Goucher College Digital Arts

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Goucher's limited-residency graduate programs in Digital Arts foster the combination of artistic creativity with technological savvy. Our multidisciplinary program treats music, animation, design, computer programming, web development, entrepreneurship, new media studies, and other related fields as one larger convergent discipline. Goucher's Master of Arts (MA) in Digital Arts programs are a unique combination of hands-on learning, creative theory, and instruction from an established and experienced national faculty. The MA in Digital Arts is designed to train creative professionals for the technology environment of today.

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Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 16 of 16
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    Designed for Empowerment: A Teacher’s Transformation
    (2021-04-27) Steinhauer, Sarah; Eleuterio, Susan; Bernstein, Andrew; Digital Arts
    An art educator finds herself in the throes of a professional crisis, a viral pandemic, and an identity revelation while working through the last stages of earning graduate degrees in Digital Arts and Art and Technology. Her thought processes as a teacher and a designer overlap as she seeks to find creative solutions to address these challenges. She uses a design-thinking approach to develop a virtual community of educators in order to find connection, support, agency, and ultimately a new meaning in the fields of education and design. Using personal narrative paired with excerpts from relevant sources, this is a work of reflection on a journey of rebuilding oneself while building something new.
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    CinematicAmbiX: Cinematic Sound in Virtual Reality
    (2020-11-25) Schwartz, Adam; Bernstein, Andrew; Art and Technology
    CinematicAmbiX is a three-movement piece of virtual reality art that is focused on sound for film. I sought to separate trailer sounds, foley, and ambience from their standard visual accompaniment. I chose virtual reality (VR) as a mode of exhibition for its ability to allow me to replace the two-dimensional plane of the cinema screen with the three-dimensional virtual gallery. VR granted me the use of the ambisonic audio format to create an interactive and immersive sonic environment. I was able to spotlight cinematic sound in a format that encouraged audience interaction while maintaining sound as the focus. This is contrary to what Christoph Cox calls, the “hegemony of the visual” through which sound is often overshadowed in visual media. In this writing, I explain how human hearing connects to a film’s soundtrack by investigating the evolution of cinema audio formats and the technologies that drive them.
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    Digital Technology Art for a Car Advertising Agency
    (2019-11-21) Berko, Kwasi Ofori; Digital Arts
    Kantanka is the first ever automobile manufacturing company in Ghana which assembles and produces made in Ghana vehicles. The company which has been around for many years now, has caught media attention that resulted in investors providing funding in the company. Simultaneously, many Ghanians and neighboring countries have patronized the Kantanka automobile products. Nonetheless, in recent years the company has experienced a decline in international and local sales due to lack of marketing. In a recent article “My Joy News” media house in Ghana, journalist Edwin Appiah states that Ghanaian car company, Kantanka, is to blame for failing to penetrate the local market following efforts by German car maker VW to set up shop in Ghana, claiming that the company has not been proactive in engaging the Ghanaian government in purchasing their cars1. In this project, I designed a computer generated imagery (CGI) car advertising demo to enhance the potential of marketing and sales for Kantanka. Like many Ghanaian advertisements, Kantanka adverts have little to no creative attraction to motivate buyers to purchase their products. My goal will be to use CGI in modeling and animating a demo advert to show the potential of CGI in the Ghanaian advertising market and how it can help local manufacturing agencies create more dynamic scenes which meet international standards like that of Audi, BMW, and Toyota, I will also explain how digital technology and art can impact cost in advertising within the Ghanaian market.
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    My Perception, Your Reality
    (2019-05-16) Monroe, Michelle; Digital Arts
    Mass media is the main contributing factor that influences our perceptions, thus creating our own perceived realities versus reality itself.
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    Free Stock Website
    (2018-12) Keiser, Elizabeth; Crowley, Michael; Berstein, Andrew; Digital Arts
    Chikkenstock.com was created for non-profit organizations and small local businesses. The goal of creating Chikkenstock was to provide a license-free stock website that focuses on assisting small, community-oriented organizations that are functioning with limited resources. The organizations that participated in the launch and trial of this site all had similar missions involving charity, conservation, and the community enrichment of the Lehigh Valley, a region comprised of the Pennsylvania metropolitan areas of Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton.
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    Tribble Photo & Design
    (2018-05-10) Tribble, Surmaria; Taylor, Benjamin; Digital Arts
    For my capstone project I have put together items that would help build my freelance business. For instance, I have worked on a project management plan for each item. I have also developed a business plan, logo, business cards and a website for the project, while incorporating various art elements and the skills that I have learned in the program.
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    Making Echoes: Utilizing the Markov Project in the Composition of Sound
    (2013-12) Czekner, Eric; Willits, Christopher; Digital Arts
    This work was designed as an experiment in the unique ways that Markov chains can be used in the composition of sound. During the construction of the project, two overall methods of using Markov chains were proposed; direct-composition and indirect-composition. Both methods were typically found to have satisfying results in terms of harmonic content, though some instances required influence from a human-composer. This further pushed the question of how much influence an artist should or should not have in the overall outcome of a work. Most of the hands-on manipulation of the outcome was the determination of which voices and instruments complemented one another musically. The research completed within the scope of this project provides solid examples in regards to the ability of utilizing Markov chains for sound composition. The findings of this experiment will prove useful for other musicians interested in unique compositional methods.
