SCAD Atlanta has grown to have just over 2000 students enrolled, as of Fall 2011. As a result of this SCAD has made room for more students, staff and majors by branching out to buildings beyond 1600 Peachtree Street. Although some students have been going to SCAD Atlanta for some time, there are facilities and resources that remain unexplored by the majority of student body.
The Digital Media Center (DMC) is located at 1611 West Peachtree Street, about a 10-minute walk from the main building. Those who take classes at the DMC are mostly enrolled in the School of Film and Digital Media (SFDM), which includes interactive design and game development, animation, visual effects, television producing, and motion media graphics.
The DMC building, formerly a television station, opened in Fall 2009. “We have a full on professional television studio,” said Professor James Arnold, who is also the television producing program coordinator. “The screening room is acoustically treated, has a theatre sound system and presentation space.” He went on to add that they have a special game room that students utilize to deconstruct and understand how game movements work.
Students from the SFDM are happy that their specific program needs are catered to at the DMC. “The thing I like most about the DMC is you have all the software programs that you need on one computer,” said Khoa Nguyen, third-year interactive design and game development major. “A lot of computers in the main building are not geared towards game development.” Saiharoi Hunter second-year animation agrees, “The animation tables are over here and we have super scanners that scan 20 pictures at one time.”
Students would also like to see the resources available at the DMC continue to grow. “I would love for the school to finish the second floor of the building,” said Al James, fourth-year motion media and second-year animation major. “We need to see high resolution on larger screens, which is really important for our major,” Evan Nyquisti, fourth-year motion media major added.
There are resources at the DMC that can be taken advantage of by students from other majors. For those interested in renting out camera equipment, or if you want to know more about using the television studio, you can go to the equipment checkout room on the third floor of the DMC.