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Home » Rochester Institute of Technology opens doors on new MAGIC Spell Studios

Rochester Institute of Technology opens doors on new MAGIC Spell Studios

Reported by by Vienna McGrain, RIT University News

October 30, 2018

Live filming of a commercial. Live audio mixing with sound engineers. Screenings of short films created by students. Video game development demonstrations.

Tours and hands-on experiences were the order of the day as Rochester Institute of Technology formally opened the newest building on campus—the 52,000-square-foot MAGIC Spell Studios.

The building is the crown jewel in a program launched five years ago by former director Andrew Phelps to bring together RIT’s academic strengths in game design and development, film and animation, and digital media. The new facility—the only one of its kind in the Northeast—boasts the latest in technology and design, rivaling media production studios in New York City and Hollywood.

“MAGIC Spell Studios will be a wonderful resource for our students and also will serve as an economic engine for the Finger Lakes region and New York state,” said RIT President David Munson. “The programs, labs and studios in MAGIC Spell will help build and retain a vibrant workforce and send exciting products into the marketplace. Our sincere thanks to Governor Andrew Cuomo; Empire State Development; our state Assembly and Senate delegation; and partners Dell, Cisco, the Wegman Family Foundation, and Austin McChord for the support that has made this magnificent facility a reality.”

The new building houses a 7,000-square-foot sound stage; a 180-seat movie theater, with the latest in 4K projection capabilities and Dolby Atmos sound; sound-mixing and color correction rooms; game and media development labs; 2D and 3D animation labs; and an AR/VR room, as well as conference, office and other academic space. New York state provided $13.5 million in funding, and RIT received $3 million from Dell, $12.4 million from Cisco Systems Inc., $1.5 million from The Wegman Family Charitable Foundation and $1 million from RIT Trustee Austin McChord ’09.

“MAGIC Spell Studio is a great example of how partnerships between academia and the public and private sectors are helping New York’s innovation economy thrive.” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. “This state-of-the-art studio will support the transformation of the Finger Lakes’ regional economy as it continues to move forward.”

“This new facility at RIT will merge film and higher education for a unique partnership that will accelerate the industry and provide great opportunities for students,” said Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul. “MAGIC Spell Studios will create a hub for animation and design in the area, support start-up companies and generate new jobs. This investment as part of the Regional Economic Development Councils will accelerate economic growth and innovation and continue to move the Finger Lakes forward.”

“RIT’s MAGIC Spell Studios will leverage its unrivaled academic programming with groundbreaking digital media research and development that will help propel our region to the forefront of one of the fastest growing sectors in the U.S. economy,” said Assembly Majority Leader Joseph D. Morelle. “I have been proud to support the growth and development of this truly exciting endeavor, and I look forward to the studio quickly becoming a centerpiece of our region’s flourishing high-tech economy.”

The grand opening caps five years of success for MAGIC, that includes the launch of several products, partnerships with industry and a central role as a New York State Digital Gaming Hub.

David Long, director of MAGIC Spell Studios, said the new building is designed to physically bring together students and faculty from different disciplines. Students can walk in with ideas for film and animation, games and digital media and walk out years later with a marketable product. They spend the time in between using the state-of-the-art resources in the building to make it.

That’s a win not only for the university, but for the state, he added. When students commercialize their work, it will ultimately result in a boost to the economy with the creation of new companies and new jobs in the upstate New York region.

Industry analysts are predicting that the international games market will likely surpass the $138 billion mark by 2021. Conservative estimates show that the worldwide film industry has already surpassed $300 billion annually.

At RIT, interest in the highly competitive film and animation and game design and development programs is skyrocketing, with game design and development enrollment increasing nearly 150 percent since 2009. That interest is expected to rise in the coming years and Long believes that MAGIC Spell Studios is poised to create thought leaders in these disciplines.

“MAGIC Spell Studios represents a truly unique research and design space for a university campus,” Long said. “The studio stands at the fusion of games and film, advancing the multidisciplinary creativity that is at play across these converging disciplines. At MAGIC Spell Studios, we believe that we learn by making. By mixing critical thinking and making with advanced technical design and foundational research, the work we produce will allow us to lead higher education and produce creations and creators that will impact the industry and the economy. Storytellers, artists, programmers and engineers will all work together to create content that educates, inspires and entertains.”

In addition, the assets of MAGIC extend beyond the building to help entrepreneurs and start-ups develop new products and spur economic growth throughout the state.

