Press Releases

Collins has started construction on a new 25,000 sq. ft. professional-grade media arts facility in Tempe.

Tempe, AZ (September 14, 2006) - We offer students a hands-on, career-focused education. Collins is committed to expanding its media arts program and recognizes the benefits of growing Arizona’s film industry. We would like to assist in any way possible to help attract film business to Arizona and look forward to working with the Arizona Film Office to help build a talented media arts workforce through quality education. The new media arts facility will take up 25,000 square feet of new facility includes:

• 2,000 sq. ft. screening room theater that seats 200 people
• Sound stages with dedicated control and sound booths and professional lighting grids
• Four classrooms, two will be digitally based
• Digital lab for students
• Sound-proofing throughout facility for filming
• Broadcast level film-to-digital video tape transfer facility
• Faculty offices
• Selected interior spaces that can be used as stage sets.
• The interior is uniquely designed with a variety of facades for multiple stage sets, including:
• Vintage art deco facade theater front
• South-African temple set
• Contemporary, industrial-style end floor mezzanine and bar set that doubles as the student lounge
• Wireless throughout building
• Fiber optics throughout to enhance data transfer capabilities
• Facility utilizes clean, simple, bold linear design to emphasize the school’s role in contemporary art

Professional Media Arts Equipment

The college has made a substantial investment in professional hardware and software including:

Telecine Digital Video
Collins is the only school in Arizona that has a Telecine digital video. A Telecine transfers film to tape. Currently all film created for television in Arizona is shipped out of state, typically to California, for the transfer process.

The transfer process can be highly creative. During the process, editors can enhance their film with color, texture, filters, etc. Collins is considering allowing students from other colleges in Arizona access to the equipment in the future.

Sony CINE ALTA (high definition camera)
Collins College is the only school in Arizona to own a Sony Cine Alta high-definition camera. The camera is specifically for shooting movies. It is exactly the same model used by filmmakers to shoot such films as Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Spy Kids, and Battle Star Galactica. It is estimated that fewer than ten schools in the United States own this camera. Very few colleges in the U.S. have this level of high definition available for undergraduate student use full time. The school also owns smaller high-definition cameras.

Autodesk’s Discreet® Flame® real-time design system
Collins offers Flame System training. Discreet® Flame® is a professional motion graphics system for visual effects creation and is used by some of the world’s leading artists at most major film studios and broadcasters.

Visual effects developed with the Flame system include those created in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, Sin City and The Aviator.

The Flame system is a powerhouse with four dedicated processors and 2 terabytes of storage and extremely high internal bandwidth between the two. The Flame system at Collins College can store a full two-hour feature film, calling up any clip and playing it in real time. Animation rendering takes a fraction of the time compared to other systems.

Collins also offers AVID XpressPRO® and Avid® and Apple Final Cut HD IDS HD.

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