News
School of Film and Animation

MAGIC Spell Studios, RIT’s world-class digital media research and production facility, is bringing the latest in virtual production (VP) technology to RIT students. VP blends filmmaking, 3D graphics, computational photography, and real-time game engine rendering to produce in-camera visual effects similar to those seen in the groundbreaking work on Disney’s The Mandalorian and Marvel’s Avenger films.

Tisa Zito ’09 (film and animation) is making her directorial debut with her film, ForeverMoore; The Angelo Project. The film is a character study on Los Angeles native Angelo Moore, lead singer of the band Fishbone, and asks questions about the legacy and process of an artist.

The sixth annual event featured presentations on the latest virtual, augmented and mixed reality technologies that are driving various fields, from health care to theater to education. 

My Burbank features Max Lopez '12 (film and animation), executive producer, and Sean Malony '12 (film and animation), creative supervisor, founders of stop motion animation studio Apartment D Films.

Nick Nicely '12 (3D Digital Design), founder of Video Plates and Backings, is providing all RIT students access to his library of more than 5,000 driving plates and moving set backdrops for use in films and media projects.

RIT’s MAGIC Spell Studios is partnering with Pure Imagination Studios, an award-winning independent entertainment studio best known for combining proprietary technology with groundbreaking storytelling, to launch a satellite office and spatial computing studio in Rochester.

This year’s Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend, Oct. 15 through 17, features numerous in-person events including entertainment, hockey, speakers, escape rooms, axe throwing, a zip line, tours, open houses, and more. Building on the success of last year’s Tiger Alumni Week, a variety of virtual programs specifically for alumni will be held beginning on Oct. 11.

Scientific American references Flip Phillips, professor in the School of Film and Animation, and his work studying how sculptors create the effects of multiple materials, and how viewers can mentally separate the layers.

RIT's Schools of Art, American Crafts, Film and Animation, and Photographic Arts and Sciences are all under new leadership.

Shanti Thakur—who began her new role as director of RIT’s School of Film and Animation in the College of Art and Design earlier this month—is an award-winning fiction and documentary filmmaker who has taught for nearly two decades.

Frame.io, a video collaboration platform co-founded by John Traver '10 (Motion Picture Science), was acquired by Adobe in a deal worth $1.275 billion. Frame.io built a user base of more than 1 million, including the likes of HBO, MasterClass and Netflix.

Two video games affiliated with RIT won awards at the 2021 Game Developers Conference virtual event in July.