Course Type | Course Name | Topics |
---|---|---|
Studio Courses (6 Semesters) | Design Studio (2 semesters) (incl. drawing lab) The first year is spent in design studio with all new designers and directors. | Topics covered in the Design Studio may include: devising performance; designing TV and film; designing new work, collaboration, critical thinking. Each semester of Design Studio will also include the design of realized productions in a variety of performance genre (theatre, dance, opera, video, film, entertainment). |
Integrated Media (4 Semesters) The IM studio focuses on the development and deepening of skills directly related to the work as a projection or media designer. | Topics covered in Integrated Media include: advanced content creation for live performance; advanced projection design techniques; architectural three-dimensional mapping; working with live camera capture, interactivity, media management, advanced projection system design, previzualisation. | |
Skill-Building Courses (6 Semesters) | The student may select from choices in many areas such as costume, scenery, lighting, audio design, writing, pedagogy, production management, producing, media production. The skill-building courses are chosen by the student with the advice and guidance of the design faculty and the primary mentor. | Specific course examples: Projection Design Content creation for live performance Vectorworks Photoshop, 
Digital rendering Editing,
 Drawing, 
Painting, 
Moving lights Sound Design |
Production Laboratory (6 Semesters) | The student conceives, plans and realizes designs for productions. He or she will take on a variety of roles within the production process and designs his or her own work during the second year at the latest. Theatre productions at UT cover multiple genres, including plays, dance, musical and opera. | IM Designer Set Designer IM Assistant IM Programmer IM Engineer Lighting Designer |
Critical thinking/ writing (1 Semester) | Course may include theatre history, criticism, theory, or performance as public practice, research methods, portfolio. | |
Elective (3 Semesters) | In addition to courses offered at the Department for Theatre and Dance, the student may also select courses from the other departments of the university, such as Fine Arts, Computer Science, Engineering, Electronic Music or RTF (Radio, Television and Film). Should students wish to carry a heavier load, they may take more electives, with the consent of the head of the theatrical technology program. | |
Thesis (2 Semesters) | The graduate INTEGRATED MEDIA thesis should be the capstone of a candidate’s graduate work at The University of Texas at Austin. It is an opportunity for the M.F.A. candidate to demonstrate her/his aesthetic, artistic, intellectual, and technical acumen to the highest level of achievement based on a professional model. The thesis is subject to the requirements of the university and Graduate School. This means that a supervisor, usually the student’s primary advisor, and an additional reader will examine the thesis in detail. This will be followed with an oral defense of the work. | The thesis shall be reviewed according to: 1) the standards of the business and 2) the standards of university research methods (a well written, well researched and documented thesis project). The thesis will consist of three parts: Part I, will exhibit the candidate’s skills and expertise in Production or Management; Part II, will consist of a major generative original work; Part III, will be a presentation of the candidate’s portfolio. |