As part of MAGIC Spell Studios, outside companies can book commercial projects and will also be invited to campus to expand and work in a dedicated collaborative partner suite. Aaron Gordon ’13 (film and animation) has done that with his Rochester-based production company Optic Sky. Optic Sky used the sound stage, which meets the requirements for the New York state film tax credit, to shoot a commercial. And Forbes Media is the first in-residence company that is providing experiential learning opportunities for students.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to having student games published and film and animation projects produced,” Long added. “We are looking forward to growing our network of industry partners and continuing to be recognized for the value that MAGIC Spell Studios provides.”

To read more about the opening, click here for RIT News.

For the WHAM TV website’s article with interviews, click here.

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Parks has recently shifted her focus from supervisor to hands-on sound design, and we talk about how it’s never too late to pivot on your career path and find the thing you love doing wherever you are in life.

Click on this link to read the rest of the article on No Film School’s site.

NJ – Governor Murphy signs $14B Incentive Program Bill – the NJ Economic Recovery Act of 2020

 Film tax credits — amending existing programs to include provisions for so-called New Jersey film partners and New Jersey film-lease partners and allowing an additional $200 million of tax credits annually over 13 years.

Click this link if you want to read the full article on the Lexology site. http://bit.ly/35NtDx6

Film Commish announces date for production restart

In her December 18, 2020 news update, MOME Commissioner Anne del Castillo announced that the Film Office is now accepting permit applications for production activity that begins on July 27th.

She also announced awards now (Awkwafina) and more. To read all of the Film Commish’s bloggy sort of news column, click here.

Stimulus Offers $15 Billion in Relief for Struggling Arts Venues

The coronavirus relief package that Congressional leaders agreed to this week includes grant money that many small proprietors described as a last hope for survival.

For the music venue owners, theater producers and cultural institutions that have suffered through the pandemic with no business, the coronavirus relief package that Congress passed on Monday night offers the prospect of aid at last.

To read the full article on The New York Times’ site, click here.

If you want to start production, here’s the latest news from the Mayor’s Office

Phase 4 production guidance is available on the Film Permit website. All production activity, whether it requires a Film Permit or not, must comply with New York Forward Industry Guidance.

For more information see, please refer to the State Department of Health’s Interim Guidance for Media Production During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Please review the guidelines and FAQ before submitting permit applications. The Film Office is operating remotely, so please allow additional time for Film Permit processing.

The above paragraphs contain links to the various FAQ – just mouse over the relevant words.

Nikon to Stop Making Cameras in Japan

Nikon has fallen on hard times as of late as its camera sales have cratered, and now there’s a new indicator of how dire its financial situation is: the company is reportedly pulling the plug on making cameras in Japan after over 70 years of doing so.

To read the full article on Petapixel’s site, click here.

NVIDIA Uses AI to Slash Bandwidth on Video Calls

NVIDIA Research has invented a way to use AI to dramatically reduce video call bandwidth while simultaneously improving quality

What the researchers have achieved has remarkable results: by replacing the traditional h.264 video codec with a neural network, they have managed to reduce the required bandwidth for a video call by an order of magnitude. In one example, the required data rate fell from 97.28 KB/frame to a measly 0.1165 KB/frame – a reduction to 0.1% of required bandwidth.

To read the rest of this article on Petapixel, click this link.

 

 

 

Union Health Plan Dodges Film Workers’ Suit Over Virus Relief

Law360 (October 9, 2020, 5:22 PM EDT) — The Motion Picture Industry Health Plan’s board can’t be sued under ERISA for allegedly flouting its duties when it relaxed plan rules in response to COVID-19, a California federal judge has ruled, nixing a proposed class action filed by two cinematographers who still couldn’t qualify for benefits.

In an order entered Thursday, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner granted the board of directors’ motion to dismiss Greg Endries and Dee Nichols’ Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit accusing board members of breaching their duty to treat all plan participants fairly.

Endries and Nichols, members of Local 600 of the International Cinematographers Guild, said in July that the board left them and others “out in the cold” in its attempts to address the problems COVID-19 caused for plan participants.

But Judge Klausner agreed with the board’s contention that the case, which alleged a fiduciary breach, should be tossed because plan administrators don’t act as fiduciaries when they amend health care plans.

Read the full article on the Law360 site by clicking here.

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Anthony Russo and Joseph Russo photographed at the PMC Studio in Los Angeles for the Variety Playback Podcast.

The Russo brothers, directors of the all-time top grossing film “Avengers: Endgame,” quietly secured a roughly $50 million cash infusion for their production company AGBO from Saudi Arabia earlier this year, multiple sources tell Variety.

In a deal brokered and closed at the beginning of the pandemic, the Russos received the investment from an undisclosed Saudi bank in exchange for a minority stake in the brothers’ Los Angeles-based shop.

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