| Full Sail Real World Education | |
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| Established | 1979 |
| Type: | For-profit |
| President: | Garry Jones |
| Staff: | 1,044 |
| Students: | 5,000 |
| Location | Winter Park, Florida, USA |
| Campus: | Suburban (178 acres) |
| Website: | fullsail.com |
Full Sail Real World Education is a private university located in Winter Park, Florida, geared toward the entertainment industry and known for its around-the-clock schedule. It offers degree programs in Computer Animation, Digital Arts & Design, Entertainment Business, Film, Game Development, Music Business, Recording Arts, and Show Production & Touring. Full Sail awards associate's, bachelor's degrees, and master's degrees after 12 to 21 months of an accelerated education. The school is owned by Full Sail, Inc.
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History
Full Sail was founded by Jon Phelps in 1979 as a recording studio workshop. A Film program was added in 1988, and the school was accredited to award specialized associate’s degrees in 1990. A third degree in Digital Media was added in 1995, followed by Game Design and Show Production & Touring in 1998. Full Sail received additional accreditation in 1998, allowing the school to issue associate of science degrees, and 1999 saw the addition of a Computer Animation associate’s degree. In 2003, Full Sail added its first bachelor’s degree in Entertainment Business (designed to be combined with an additional Full Sail associate’s degree), followed quickly by the Game Design & Development program. The company was originally called Full Sail Recorders, Inc., subsequently Full Sail Center for the Recording Arts, and finally the name was changed to Full Sail, Inc. in 2000.[1] In 2005, three programs – Computer Animation, Digital Arts & Design (formerly Digital Media), and Film – were expanded and accredited to be offered as Bachelor of Science degrees. In 2007, the Entertainment Business Bachelor's Degree Program was altered to become the Music Business Bachelor of Science Degree Program[2], and the school introduced its first master's program, in Entertainment Business[3]. In June of 2007, a Graphic Design Associate of Science Degree was announced [4]. In August of 2007, Full Sail announced its first online degree program - an online version of the Entertainment Business Master's Degree[5].
Academics
Degree Programs
As of October 2007, Full Sail is offering the following degree programs: Campus:
Master of Science in Entertainment Business
Bachelor of Science in Computer Animation
Bachelor of Science in Digital Arts & Design
Bachelor of Science in Film
Bachelor of Science in Game Art
Bachelor of Science in Game Development
Bachelor of Science in Music Business
Bachelor of Science in Web Design & Development
Associate of Science in Recording Arts
Associate of Science in Show Production & Touring
Associate of Science in Graphic Design
Online:
Master of Science in Entertainment Business
Master of Science in Education Media Design & Technology
Bachelor of Science in Entertainment Business
Full Sail has become known for offering an “accelerated” education – the school’s degree programs can be completed in less than half the time of a typical college degree – the associate’s programs are 12 months long, the bachelor’s programs are 21 months long, and the master's programs range from 12-13 months long.
Scheduling
Full Sail has gained a reputation for having a challenging lab and class schedule. The school essentially operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with students in class or lab for 4 hours at a time; lectures generally take place between the hours of 9:00am and 9:00pm, while labs run throughout the day. Full Sail’s degree programs start monthly. Throughout the course of a program, the average Full Sail student will have two courses at one time, with one course occurring on three days a week and the other course occurring on two. This course load can fluctuate, however, according to the student’s program and month. Courses are generally four weeks long, but some are longer, and new courses start every four weeks. This schedule allows Full Sail a fluid, if intense, operating method. If a student fails a course for poor grades (as opposed to poor attendance), they can take the course over again the following month at no additional cost, as long as the schedule for the degree is maintained. If a student fails a class for poor attendance, however, they must pay the course cost again to retake it.
