Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/780285
by Burton Rencher, UNCSA Production Design Department Chair, and Dawn R. Ferry, ADG Production Designer (Visiting Faculty) Nestled in a picturesque patch of Winston-Salem, the School of Filmmaking at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) is transforming into a cutting-edge tech hub. Named as one of eleven NextGen schools by Oculus and ranked No. 14 in The Hollywood Reporter's sixth annual list of "The Top 25 American Film Schools" in August, UNCSA furthered a new track in immersive entertainment and augmented reality when students added VR to the already-impressive list of courses offered. F I L M M A K I N G UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL OF THE ARTS PRODUCTION DESIGN SHOWCASE In the same week the ranking was published, UNCSA's Film School was featured as the cover story for EdTech magazine, a national publication produced by Fortune 500 technology provider CDW. Further evidence that the small, relatively young film program at UNC School of the Arts is making its mark in the entertainment industry. The article focused on the school's render farm, a cluster of high-performance computer servers used in the creation of 3D renderings and animated images. The render farm is housed in the New Digital Media Building, The buildings of UNCSA have been clad with storefronts to provide the school with its own backlot.