We live in a society that is very much visually inclined and all signs point to this trend continuing, if not intensifying to a greater degree.
The fields of advertising and promotions continue to stress that “the simpler the better” and nothing’s simpler than a strong uncluttered graphic that delivers the message in the shortest possible time.
The College of St. Benilde has had tremendous success with their programs relating to the visual arts, particularly graphic design. They even opened their own School of Design and the Arts to accommodate the increase in interest and enrollment.
Ateneo followed suit, introducing its own “information design” courses that are now the courses with the highest number of applicants.
In the realm of film schools there are U.P., Marilou Diaz-Abaya’s school up in the mountains of Antipolo, and of course Bigfoot (or the International Academy of Film & Television) in Cebu, among others. SHIFT (School of Intermedia, Film & Technology) is a new program under the auspices of The One School. Under SHIFT, short programs as well as four-year degree programs beginning in June will be introduced in the fields of Graphic Design and Film. But what sets them apart from the rest are the people behind these courses.For graphic design they have the highly successful design studio Team Manila, composed of Jowee Alviar, Nico Bacani and Mon Punzalan.
For film they’ve got Quark Henares, who has directed several music videos, commercials and feature films. He’s also been teaching various film classes at the Ateneo de Manila’s Communication Department the last several years. Some of his students have gone on to win awards for their own music videos and have even helmed feature-length movies.The One School’s Lex Ledesma completes the team and will be handling the business end of establishing a professional career out of the skills you will acquire.Speaking of their goals, Henares says, “We want to have a school that works more like a production house or a studio. One that’s hands-on from the moment you enter the classroom.”
To this end the programs are immersive with a number of projects to be accomplished every few weeks. The four-year degree programs have much more to offer.
“We’re planning to teach everything from photography to screenwriting, film criticism to art appreciation, web design to digital editing and cinematography,” Henares adds.For more information, check out www.theoneschool.org or email theoneschool.marketing@gmail.com. Programs begin this June.
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Ramon De Veyra blogs at www.thesecuriousdays.com.