Costs
Unlike many colleges, Full Sail’s tuition prices cover all expenses for a degree program. Course manuals (sometimes created by the school for the specific courses) for all classes are provided at no additional cost, and any art supplies or other materials are provided at no cost upon entering the course requiring them. Tuition costs range from $33,000 to $80,000(this increase starts in January of 2008) for the entire degree program due to a slight increase in tuition rates, course materials and books included. In 2007, the school introduced a new program called Apple Launch Box - every non-Game Development student in the school now receives an Apple Mac Book Pro with software relevant to their degree program [6][7]. The cost of this computer is an institutional fee which can range from $2,200 to $2,800, depending on the program and software configuration. This cost is separate from tuition, as students possessing a laptop of equal or higher value are permitted to opt-out of the Launch Box program. Game Development students receive a Windows-based laptop with all software necessary for the course, but its cost is not included in tuition.
Student life
Student life, like the school itself, is different from a typical college. Since a new class starts every month, classmates who start at the same time frequently stay together throughout the program. Class sizes vary from 20 to 85 students, with a maximum number of 120 students in classes where students from different degree programs are combined.
There are several groups and clubs within the different degree programs of the school, each oriented toward student interests. Students in the relevant degree program generally manage the groups, with an instructor providing support.
Full Sail does not have on-campus student housing. Most students live within 5 miles of the school in apartment complexes in the immediate area, often with roommates. The school has a housing department, which provides prospective students with information about local apartment complexes, and keeps track of students who are looking for roommates.
Notable Full Sail alumni & productions
Full Sail alumni have contributed to the following projects, among others:
Games
- Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, - Justin Drust, Sound Designer: Red Storm Entertainment [8]
- Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault - Chance Glasco, Animator: Infinity Ward [9]
- The Godfather: The Game, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath - Jameson Durall, Associate Game Designer: EA Redwood Shores [10]
- Madden NFL 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
- NCAA Football 2006, 2007
- Resistance: Fall of Man, Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal - Shaun McCabe, Sound Programmer: Insomniac Games [11]
- Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach - Nina Straccialini, Lead Technical Artist: Turbine, Inc. [12]
- Dark Age of Camelot - Arturo Pulecio, Character Animator: EA Mythic [13]
- Wolfenstein Next-gen (in development), Quake IV - Jim Shepard, Gameplay Programmer: Raven Software [14]
- The Matrix Online - Maegan Walling, Character Artist: Monolith Productions [15]
- The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, Asheron's Call 2: Fallen Kings - Chris Clay, Game System Designer: Turbine, Inc. [16]
- Rise of Nations and Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends - David Clyde, Programmer: Big Huge Games [17] and Jason Jurecka, Programmer: Big Huge Games [18]
TV & Movies
- The Lord of the Rings film trilogy - David Farmer, Sound Designer [19][20]
- Batman Begins
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - Micheal Comly, Lighter [21][22]
- Spider-Man 2 - Michael Comly, Technical Director [23][24]
- Superman Returns - Michael Comly, Technical Director [25][26]
- X2: X-Men United - Micheal Comly, Digital Artist [27][28]
- The Matrix Revolutions - Micheal Comly, Technical Director [29][30]
- Crash - Marc Fishman, Sound Re-Recording Mixer [31][32]
- Good Night, and Good Luck
- King Kong David Farmer, Sound Designer [33][34]
- Larry the Cable Guy, filmed in the Orlando area and in Full Sail sound stages
- Lost - Steve Cainas, Production Coordinator [35] [36]
- Memoirs of a Geisha
- Saw II and Saw III - Darren Lynn Bousman, director [37]
- Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones - Digital Model Development and Construction Artist: Industrial Light & Magic [38]
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - Tim Naylor, Lead Creature Technical Director: Industrial Light & Magic [39]
- Hulk - Tim Naylor, Creature Rigger: Industrial Light & Magic [40]
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - Tim Naylor, Creature Technical Director: Industrial Light & Magic [41]
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Tim Naylor, Lead Creature Developer: Industrial Light & Magic [42]
- Dr. Phil (TV series)
- The Day After Tomorrow - Tim Naylor, Creature Rigger: Industrial Light & Magic [43]
- Transformers - Tim Naylor, Creature Supervisor: Industrial Light & Magic [44]
- War of the Worlds
- Five Across The Eyes - Greg Swinson, director [45]
- Nickelodeon Slimetime
- Nickelodeon Splat!
