Engage in the highly dynamic field of virtual immersive experience creation. Broaden your artistic practice and transfer your skills to theme parks, theatrical events, and more!
Undergraduate: MCJ420, 3 units Graduate/Post-baccalaureate: MCJ620, 3 units
You will not pay a materials fee to Summer Arts, but you will need to purchase supplies for this course. We will provide more information soon.
Students with a wide variety of backgrounds, including in performing arts, design, fine arts, engineering, game design, digital media and storytelling arts, who are excited about sharing ideas and developing immersive experiences with other people, are encouraged to apply.
In your statement, please include:
Please note: You do NOT need to be a technology or storytelling expert already! We are looking for people with a creative drive and the desire to share ideas with other people.
Professor Sarah Krainin(207) 671-1314
Jenn Duong – www.jennduong.com
Jenn Duong is an immersive director and producer. With VR as her native medium, she has directed and produced a range of cutting edge projects from short form VR docs to VR music experiences for artists like Banks to a VR/AI experiences with Taryn Southern. Recently named in the top #25 in Onalytic’s 100 Top VR Influencers 2016, she is also a Future of Storytelling Fellow 2016, a featured creator that piloted the Google Jump Start program, as well as one of LA Weekly’s People of 2017. In 2015, she co-founded Women in VR/AR one of the largest channels for resources, opportunities and collaboration in her industry. She has become a leader and advocate for women and underrepresented groups in the emerging technology space growing the role models of tomorrow through advocacy today.
Annie Saunders – thisisthewilderness.com
Annie Saunders is a director and live artist. Her company, Wilderness, has presented The Day Shall Declare It in a disused warehouse in the Downtown Los Angeles Arts District with Los Angeles Performance Practice and in London with Theatre Delicatessen in the former BBC Studios and the Bush Theatre. The company has also presented work at The Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival, REDCAT, the 14th Factory, The Broad Stage, the San Francisco Playhouse and the Getty Villa. She is a core performer with Lars Jan's Early Morning Opera, and has appeared in Holoscenes, The Institute of Memory (TIMe), and Abacus. She was a participant in the 2017/18 Devised Theater Working Group for next-generation performance-makers at the Public Theater in New York. She has also devised and performed original work in the UK with Neil Bettles (Frantic Assembly, Thickskin) and Gemma Fairlie (RSC) on Full Stop, a co-commission for the Lyric Theatre, Watford Palace, Greenwich Festival and Latitude. She holds an MA in literature and critical studies from the University of London, and trained at the Sanford Meisner Center for the Arts, the American Conservatory Theater and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She worked for ten years as a creative activist with Eve Ensler's V-Day.
Dylan Southard – www.dylansouthard.com
Dylan Southard is a dramaturg, producer, writer and teacher working in the interactive entertainment and performing arts industries. He is the founding creative director of VR Playhouse, where he has worked with companies like Red Bull and Time Life and with artists like Moses Sumney and Dawn Richard in the production of 360° virtual reality experiences. Dylan works in new play development with theaters throughout Los Angeles and has served as dramaturg on more than fifty productions, including more than a dozen world premieres. He currently teaches script analysis at Cal State-Long Beach and he is an associate artist with the Jewish company Theatre Dybbuk. In addition, for the past fourteen years, Dylan has led the Playwright's Lab for the Robey Theatre Company. Previously, Dylan was the Literary Manager and then co-Artistic Director of the experimental company Needtheater. Dramaturgy credits there include the world premiere of Michael John Garces' The Web, Scarcity by Lucy Thurber, Mercury Fur by Phillip Ridley, tempOdyssey by Dan Dietz and Fatboy by John Clancy. He produced G.O.Ne, an adaptation of David Foster Wallace's short story, "Good Old Neon," as well as the acclaimed production of Stephen Belber's Tape, staged in a Los Feliz motel room, and he directed the world premiere of Guided Consideration of a Lamentable Deed at the famed South Los Angeles music venue Cafe Fais Do Do. He has written about immersive entertainment for Howlround, VR Scout and American Theatre, and has spoken at Youtube, USC, NextCon, Digital Hollywood and the Open Innovations Forum in Moscow.
Derin DJ Turner – www.derinjames.com
Derin Turner is an award winning Director and Producer with over 15 years experience working in film and video production. A founding member of VR Playhouse, he has spent the past five years developing custom solutions for production and post production in the VR and 360 video landscape. In addition to technical solutions, Derin has worked closely with major brands and agencies to develop storytelling techniques for VR. He has directed and produced pieces for brands such as Jack in the Box, Toyota, Chevron, Coach and Mercedes. He has worked closely with agencies such as David And Goliath, Missing Pieces, Horizon Media, and Havas Healthcare to curate custom VR experiences. In addition to producing and directing, Derin is currently working with YouTube to create VR educational training for their top influencers. While working full time in the immersive media space, Derin still finds time to direct framed content, recently directing a music video for Method Man and Blimes Brixton's new single "Hot Damn."
July 6 to July 19, 2021