Meredith College North Carolina Summer Camp

Audio & Music Production Academy

Students will get acquainted with professional music production, learn how to use the most important tools of the industry - Ableton Live. Creating, changing sounds, studying layers, mixing, sampling, participants will program their digital music.

The program teaches students to structure a song, recreate the sounds they hear, record their own unique tracks. Topics covered include recording, audio sampling, drum programming, improvisation, mixing basics, mastering.

Young people will learn the theory, the process of composing and producing music, advanced techniques, and audio techniques. By the end of the week, students will produce their own song, apply advanced concepts of music production.

Filmmaking academy

Filmmaking Academy offers students an introduction to video production with Premiere, the course begins with the basic principles of short narrative films: script structure, functionality, camera performance, and role description. Teenagers will master the skills of teamwork, storyboarding, directing, editing, upload their projects to their own YouTube channel.

In the second week, participants get acquainted with the title design, the basic VFX of Adobe Photoshop, After Effects, before starting work on a short project. Participants will make films of various genres, including narration, music videos, documentaries. They will leave the course with several completed film projects.

Intro to 3D Modeling with Maya

Intro to 3D Modeling with Maya is aimed at versatile 3D-artists who can use software for gaming, TV, film modeling. 3D-design, modeling pave the way for many options for a modern creative career. After learning the basics of the user interface and Maya tools, students will model complex shapes, models, master with basic modeling concepts, and will explore advanced skills, methods for developing a human character, textures, and the formation of the final model. Throughout the course, young people will gain an understanding of the possible career development, roles in the studio, and participation in the joint process.

3D Character Animation with Maya

Develop an understanding of storytelling and character animation with standard 3D Autodesk Maya software. Students will learn how to animate characters using lighting, settings, and camera angles. We will teach you the workflows that will take pre-mounted models and animate them in an original short story-telling sequence.

Based on their knowledge of the basics of 3D modeling, students will transfer their design skills from modeling to animation, like professionals. By the end of the week, students will understand key frames, facial expressions, character poses, object modeling, and the process of preparing for work.

Intro to 2D Animation & Digital Illustration

Intro to 2D Animation & Digital Illustration program will teach teens to use professional software, graphic design equipment, revitalize their characters, create professional illustrations, drawings. Students will leave the course with basic knowledge, experience in professional illustration, animation.

Participants will explore a professional animation pipeline, pay special attention to illustrative pre-production, and will use standard tools - Photoshop, Toon Boom Harmony.

By the end of the week, students will form a production package, a portfolio of illustrated works, apply development when shooting the final animation, and reproduce the processes used by industry professionals in large studios.

2D Animation Production & Character Development

This course will teach students how to be a production designer. Students will use Toon Boom Harmony, Adobe Photoshop, tools to create works of art, to create ready-to-work resources, to study the intricacies of finding themselves at an advanced production studio. They will acquire the skills necessary to become not only software professionals, but also industry professionals.

2D Animation Production will give potential animators, illustrators a direct experience as a production designer. Through the use of professional production tools, Toon Boom Harmony, Photoshop, students will go further than their passion for art and lay the foundation for a future career in 2D design.

Participants will develop a repertoire of ready-to-work assets (characters, backgrounds, props) that can be used as a high-level portfolio. Students will learn the advanced tools of X-Sheets, Node Viewers, make character figures, control the camera, and become effective production designers. Members use their passion for cartoons, illustrations, to start a career in 2D Animation Production.

Intro to Music Production with Ableton

The Intro to Music Production with Ableton course will teach participants how to create music using Ableton, learn everything about production, making music, working with audio equipment. Students will master the technical, creative skills of electronic music production, study the theory of music, rhythm, mixing, learn what makes the melody effective.

Young people will learn how to use professional music software to record their own musical ideas, to come up with, record a song from beginning to end. Topics covered include beat production, audio, MIDI recordings, wavetable synthesis, creative samples, mixing, mastering. Throughout the week, students will record original tracks, remixes, collages, remakes of popular songs using templates designed by teachers.

Music Production & Songwriting with Ableton

Music is a powerful part of human collective experience, actively expanding its borders thanks to technology. Young people will learn the creative process of writing songs, technical theory, the basics, the process of creating modern music, song creation, and composition using the Hookpad editor.

Later, participants will learn to combine different types of sounds inspired by musical styles, will record, edit live performance using Ableton Live 10. They will learn advanced methods of music production, sound engineering, will compose, produce their own song, apply advanced concepts of music production.

Intro to Filmmaking & Video Production with Premiere

Using the latest equipment, techniques, software, students will learn the intricacies of video production, make films using the Adobe Premiere editor, which is trusted by professionals.

Pupils master the basic principles of short film production: the structure of the script, camera functions, description of roles. Young people will train teamwork skills, make storyboards, direct, edit. Students will prepare two or three short films from beginning to end, will study various types of work, will receive constructive feedback, working in small teams of 3-5 people. Each student will edit their version of the project using material shot by the group.

Filmmaking & visual effects with after effects

Creation of modern video and film projects includes a lot of post-production work, which allows to achieve incredible visual impressions. Based on the students' knowledge of the basic principles of filmmaking, students will begin work starting with a short narrative project.

Pupils will shoot film projects of different genres - narration, music video, documentary, art and much more, will master the design of captions, basic visual effects, VFX using Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, and will begin the second short film. Young people will receive basic knowledge of sound design for the production of videos, films.

Adventures in animation

Participants in Adventures in Animation will make animated films, use the professional technical processes used by the animators Pixar, Cartoon Network, Disney. They use production methods such as timelines, keyframes, the Toon Boom Harmony application - the same software that was used to create Sponge Bob, many other popular cartoons. Participants will master teamwork, make friends who share common interests, and learn new methods of animation - “plasticine” processing, “human animation”. Pupils will take home a short animated film, share with family, friends.