Students currently in 8th-11th grades may apply for High School Arts Instruction.

The Media Arts Department at NOCCA spans the fields of Filmmaking, Animation and Music Production. Our curriculum gives an introductory framework in each of these general areas, while also allowing students to work on personalized projects based on individual aesthetics, professional goals, and conceptual interests. NOCCA Media Arts students have worked in Motion Graphics, 2-D Game Design, Frame-by-Frame Animation, 3-D Modeling and Animation, Stop Motion, Screenplay Development, Color-Grading, Film-Acting Techniques, Film Pre-Production, Graphic Design, Visual Language, Film-Acting, Pre-Production, Storyboarding, Representation in Film, Directing Actors, Audio Engineering, Studio Techniques, Live-Sound and Studio-Sound Mixing, DAW Music Production, Vinyl Production, Music Composition, Scoring, Sound Design, and Post-Sound Mixing.

Media Arts houses a professional recording studio with a green screen, lighting, and multiple PC and Mac computer labs with drawing tablets running industry-standard software including the Adobe Suite, Ableton Live, Dragon Frame, Clip Studio and Avid Pro Tools Studio. Students are able to utilize (both on-and-off campus) professional-grade DSLR’s, Cinema Cameras, lighting rigs, portable audio recording equipment, and studio-grade audio interfaces. Media Arts annually updates equipment to reflect the ever-evolving state of our creative fields.

Admission to the Media Arts program is based on the application and audition. Students who complete the application on time will be scheduled for an audition. The audition consists of a portfolio review and interview.

Include with your completed application:
Upload:

• • Select a piece of media created by someone else (film, song, game, animation, etc) that
    inspires you, and write a short paragraph about why.
  • A portfolio that includes any 3 of the following (can have more than 1 of each type): short film,
    photo story, storyboard, comic, illustration that tells a story, screenplay, electronic or recorded music, music video, short animation, animatic or video game.

Your portfolio should ONLY include your 3 strongest works, finished or unfinished.

The strength of your work will be largely analyzed based on Media Arts’ roots as a time based medium. Therefore, demonstrating one’s understanding of how story, character, space and/or tone develop over time is an essential element of the portfolio. We are looking for originality, creativity, curiosity, and a passion for storytelling.

All applicants are ranked based on a score from their audition. Class sizes are limited, and admittance to NOCCA goes to the top-ranked students. Placement into levels is determined at the discretion of the Media Arts faculty.

In addition to individual department requirements, all applicants will:

• • Upload to the application a 1-2 minute video of the applicant answering the question, “Why do I want to train at NOCCA?"
  • Upload to the application a copy of the most recent report card. Applicants must have at least a 2.0 GPA.
  • Be prepared with the email of an adult who is not related to you to complete your recommendation. Your recommender will receive an email from Acceptd with a link to fill out a recommendation form online.