Art Center Film Department

Project: Art Center Film Department

www.artcenterfilm.com/
Launched on July 8, 2008
Education / Non-Profit

The Art Center Film Department is one of the many programs available through the Art Center College of Design located in Pasadena California. The faculty aims “to create a new generation of filmmakers who are leaders in their field, through a comprehensive visual arts education, hallmarked by a deep understanding of every aspect of filmmaking.” Class sizes for the program are kept small in order to foster mentoring relationships between faculty and students, and to ensure students receive individual attention. Even though the Film Program already had a presence on the current Art Center web site, staff and faculty felt the program could be making more impact on the Web with its own site.

When they approached Hop Studios with the idea of creating an independent site for the Film Department it was important to note it was intended to supplement the program presence on the Art Center’s web site, retaining the style of the Art Center identity, but using web technologies to build something more interactive, fun, and exciting. They needed something of their own to showcase and promote the program’s strengths and features, as well as to target an audience of students, past, present and future.

The new site is built in ExpressionEngine because staff needed a tool they could use to maintain the site without being web experts. There is both an easily updateable news section and a showcase section to highlight and feature student work. The design retains the feel of the main Art Center web site but has a unique look of it’s own. A flash animation was created from photographs taken of students and faculty of the film program and is part of the right sidebar on the site.