The Graduate Program

The Graduate Program at RIT offers a Masters of Fine Arts degree program in Film and Animation. The program is designed for the student to "learn by doing" and puts them in production-based classes alomst immediately. Supplementing this experience are strong components in scriptwriting as well as film history and aesthetics that exposes the student to a very broad spectrum of filmmaking styles. In addition all MFA students are required to take classes in programming to increase their expertise with computers and the emerging technologies in the field of computer animation. These major components contribute to the student's growth in concept development, accomplished story telling and technical proficiency. Students can choose to concentrate in one of three areas:

2D Animation: focuses on hand-drawn and computer animation as single frame filmmaking.

3D Animation: focuses on technology and technique as a means of story telling and filmmaking.

Production: provides an opportunity for students to work in fiction filmmaking or experimental forms as well as script writing for film.

Since filmmaking is the end result, students also learn audio and video production techniques as well as storyboarding, scriptwriting, and editing. Besides completing courswork, graduate students will complete three of their own films (including a thesis film) before graduating.