By Julie FrenchThe Daily Northwestern

Animate Arts, an adjunct major introduced last year in the School of Communication, is so broad a subject that professors often describe it not by what the major is, but instead by what it is not.

“We’re not a program that’s just for computer science people; we’re also not only for art majors,” said Ian Horswill, director of the program and an associate professor in the electrical engineering and computer science department. “We have people from everywhere.”

The program, which has grown to about 35 students from an initial graduating class of five last year, combines technology and the arts to create new digital media.

By attracting students from all undergraduate schools – with majors ranging from music and theatre to economics and engineering – students with varying skills and backgrounds learn to collaborate with and understand people from vastly different fields, Horswill said.

“You don’t need to know how to program, how to play an instrument or how to draw,” he said. “In fact, the art faculty can’t program, and I can’t draw.”

Students learn the fundamentals of computer programming and art and music theory in the four core animate arts classes. They also complete four electives and a two-quarter senior project where they can focus on their own interests.

“I’ve been really gratified to see the community that’s developed,” said Marlena Novak, the program’s associate director.

Faculty and students have been challenged because most have strong art or technical skills, but not both. They have helped each other fill in knowledge gaps and experiment with new concepts, she said.

“I was a dunce when it came to art,” said Noah Levin, Communication ’06, who was in the first cohort of students to complete the program. “Now I am a passable artist, and I have a better idea for what it means to be an artist and more respect for people who actually are.”

For Communication senior Eva Bloomfield, a theatre major, learning computer programming was the biggest challenge.

“I’m the only theatre major in there; most people are coming from computer science or film or art,” she said. “At times it’s a bit overwhelming, but it just challenges me to do my best work.”

Because of Bloomfield’s interest in Web design, the program will probably include HTML and Dreamweaver in next year’s core curriculum, Horswill said.

While the curriculum has changed somewhat with input from students like Bloomfield, Horswill stresses that animate arts is not a video game design major – even though some students might want that.

“If you want vocational training, we aren’t that,” he said. “We give you a background that’s really useful, but we’re not going to have a class on DirectX rendering for third-person shooting.”

Weinberg senior Reid Delfeld said he wants to pursue video game design as a career, but he believes his theory-centered training will give him an edge that pure technical skills would not.

“If you want to work in the video game industry, you have to wear a lot of hats,” he said. This is true especially at smaller firms where the same person might do programming, artwork and music composition.

His senior project will expand on the concepts of Dance Dance Revolution, experimenting with new ways for players to interact with the game.

“It’s not just making a computer game. It has to be innovative,” he said.

Novak, who teaches the art classes, said she and other faculty members have been impressed so far with the level of innovation of student projects. The professors are even planning to do assignments in each other’s fields next year to expand their own skills.

“We’re a little jealous of the students,” Novak said.

Reach Julie French at [email protected].