School of Media, Culture & Design

Our Programs

The School of Media : Culture : Design is a thriving, dynamic school offering many challenging degree paths designed to cultivate the next generation of creative professionals.

Animation + VFX

Bachelor of Fine Arts | BFA

Located in the heart of the animation industry near studios like Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, the program teaches hand-drawn, stop motion, and computer-based animation techniques. In a studio environment, students learn to produce their own films rich in characters and worlds, many of which have been selected for international animation film festivals.

Animation + VFX program

Applied CS – Media Arts

Bachelor of Science | B.S.

This is an art and technology hybrid degree focusing on emerging digital practices as a tool to innovate within the fields of digital design, entertainment, and media arts. This STEM degree transitions students into technological innovators and professionals who possess the ability to generate innovative design solutions using cutting-edge technologies.

Applied CS – Media Arts

Fashion Design

Bachelor of Fine Arts | BFA

Fashion Design students learn to produce original fashion designs and develop unique collections in womenswear, menswear, swimwear, knitwear, activewear, or tailoring. Classwork and senior collections are showcased in a professional fashion runway show, giving students an in-depth experience of the profession and preparing them for the industry.

Fashion Design Program

Filmmaking, BFA

Bachelor of Fine Arts | BFA

The Filmmaking program prepares graduates for careers in film, television, and web programming. Students learn film production, screenwriting, editing, sound, cinematography, directing, producing, and film marketing and distribution within a few miles of major entertainment studios, providing a host of industry resources and networking connections.

Filmmaking, BFA Program

Filmmaking, BA

Bachelor of Arts | BA

Woodbury’s Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Filmmaking is a professional liberal arts degree that places emphasis on the study of film through a focus on the entertainment industry. Our students engage with film from multiple angles: as an art form for communicating ideas, as a business for selling cultural products, and as a technology for creating memorable moving images.

Filmmaking, BA Program

Game Art & Design

Bachelor of Fine Arts | BFA

Students learn how to design and develop video games through 2D & 3D art, animation, programming, sound design, story development and game design. Game Art focuses on 2-D and 3-D character art, environmental design, and animation. Game Design focuses on ideation, gameplay development, prototyping, narrative design and world building.

Game and Art Design Program

Experience Design

Bachelor of Design | BDes

Ranked as one of the top programs nationally by GDUSA Magazine, the program teaches the art of visual communication. Studying with nationally recognized faculty, students create projects in branding, publication, entertainment, advertising, packaging, web, app, and motion design, and have won over 100 national and international awards in these areas.

Experience Design Program

Design Foundation

Core Studies in Drawing and Design

Students learn core color, composition, design and drawing skills to establish a foundation that prepares them for their major studies and various other creative professions. Foundation courses develop perceptual, conceptual and technical skills for visualizing ideas and multiple forms of self-expression. The interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary curriculum instills confidence so students can engage the vast and ever-changing world of creative professions.

Find out who we are

The School of Media : Culture : Design is a thriving, dynamic school offering many challenging degree paths designed to cultivate the next generation of creative professionals. Watch to learn more about who we are and what we do.

Interdisciplinary Environment

By bringing together diverse fields in the areas of media, culture and design, our programs provide innovative learning opportunities in an interdisciplinary environment. The school encompasses seven undergraduate programs in the fields of animation, fashion design, filmmaking, game art and design, graphic design, media studies, and psychology. Students are encouraged to explore the areas between and around these disciplines as they develop their personal vision and professional paths. Graphic Design students might select a consumer behavior course in psychology to better understand the factors that influence purchasing decisions. Fashion Design students may be interested in exploring costuming in the filmmaking department. Game Art & Design students might connect with Animation to create intriguing characters for their games. Animation students might look to the psychology department to understand the power of stories to influence thoughts and behaviors. Our Media Studies department provides a cultural context for all of these connections, from visual communication to verbal and nonverbal social interactions to the examination of social and ethical entailments of rapidly evolving technological innovation. In the School of Media : Culture : Design, students are able to realize their educational objectives within a creative nexus that fully embraces, informs and enriches their academic journey.

Portfolio Mentor Initiative

Are you looking to develop your design and drawing skills and create work for your college entrance portfolio? Get friendly advice on improving your portfolio from an art professional at Woodbury University. Take a look at our portfolio requirements, review our mentor bios, and use the form at the bottom of the Portfolio Mentor Initiative page to sign up to be connected with one of our mentors.

Portfolio Mentor Initiative

The Academy Gold Rising Production Track

Woodbury University current students and graduates from the last two years are now eligible to apply for the Academy Gold Rising Production Track!

