7 Great Moments 1 5. Guillermo del Toro takes a moment to smile for the camera with Leonard Maltin after a screening <strong>of</strong> Hellboy. 6. Pete Segal explains to a 466 student the process <strong>of</strong> working with Adam Sandler in 50 First Dates. 7. Woody Omens speaks to students about Conrad Hall’s work. 6 11 10 | in motion fall 2004 9 1. John August speaks to a 466 student about how he adapted the script for Big Fish. 2. Patty Jenkins and friend speak with Leonard Maltin about the challenges <strong>of</strong> getting her film, Monster, made as a first-time director. 3. Gordon Gray recounts anecdotes from the making <strong>of</strong> Miracle to a 466 student. 4. Rawson Thurber signs a Dodgeball poster for his alma mater. 8. Bill & Cheri Steinkellner, Leonard Maltin, and Gary Baseman take a moment to smile for the camera after a screening <strong>of</strong> Teacher’s Pet. 9. Susan Behr & Nathanial Kahn share with 466 students the difficulties <strong>of</strong> Nathanial’s journey in searching for his father. 10. Luke Greenfield discusses with Leonard Maltin his process <strong>of</strong> selecting actors for The Girl Next Door. 11. Gary Rydstrom, Richard Harris, Jon Landau, and Bill Mechanic speak with Jason Squire about their experiences working on Titanic. 12. Steve Zaillian, Woody Omens, Conrad W. Hall, Haskell Wexler, and John Toll came to <strong>USC</strong> to discuss Conrad Hall’s influence on the art <strong>of</strong> filmmaking. 5 2 10 8 3 4 12
Game On! (continued from page 1) The EA Interactive Entertainment Program, which is a track in the three-year Master <strong>of</strong> Fine <strong>Arts</strong> degree, supports new courses to help students become pr<strong>of</strong>icient in scriptwriting, as well as visual and audio effects, which are then used to create compelling interactive experiences with cinematic qualities for a variety <strong>of</strong> game playing populations. An integral part <strong>of</strong> the interactive entertainment program is the Electronic <strong>Arts</strong> Game Innovation Lab, based in the Zemeckis Center for Digital <strong>Arts</strong>. This state-<strong>of</strong>-the-art facility serves as a research space and think tank where new concepts in game design, play, and usability are developed, prototyped and play-tested. The room is equipped with an array <strong>of</strong> technologies, from PCs sporting high-end graphics cards, to a usability room set up with one-way mirrors and video cameras that allow researchers and developers to monitor how players interact with various games. Students, faculty, and visiting scholars in the lab are investigating a broad range <strong>of</strong> subjects, such as scalable networked virtual environments, multi-platform gaming environments, and ubiquitous gaming. Through their work, lab users are pushing games beyond their currently defined genres, markets, and play patterns, creating a body <strong>of</strong> knowledge about players, games, and game playing that provides a launching pad for the next generation <strong>of</strong> s<strong>of</strong>tware and hardware. Beyond the lab, EA support is aiding in the formation <strong>of</strong> an intra-<strong>USC</strong> gaming community that brings together creative and technical expertise in cinema-television, the arts, and technical sciences, and provides students with invaluable real-world experience through internships and work-study programs at EA, including the company’s newest Los Angeles studio. Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Perry Hoberman (left) helps student Todd Furmanski program a BASIC stamp chip, which enables a computer to read various types <strong>of</strong> sensors (light, motion, etc.). The EA Endowed Faculty Chair — which brings some <strong>of</strong> the gaming industry’s top talent to teach at <strong>USC</strong> — elevates the field into the ranks <strong>of</strong> other pr<strong>of</strong>essions, such as law and medicine, and draws the top student candidates from home and abroad to learn one-on-one from these masters. The EA chair is one <strong>of</strong> six newly created endowed positions that the <strong>School</strong> installed this fall. Together they join an impressive roster <strong>of</strong> funded seats at the <strong>School</strong>, including the Alma and Alfred Hitchcock Endowed Chair, the Mary Pickford Pr<strong>of</strong>essorship, the Steven J. Ross/Time Warner Dean’s Chair, the Fran and Ray Stark Endowed Chair, and the Hugh M. Hefner Chair. Playing It Smart Interview with Scott Fisher, chair <strong>of</strong> the Division <strong>of</strong> Interactive Media Arriving at the <strong>School</strong> in 2002, Scott Fisher brings a wealth <strong>of</strong> experience as a media artist and interaction designer whose work focuses primarily on interactive environments and technologies <strong>of</strong> presence. Well known for his pioneering work in the field <strong>of</strong> Virtual Reality at NASA, Fisher’s media industry experience includes Atari, Paramount, and his own companies Telepresence Research and Telepresence Media. Fisher is a graduate <strong>of</strong> MIT’s Architecture Machine Group (now Media Lab); has taught at MIT, UCLA and UCSD; and served as project pr<strong>of</strong>essor and director <strong>of</strong> the Environmental Media Project for Keio <strong>University</strong> at Shonan Fujisawa, Japan. Scott Fisher Q: What is the importance <strong>of</strong> interactive media, or, put more directly, why should people take this division seriously? Fisher: The short response to that question is that interactive entertainment is most likely going to be the dominant form <strong>of</strong> entertainment in the 21st century. The most common example is what’s happening with the video game industry where the revenues from that are now competing with film box <strong>of</strong>fice revenues. That said, in the longer term there are a couple different aspects in terms <strong>of</strong> where we are in development. The technologies that are the underpinnings <strong>of</strong> interactive media, <strong>of</strong> interactive entertainment, are now coming to the point where they can easily compete with other home consumer devices. PlayStation, for example, at $149, is approaching the quality <strong>of</strong> graphics machines that five or six years ago we were paying a couple hundred thousand dollars for. Those kinds <strong>of</strong> developments are really crucial. Perhaps more important, beyond the technology availability and cost effectiveness is the type <strong>of</strong> experience people have become used to. People are accustomed to using the Web, using a lot interactivity in their day-to-day activities, and we see students coming in expecting to have much more access and availability <strong>of</strong> interactive coursework. We in the division believe that this will only grow, and that this process will evolve into a very major new set <strong>of</strong> media to provide interactive experiences. Q: Where do you see the division in terms <strong>of</strong> defining how we learn, teach, and collaborate with one another? Fisher: Even though we call the mission <strong>of</strong> the division interactive entertainment, a huge area <strong>of</strong> interest and importance for us is in educational applications in all <strong>of</strong> the different media that I have been talking about, but particularly games. We see that crossing over very quickly and very effectively. For example, a few months ago I went to a seminar around E3, which is the largest game convention in the world. This workshop was specifically focused on using games for education. Representatives from all the major universities were present and witnessed demonstrations <strong>of</strong> crossovers, <strong>of</strong> using game scenarios for educational applications. Q: What are the plans for expanding the reach <strong>of</strong> the program? Fisher: We have a minor in game design in collaboration with the Viterbi <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> Engineering, and because <strong>of</strong> that we’re looking at undergraduate numbers growing substantially in our undergraduate game design and interactive media introduction classes. Depending on how that goes, we would very much like to grow this into an undergraduate program in addition to the MFA program. Q: Interactive media studies programs are cropping up around the nation. Why should prospective students choose <strong>USC</strong> over some other place? Fisher: It’s true, there are plenty <strong>of</strong> other game programs out there. There are vocational schools, there are schools like Carnegie Mellon, the <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> Washington, and Stanford, but I think the particular mix <strong>of</strong> things we have to <strong>of</strong>fer is just unbeatable. Carnegie Mellon has a two-year program, but it’s much more oriented around the technology and tool-building end <strong>of</strong> things. We’re focused much more on the storytelling and experience-design aspect <strong>of</strong> it. And that’s really the key thing that’s going to make any new technology work in the public’s eye — it’s not the technology itself, it’s what you do with it. We also have a mix <strong>of</strong> backgrounds applying. We have computer science students, we have a lot <strong>of</strong> design students, we have artists, we have philosophers. It’s a very good mix that I think is critical to make something like this work, because eventually the teams that these guys will end up putting together will mirror that same mix. fall 2004 in motion | 11
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