk of the future), do research about the topic, generate their ideas, build a mock-up physical model of the design, create a model using CAD (Computer Aided Design) software, and ultimately create a physical replica by printing their design on a miniature scale with a 3D printer.
Robotics: The Art of Electronics and Engineering (Tutorial One)
This is a hands-on workshop class that engages students in different ways of approaching robotics. Through the process of designing, building and programing robots; students will learn fundamental concepts in engineering, physics, electronics, mechanics and computer programming.
Using a B.E.A.M. robotics approach, students will create robots by soldering and wiring together electronic components such as integrated circuits, resistors, capacitors and transistors. The design process will be emphasized as the robots are tested and their designs are modified. Another section of the course will focus on designing, building and programming robots with a focus on concepts such as communication among robots, sensory feedback systems, computer programming, and common components and structures that are used to make robots.
Experiments in Time and Space (Tutorial One)
This course would involve a study collective studio practice through the channels of sound- and image-making, as well as through the study of the concepts of time-based art practice and poetic situations of space. We delve into skills that involve layered audio, live studio practice, motion graphics, installation practice, and general story making through innovative multimedia practice.
Project-and-concept oriented units would involve technical standards in video editing, layered audio, rudimentary sound essay construction, pristine audio recording experiments, lighting and sound installation, live performance, and personal interpretation through varied and new tools, including use of the Media Suite: the Media Lab Classroom plus the new Media Studio. Emphasis is placed on student self-and peer critique and imagination in the creative process.
Intro to Film (Tutorial Two)
This program is of the utmost importance to the development of film analysis and production at UNIS. The program should build on student understanding of film technique, concept, history, and vocabulary, and focus on specific elements of analysis and technical production. Units of study should include detailed storyboarding, script-writing, hands-on technical workshops, individual scene analyses and presentations on established filmmakers. There will be introductory discussions related to theory and history as well as extensive use of the journal-writing process. Group work is a vital component, and the experience of peer critique following small class screenings of student-produced work may be emphasized. Each student will be required to submit a production for the U Film Festival.
3-D Animation (Tutorial Two)
In 3-D animation class, students are encouraged to explore the meeting point of art-making, storytelling, and technological craft. They create animated projects working with 3-d software and have the chance to screen their works alongside other classes' media works in front of the school at the end of the year in the theater during the media lab extravaganza.
We have a thematic thread that runs through the year involving storytelling and the continuing investigation of different perspectives on space and time; and this runs alongside the basic steps of 3-D animation: modeling, texturing, lighting, animation, rendering.
Students watch examples of work done digitally with software like Maya, as well as examples of work made with traditional animation techniques that have been shot frame-by-frame on 16mm and 35mm film.
Students use Autodesk Maya 3-D software, which is industry-standard software, to create their animations. As a group, we also use Final Cut Pro to add and composite live-action videos. Students also use their hands to draw and sketch in their journals and use real-world (non-virtual) materials in order to light and model their ideas in time and space. Students also analyze each other's works in peer critique, and write analysis of real-world works and models in their journals.
Experimental Video (Tutorial Three and Tutorial Four)
In Experimental Video, students create experiments and projects on video, keeping in mind various visual art and cinematic principles. They investigate the poetics and essence of sound-and-image making. There is a focus on the role of memory and dreamscape in image-making, and of the creation of time and space through choreographed videography. They explore alternatives to traditional narrative form through materials and layers.
Students learn sound techniques related to recording and soundtracks; and they learn about the intersection of storytelling technique with moving image and sound technology. Students may take this course for one or two years. At the end of the year, students will screen their works alongside other classes' time-based works in front of the school at the end of the year in the theater during the Media Lab Extravaganza.
Texts Used: Various handouts; screenings (e.g. 8 1/2 (Fellini), Gosford Park (Altman), Nashville (Altman), Syndromes and a century (Weerasethakul), Lessons of Darkness (Herzog), Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams (Kurosawa), Images of Asian Music (A Diary from Life 1973–74) (Hutton), Festen (Vinterberg), One Way Boogie Woogie (Benning), Flat is beautiful (Benning), Quarry (Rogers), Night of the Hunter (Laughton), Lives of Performers (Rainer), At Land (Deren), Louisiana Story (Flaherty), Un Chien Andalou (Buñuel), Chunhyang (Kwon), L’Année dernière à Marienbad (Resnais), The Blue Angel (von Sternberg), Holding your breath (taking the long way) (Tajima/New Humans), Plaisir d’amour en Iran (Varda), The Red Tapes (Acconci), Memorias del Subdesarrollo (Gutiérrez), etc.); listening sessions; The Filmmaker’s Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for the Digital Age (Ascher, Pincus).
Students are expected to analyze and dissect moving image work, and to watch each other's work and participate in critique. Students are expected to make relations between ideas that they have not thought to compare, and engage in discussion about concepts behind communicating and media- and art-making in the contemporary world.
Game Design in JAVA (Tutorial Two)
Many single and multi-player games that are played by millions of people as stand-alone applications or online games are written in Java. In this course, students earn the fundamental skills necessary to produce images, animation and sound and how to put them together for gaming and storytelling. To learn the logic of games and how they work, we do play a number of online games in class. In the process, students also learn the basics of Object Oriented Programming through JAVA programming language. They learn how to create and use classes and objects and practice various programming techniques and acquire skills in designing software solutions for various problems. This course will also serve as an introduction for those willing to take IB Computer Science in later years.
IB Computer Science
This Tutorial Three and Tutorial Four course demands logical discipline alongside imaginative creativity in the selection and design of algorithms and the designing, planning, writing, testing and debugging of computer programs.
Computer Science should appeal to students who are good in mathematics but also enjoy the challenge of games and puzzles. Problem-solving strategies will be emphasized in the course work and will be implemented using the Java language.
Students will also study computer architecture, systems analysis, data representation, computer systems and networking theory. The social significance and ethical issues arising from the widespread use of computers in society will also be discussed. A major element of the assessment is by a dossier of students’ programming research and work.