Celebrating Digital Media with Atomic Robo: Last Stop film screening on “First Friday” and Digital Media Exhibit

The animated short Atomic Robo: Last Stop, a film adapted by a Lancaster firm, The Fictory, from the popular comic book series Atomic Robo will be screened during the First Friday Reception starting at 4 p.m. Film Screenings will be held at 4, 6 and 8 p.m. in the PCA&D Atrium. In conjunction with Pennsylvania College of Art & Design’s Digital Media – Realms of Possibility exhibit’s First Friday Reception, which will be held from 4 – 9 p.m. on Friday February 6, 204 North Prince Street, Lancaster.

The 4 p.m. of screening Atomic Robo: Last Stop will be followed by Q&A with Film Director Joseph W. Krzemienski and some of the film’s animators from The Fictory, including Jeff McComsey, a PCA&D alumnus, Riley Hearn, and Cortland Ellis. The film also features the work of PCA&D alumni Giles Crawford, Graey Erb, Steve Becker, and Mike Yakovlev.

The short film featured a new story inspired by the comics and done in 2D animation with some CG elements. The comic is the creation of writer Brian Clevinger, who wrote the first draft of the script, and artist Scott Wegener and is published by Canadian company Red 5 Comics. The Fictory, 45 N Market St, Lancaster, PA, worked with the comic’s creators in the development of the film.

Digital Media –Realms of Possibility features professional examples of artists utilizing digital technology to create and present their work. Artworks included in this exhibition will highlight the variety and potential of digital media, including: animation, sound, time-based media, 3-D modeling, game design and more. Additionally, there will be several interactive components to the exhibition, places for visitors to experiment, experience and create.

In addition to the work from the animation studio The Fictory, the exhibition showcases the work of:

•     LAIKA, an animation studio that produces both feature length and short films. PCA&D alumnus (’04) and 1997 Lampeter-Strasburg graduate Andrew Zubko, of LAIKA was “Face Wrangler” for the firm’s Oscar nominated film ParaNorman. LAIKA’s latest animated feature, The Boxtrolls, opened in theaters on September 26, 2014.
• Eric Boosman, PCA&D adjunct instructor teaching classes in animation and games and CEO and creative director at DarkTonic, a video game development studio. His work includes Dark Tonic’s forthcoming Super Dungeon Brawlers game.
• Paul Warne, cofounder of Hololabs, an award-winning development studio based in Montreal, Canada, specializing in digital media combining technology, creativity, and play. The firm developed Papercade is a free, creative, social game where players can craft storygames.
• Evan Roth, an American artist based in Paris whose practice visualizes and archives culture through unintended uses of technologies, and Roth’s work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Through this exhibit, PCA&D’s is exploring and celebrating PCA&D’s newest BFA program, Digital Media. At the start of the fall semester, more than a dozen students of the 67 incoming freshmen indicated that they wanted to be part of the first class enrolled in this program. Students majoring in digital media receive introductory and advanced training in this integrative and technology-driven field. Through lectures, demonstrations and studio work, students gain mastery in the principles of 3-D modeling, digital animation, digital audio and video production and gaming.

In addition to the First Friday Reception, the Digital Media: Realms of Possibility exhibit is open Mondays through Fridays, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through February 27. The exhibit is free and open to the public.