This exciting program focuses on cinematography, costume design, film editing, production design, sound, and visual effects. Individuals in this track will have the opportunity to get hands-on experience shooting on a soundstage, as well as possible on set experience, health and safety regulations permitting.

Learn More About The Program

Faculty Directory

Our faculty are accomplished caring academics and professionals dedicated to supporting the success of students throughout their academic journey. They bring their professional expertise to students and work closely with them to teach the skills and theory required to enter professional practice or pursue advanced study. Through this individual attention, we foster close mentoring relationships between faculty and students in a supportive and encouraging environment.

Faculty Directory

FILMMAKING | Dr. Nicole Keating

Dr. Nicole Keating Speaks at Popular Culture Association Conference

Dr. Keating presented a paper entitled “Sorry Honey, I’m not in the Ads but I’m Real: The Missing Black Housewife in Housewife Humor” as part of a panel on “Gender and Comedy” at the Popular Culture Association Conference in New Orleans, LA in April of 2025. In this intersectional analysis, Dr. Keating examines the aspects of oppression elided by the seemingly enlightened genre of housewife humor, paving the way for more inclusive awareness.

Dr. Nicole Keating Works on LIFER Documentary Project

Dr. Nicole Keating was on sabbatical during Academic year 2018/19. One highlight of her sabbatical was working as a documentarian and academic advisor for the documentary theatre project LIFER: Life Stories from the Inside/Out.

LIFER is a documentary theatre venture of TheatreWorkers Project, in association with Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA and in collaboration with The Francisco Homes (transitional housing for men on parole from life sentences). For these LIFER projects, formerly incarcerated men participated in a series of creative workshops in performance and dramatic writing. This work culminated in a staged reading of life stories, written and performed by the formerly incarcerated men themselves as they engaged in reentry and rehabilitation. LIFER was conceived and produced by Susie Tanner, and directed by James Macdonald. Keating became involved in the project through her previous affiliation with Susie Tanner on theatre for social justice projects.

Keating worked on two performances emerging from the LIFER project: Found Suitable in the fall of 2017 (featuring four participants) and On the Brink in the fall of 2018 (featuring seven participants). Keating documented the workshops and performances through videography (edited into highlight reels and full recordings) and still photography. This documentation was required by the funding organizations (California Humanities, a partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the California Arts Council through a Reentry through the Arts grant), but it also became part of the creative process as participants were able to view their performances through photos and video documentation. The documentation was also essential for archival and promotional purposes. As an academic advisor, Keating also provided background research as needed and contributed to project development. Through this work, Keating became a part of the documentary theatre troupe and was fully integrated into this dynamic community of artists and healers. These performances (Found Suitable and On the Brink) demonstrated the transformative power of dramatic performance. In the words of one audience member: “It was seven stories, it was one story, it was my story, it was our story.”

Additionally, on the Found Suitable performance, Keating collaborated with Brandon Muse, Woodbury’s IT Distance Education Specialist, collecting and editing a significant amount of footage that is intended to be used for a documentary on the LIFER project; this documentary remains a work in progress.

Performances of Found Suitable:
Ensemble Studio Theatre (August 2017)
Freedom Festival at Los Angeles City College (September 2017)
Francisco Homes (September 2017)
Loyola Marymount University (October 2017)

Performances of On the Brink:
LA Trade Tech (November 2018)
|Cal State LA (November 2018)
University of Southern California (November 2018)
Ensemble Studio Theatre (November 2018)

For more information on the LIFER project, see https://calhum.org/lifers-stories-from-the-inside-out-project-director-interview/

Dr. Nicole Keating Produces Documentary on Civic Engagement Project

Faculty, Dr. Nicole Keating co-produced a documentary called We Can Build on This: Architecture and Civic Engagement, along with architecture faculty member Jeanine Centuori, and directed by Woodbury alumnus Justin Mickens. The documentary presents the Outdoor Classroom at John Muir Middle School which was selected as a finalist in the “Learn by Design” competition at SXSW EDU 2018. Dr. Keating presented the film at SXSW EDU 2018 in Austin, TX, along with Greg Miller, Principal of John Muir Middle School, Burbank. We Can Build on This was also screened at the AMPS Conference (Architecture, Media, Politics and Society) at the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ and the Summit on Women and Wellbeing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. https://www.sxswedu.com/news/2018/announcing-competition-finalists/.