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    Dedication - University of the Cumberlands
    (2013) Wilson, Lacy; Digital Arts
    A publication involving all aspects of the design process - including writing, photography, and layout. The goal of the publication is to reach prospective students and alumni of the University so they can meet current people associated with the school and see the changes that have been made. This project includes a print version and a web version, that was coded from scratch and utilizes HTML, CSS and Javascript.
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    "Mi Noche Buena"
    (2017-06-28) Moore, Gisela; Lempke, Paul; Digital Arts
    “Mi Noche Buena” is a four-part collection consisting of a research paper; storyboard, illustrated storybook and accompanying 10-minute animated video of the story. The original storybook illustrations were created using Adobe Illustrator. The page layouts and pagination for the storybook were created using Adobe InDesign. The character rigging and animations were created using Adobe Character Animator. Final production for the video was completed using Adobe After Effects and audio editing was completed using Adobe Audition. The final product is a bilingual personal story of biculturalism geared towards younger children, ages three through seven. “Mi Noche Buena” tells the story of my son, Matéo, who is excited to celebrate his favorite holiday. The story follows Matéo throughout his day and explains what makes Noche Buena so special to him and his family. The final pieces are a 32-page storybook containing original illustrations with written story and an accompanying 10-minute animated video of the story. In this Capstone project, I wanted to explore the importance of using computer animation as an educational tool for younger children, ages three through seven and how it can enhance their cognitive development. I accomplished this with a six-page research paper. I also wanted to incorporate traditional educational resources, such as the storybook, with the animated video to demonstrate how together they become powerful educational tools for young children. I also wanted to explore animation and character design techniques using Adobe Character Animator and video editing by using Adobe After Effects. The goal is to engage the audience through a physical storybook or for the entirety of an animated video.
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    Be a Heroine!: An Analysis and Reflection of Superheroines and Culture
    (2017-06-05) Kitrick, Jessica; Dornfeld, Barry; Forloney, Robert; Willits, Christopher; Digital Arts
    This paper is an analysis of storytelling and superhero themes as well as a supplement to the website project constructed at http://ravenalegria13.wix.com/superheroines. While the website addresses some storytelling aspects, this paper collaborates with the website and contains both a self-reflection piece to answer some personal questions and an analytical section to focus on why superheroes are so important to storytelling, digital arts, and cultural sustainability.
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    Night Shift
    (2017-06-02) Bridwell, Lindsey; Hall, DaShawn; Digital Arts
    "Night Shift" is an animated short created using Cinema 4D, along with other production programs like Photoshop, After Effects, and audio editing software. The final product is an animation that tells a story of two employees working late in an office, one employee, Rosie makes her mundane job more interesting by listening to music and dancing, while the other, Kenny, contemplates the mundane work he's stuck doing. The final piece is 3 minutes long. In this, I want to really explore animation and character design techniques and tell a story that engages the viewer.
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    sumAIR: Aerial Portfolio
    (2017-05-24) Sumar, Jenna; Catera, Damian; Digital Arts
    A video reel promoting the work of "SumAIR" from an aerial perspective.
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    Hiragana: A Visual Introduction
    (2017-05) Yasuda, Ayumi; Lempke, Paul; Scott-Nelson, Michael; Taylor, Ben; Digital Arts
    Hiragana is the basic and most fundamental of three Japanese writing systems—hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Hiragana is used in all forms of written communication in combination with the other two systems, or by itself for young readers and beginners. There is a corresponding katakana for each hiragana. Katakana is used primarily for foreign words. Hiragana is also used to clarify pronunciation of kanji. Kanji consists of approximately 4000 characters that are usually modified or nuanced by hiragana. Hiragana is made up of 46 phonetic letters (kana). Each of the kana is a complete syllable with its own sound, and has a set order and direction for writing strokes, which often differ from Western convention. The capstone project is an illustrated book to introduce all 46 kana. In this visual introduction, the audience—both children and adults—will meet each of the 46 kana that have been created with various elements—objects, animals, and items of Japanese culture and heritage—that start with the same sound. For example, あ [a] is made of items such as あり (ari, ants) and あめ (ame, candy). With charming, playful, and stylized illustrations, this book offers a unique, fun way of learning Japanese kana.
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    Petal
    (2017-05-22) Jones, Daylan; Catera, Damian; Wlilis, Chris; Cole, Catherine; Digital Arts
    A film that touches on the concept of being "connected but alone...."
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    Through the Cold
    (2013) Stamm, Jon; Scott-Nelson, Michael; MA in Digital Arts
    Through the Cold is a music video I created on behalf of my band, Redding. Technically executing the project reached into the fields of audio production (songwriting and recording) and video production (lighting, directing, and editing). My process investigated the emotional resonance of musicality, the synchrony of sight and sound, and the transformative capability of graphic design and letter form upon a message.
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    Making Echoes: Utilizing the Markov Process in the Composition of Sound
    (2013-12) Czekner, Eric; Willits, Christopher; MA in Digital Arts
    This work was designed as an experiment in the unique ways that Markov chains can be used in the composition of sound. During the construction of the project, two overall methods of using Markov chains were proposed; direct-composition and indirect-composition. Both methods were typically found to have satisfying results in terms of harmonic content, though some instances required influence from a human-composer. This further pushed the question of how much influence an artist should or should not have in the overall outcome of a work. Most of the hands-on manipulation of the outcome was the determination of which voices and instruments complemented one another musically. The research completed within the scope of this project provides solid examples in regards to the ability of utilizing Markov chains for sound composition. The findings of this experiment will prove useful for other musicians interested in unique compositional methods.