The curriculum in the School of Image Arts program is designed to lead to careers in the film, photography, new media, communications and cultural industries. Graduates are capable of performing responsibly in these industries as professionals in both creative and managerial positions, and in undertakings ranging from the highly commercial to the artistic and experimental. The curriculum will also provide students with the necessary grounding to move on to advanced study in a variety of media-related academic and artistic disciplines. The Image Arts program provides a general background in design, art history, and cultural studies, along with professional education in the three areas of Film, New Media, and Photography Studies. There is a strong link between theory and practice in each of these options. The program is enhanced by a broad offering of liberal studies and professional and professionally-related electives. The School of Image Arts is equipped to high standards and students are expected to develop a professional approach to their work. Access to facilities is governed by School policies and procedures. Students will be required to own certain items of equipment appropriate to the option they enter. Please refer to the sections on Special Department Charges and on the Cost of Attending Ryerson in the Student Services portion of this calendar.

FILM STUDIES OPTION

The Film Studies Option offers a comprehensive academic framework for undergraduate studies in the theory and practice of film and video leading to career choices in the Canadian screen industries and to further scholarly activity at the graduate level. The program has an emphasis on experiential learning and is designed to nurture personal visions that will contribute to the growth of Canadian culture as well as enhancing the Canadian voice in international film and video. In addition, the program aims to create flexible, quick-thinking, highly adaptable film/video makers capable of working effectively in an enormous variety of circumstances and equipped to take advantage of many different artistic and commercial opportunities in the world of visual communication.

NEW MEDIA OPTION

The New Media Option provides a solid theoretical and practical background in creative production methods and techniques employed in interface, interaction, and experience art and design. Commensurate with the technological challenge it faces within an ever-evolving field, the program uses a variety of innovative teaching approaches to move students through an immersive, hands-on course of study. Emphasizing creativity, the New Media option expands the idea of computing. It encourages risk taking and experimentation within a supportive, collaborative environment designed to address the emerging challenges of the communication age. To this end, students engage new technologies not only as a means of production but as instruments of social, cultural, and artistic change. The curriculum is unique both in its substance and in its structure, which emphasizes depth as well as breadth and flexibility. The remarkable learning environment offered by the department, combined with Ryerson’s proximity to the media production, telecommunications, and cultural industries, provide unparalleled opportunities for developing not only the tools, but an understanding of the medium in a field that is continually in the process of self-invention.

PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIES OPTION

The Photography Studies Option offers an integrated academic framework for undergraduate studies in the theory and practice of photography, leading to career possibilities in the many creative and commercial fields which utilize the photographic image, or to further scholarly activity at the graduate level. The aim of the program is to produce graduates capable of working effectively in both traditional and electronic image-making systems. The curriculum is designed for maximum flexibility. The foundation years provide a base for working in an interdisciplinary mode at upper levels. An atmosphere of creative and critical inquiry across all four years gives students a rich awareness of the visual, aesthetic, technological, and cultural issues affecting the creation of effective images, as well as an enhanced appreciation of the rapid and radical changes now occurring in the professions they will be entering.

PROFESSIONAL AND PROFESSIONALLY-RELATED COURSES

Professional courses include three kinds of courses: intermediate and advanced production courses for majors in the four primary media; intermediate and advanced production courses for students who wish to minor in a second medium; and specialized courses in such technical adjuncts as lighting, cinematography, photographic printing, film/video editing, animation, screenwriting and directing, sound recording and synthesis, special effects, graphic design, computer programming, interactive applications, and so on. Professionally-Related courses include intermediate and advanced courses in subjects ranging from art history and aesthetics through cultural, critical, communication, and film theory to business and professional development seminars in all three options.

Liberal Studies

Students must take two lower level liberal studies courses and four upper level liberal studies courses to graduate.