ANIMATION

Animation Student Films Selected for Screenings at International Film Festivals

Brandon Swofford | Happy the Angry Polar Bear
Gold Winner – Best Short Animation, Queens Palm International Film Festival

Wes Taimuty| Iron Sails
Award of Merit – Documentary Short, Impact Docs Documentary Film Festival

Chris Castillo | Vigilante
Palm Springs International Film Festivaland Comic-Con 2018 San Diego

Tucker Joneson and Andrew Hill | Hero
Palm Springs International Film Festivaland Comic-Con 2018 San Diego

Dani Bowman| The Audition
Palm Springs International Film Festivaland Comic-Con 2018 San Diego

Madison Shafer| Sasquatch Out!
Palm Springs International Film Festivaland Comic-Con 2018 San Diego

Sean Casey| Fly!
Palm Springs International Film Festivaland Comic-Con 2018 San Diego

FASHION DESIGN

Garment from Yvan Tran’s senior collection.

Fashion Design Student Wins California Fashion Foundation Scholarship

Fashion Design student Yvan Tran has been chosen as the winner of the 2018 California Fashion Foundation Scholarship Award. Administered by the California Fashion Association (CFA) and sponsored by the YMA National Fashion Scholarship Fund, the program is intended to provide information for expansion and growth to the apparel and textile industry of California, and honors future fashion design innovators with scholarship awards.

FILMMAKING

Filmmaking Student Wins Best Student Film at International Film Festival

Alumnus Miguel Chavez’s film won the award for Best Student Film at the Pasadena International Film Festival. Entitled The Voices They Hear, the crime film tells the story of a young man escaping from a murderer. Miguel has already landed his first job at Paramount. Congratulations Miguel!

GAME ART & DESIGN

Game Art Student “Models a Job”

Rich Deione is a Game Art & Design senior, specializing in 3D character design. He created this Gunslinger model in his “spare time” last summer, and was recently hired by 3D art studio Sinful Monarchy https://www.sinfulmonarchy.com/. Congratulations Rich!

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Banner design concept by Tuan Le. — **Banner design concept by Tuan Le**

Graphic Design Student Portfolio to be Published in Communication Arts Magazine

Graphic Design student, Tuan Le has been selected to have his work published in the prestigious Communication Arts Magazine Student Showcase. This is the second time in five years that a Woodbury student has been accepted for the Student Showcase. It is a worldwide competition in which students are selected from over 200 finalist’s portfolios. Students are chosen by the editors for the quality of their conceptual thinking and the meticulous execution of their craft. Since 1959, Communication Arts has published the best in visual communications from around the world.

Graphic Design Students Win National Design Awards

In fall 2019, three Woodbury students won American Graphic Design Awards from GDUSA Magazine, bringing the total award count to 119 in the last decade. Nya Walker, Alexia Cortez, and Sam Peralta each won national honors for identity design, poster design, and app design developed in the classes of faculty Behnoush McKay, Rebekah Albrecht, and Rolando Borjorquez. More than 10,000 entries were submitted with a highly selective 10% chosen.

Graphic Design Students Named as 2019 “Students to Watch” by GDUSA Magazine.

Graphic Design USA, the industry’s leading publication, has released its annual roster of next-gen talent — as the publication says, “top students ready to burst on to the design scene.”

Gracing the latest “Students To Watch” feature are Woodbury seniors Ashley McFadden and Ibrahim Alfaraidy. “’Students to Watch’ has become a tradition that resonates and renews,” said Gordon Kaye, GDUSA Editor. “Rising talent gets recognized and the professional creative community gets refreshed.” The February, 2019 edition of GDUSA Magazine showcases the institutions that nurture these students along with the 78 students themselves.

Ibrahim Alfairady Ashely McFadden

Graphic Design Students Express Poetry Through Typography

Poem: Terrestrial Destiny, A Dusty Dream. Poetry by Malahat Zhobin, designed by Ibrahim Alfaraidy.

Call and Response is a collaboration between BFA Graphic Design students at Woodbury University and MFA Creative Writing students at Mount Saint Mary’s University. Poets in Professor Johnny Payne’s long-form poetry/virtual reality course produced experimental poetry in the Fall of 2017. In the Spring of 2018, Professor Cate Roman’s Typography 3 course seized on excerpts from those poems to create visual experiences that illuminate each poem. With support from both MSMU and Woodbury’s Agency for Civic Engagement (ACE), Cate is creating a limited edition printed book of all the poems and images. The project will continue on with a reading/exhibition at MSMU and there are two more planned readings/exhibitions at Sacred Heart Church, Altadena and Harvard Westlake Middle School, Los Angeles.