Unsure of which direction to go (Games, film, writing, ??)

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
1

My son is on a gap year currently, and will be attending University of Pennsylvania in fall, 2016. He applied as a Fine Arts major, thinking he would do animation, since Penn has a lot of animation and a Pixar connection.

However, after visiting, he sensed a lot of fine arts is abstract, and he’s so not like that. He spent an hour with the Digital Media Design advisor, and came away leaning towards that. Problem is, it’s such a hard intense major, requiring 40 courses, or 5 courses each semester–lots of programming.

He really doesn’t know what he wants to do, but he is not a highly energetic person, so I’m concerned about the amount of energy needed for DMD. He can take a couple of comm. college classes during his gap year, and was advised to take mechanics (calc-based physics) by the DMD advisor, so he plans to do that.

My son is highly creative, enjoys writing about characters, poems, enjoys design and the “big idea” in regards to games, film, etc. He’s applying for jobs as a QA Game Tester, hoping to work in the field at entry level to see what he thinks.

He’s done some programming, but not much (Java), though he’s going to try and learn Python this year. He’s worked with gaming and animation software (Unity, 3dsMax), having taken two semesters of animation and currently taking a game design class.

He loves playing games and watching movies with a critical eye-always discussing details. He spends his free time with a pencil, not drawing, but writing out sketches of characters, game movies, names of characters, vignettes of characters, and poems/stories.

Options at Penn: Fine Arts, DMD, DMD minor combined with other major, Cinema Studies, and English/Creative writing.

DMD is 40 classes; Fine Arts is 36. Film is 33 as is English, but if he added DMD minor, it would be 37.

He’ll try to get credit for CC classes, but very doubtful; he’ll take the Physics AP exam and try to get credit for that. Otherwise, he has nothing transferred in and would start from scratch.

Suggestions?

Thanks!

2

Your son is going to be attending one of the most prestigious - and respected - and challenging - and certainly one of the most selective - universities in the world. One that has an outstanding reputation in so many fields of science, humanities, arts, social science, etc. He will get a GREAT education regardless of what he majors in. So, concerned parent, at this point it’s time to let him explore intellectually and creatively and find what he loves at this institution.

One thing I’ve read on the Pixar site is that they are looking primarily for people who can tell a story. They are less concerned with technical knowledge than you’d think (they know that can be taught once someone lands at Pixar). Your son sounds like someone who might well be creating his own series someday. If he really loves developing characters and sketching out stories, then by all means encourage him to continue at it. And, most importantly, to take a variety of interesting subjects to provide material for his work. Encourage him, too, to consider dabbling in the performing arts as well, as many film/animator types are also able to act out their stuff. If after obtaining his bachelors degree his education as a creative isn’t quite finished, there is always graduate school down the road (an MFA in a more specific area, for instance).

Having accomplished what so many high school kids can only dream of - being accepted to an Ivy League School - having the “problem” of not quite deciding what creative thing to do once he’s arrived seems pretty minor. He’s not even there yet fer cryin’ out loud!!! Have confidence in the amazing resources and the potential connections he’ll form, and pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

Good luck to him!

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Thank you for that sound advice, @Mamelot. I love what you said about taking a variety of interesting subjects to provide materials for his work.

He’s a serious musician and performs all the time, but I never thought about his taking a theater class. Good suggestion.

Ok, I will have confidence in the amazing resources and potential connections he’ll form. :slight_smile:

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As the parent of a Penn Fine Arts Major, I wanted to correct the impression that Fine Art courses at Penn is on the abstract side. Actually, quite the opposite is true. Many of the courses focus on representational drawing/painting/sculpture from observation as well as 2-D and 3-D animation, graphic and digital art, and storyboarding. Creativity is certainly encouraged and appreciated, but so is technique and content. The professors and courses are almost universally well rated by students.

Many students in these courses are not Fine Arts majors because there are only a dozen or so actual Majors graduating each year. However, note that there are some incredibly artistically gifted students at Penn in the Major and also majoring in other areas so that there is no lack of talent in these courses; demands and expectations are high and are met. The students tend to be supportive of each other in the Fine Art courses, and “crit” is usually a useful and positive experience.

Note that Studio Art classes are not easy, gut courses at Penn, but require days upon days in the studio each week to complete assignments, and A’s are not easy to get at all. Grading is pretty hard at Penn in general. Students have to work hard for B’s, and A’s are a real achievement.

What most surprised me is how intensely difficult Penn’s Fine Art major is, both in course load and hours. Students cannot slack in quality of product, fulfilling the teacher’s expectations, and completing assignments on time, which are all valuable future career skills. They also must take many courses in other academic areas, including liberal arts, math and sciences, thus are forced to become adept at high level time management, writing, and analytic skills. It was difficult to find a place combining an extremely rigorous, broad academic and serious artistic training, but my child is very happy with this choice. I hope this helps anyone looking for a similar combination.