- Nickelodeon UPick
- Entertainment Tonight
- Spike TV's Most Extreme Challenge
- MTV's Making the Band 3
- Animal Planet's Eukanuba Dog Show
- Hogan Knows Best
- American Idol
- On Air with Ryan Seacrest
Music
- We Belong Together - Mariah Carey
- Breakaway - Kelly Clarkson
- Indigenous Species - Lo Presher
- This Love - Maroon 5
- So Amazing - Stevie Wonder and Beyoncé
Views of Full Sail
Industry recognition
- In 1996, Full Sail was named the “Most Innovative Program” by the Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools and Colleges (FAPSC).
- In January 2003, Electronic Gaming Monthly named Full Sail the third best game-degree program in the world, placing behind DigiPen and the University of Advancing Technology but ahead of The Art Institutes and Academy of Interactive Entertainment.
- In August 2005, Rolling Stone magazine named Full Sail "one of the 5 best music programs" in the country, noting the school's training in music production, engineering, and show production. The other schools in this list included Berklee College of Music, USC Thornton School of Music, Oberlin College, and Juilliard School.
- Also in 2005, UNleashed Magazine named Full Sail’s Film program as one of the 5 “best film schools,” alongside New York University (NYU), UCLA, American Film Institute (AFI), and Vancouver Film School (VFS).
- Additional recognition for the school has come from Shift Magazine, which called the school the “third best new media school in the world,” behind the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and New York University (NYU).
- In 2005, Rolling Stone publications released Schools that Rock: The Rolling Stone College Guide, which named Full Sail as having the “#3 Music Business Department,” behind only New York University (NYU) and Belmont.
Accreditation
Full Sail is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology, which is a national accreditor of primarily vocational schools and career schools within the United States. Most four year colleges and universities in the U.S. are regionally accredited, and do not recognize national accreditation such as ACCSCT (see [46]). Regional accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools would be required for Full Sail credits to be transferable to traditional four-year colleges throughout the United States. Requirements for regional accreditation would involve switching to a more conventional semester-hours based schedule, requiring a wider variety of general education credits, and utilizing teaching faculty with Master's or Doctorate degrees (see [47]).
Notable alumni
Some notable Full Sail alumni:
- Darren Lynn Bousman - Director Saw 2,3 and 4
- J.D. Harmeyer - Media Producer on the Howard Stern Radio Show
- Jon-Josef Miller - Owner/Head Engineer/Producer of Jon Boii Productions, LLC. mixed and produced for artists such as, most recently Yung Joc on his album Hustlenomics, Khia, D4L, and Squad Up
- Brandon Patterson - Programmer for Midway, co-founder of Escape Sequence Games
- Phil Tan - mixing engineer for Mariah Carey, Gwen Stefani, Snoop Dogg, etc.
- Malcolm Thomas-Gustave - Cloth TD at Sony Pictures Imageworks (Currently on Beowulf)
- Jayson Whitmore - motion graphics artist for Nickelodeon, VH1, Bravo, Madonna's The Re-Invention Tour
- The LyonHart - Hip-Hop Recording Artist, producer and Creator of website, WayTooHip.com
- Jason Steele- Well-known filmmaker of Charlie the Unicorn fame, creator of FilmCow.com
- Kip Gire - Art Lead for Midway Games and High Voltage Software, founder of Luma Studios
- Nick and Brian Whitemire - Animator and Editor for Blur studios.
Full Sail maintains a website with notable industry activity by alumni, called Grads on the Move.
Notable faculty
Notable faculty members include:
- Dave Arneson - Co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons and co-founder of Zeitgeist Games.
- Richard S. Wright, Jr - Co-author of the OpenGL Super Bible (ISBN 0-672-32601-9).
- Dustin Clingman - Head of the Orlando IGDA chapter and co-founder of Zeitgeist Games.
- Christopher M. Murray - Autodesk Training Specialist for 3DS Max (one of 19 such instructors world wide) and veteran production artist, and author of Mastering 3DS Max (ISBN 0-7821-2561-1) for Sybex Publishing.
References
- Full Sail Catalog
- Dave Scheiber, Showbiz U, St. Petersburg Times, February 17, 2003.
- Apple and Full Sail Initiate "Project LaunchBox" MacDailyNews, May 3, 2007.
