Resources
Conversations at the Edge
Conversations at the Edge is a dynamic weekly series of screenings, performances, and talks by groundbreaking media artists.
Gene Siskel Film Center
Renamed in honor of the late film critic in 2000, the Gene Siskel Film Center presents approximately 1,500 screenings and 100 guest artist appearances year to over 65,000 film enthusiasts at its unique, sophisticated, modern facilities which have been operating since June 2001 at 164 N. State Street.
Video Data Bank
Founded at SAIC in 1976 at the inception of the media arts movement, the Video Data Bank (VDB) is a leading resource in the United States for video by and about contemporary artists. The VDB’s collection has grown to include the work of more than 600 artists and 6,000 video art titles.
VDB is dedicated to fostering awareness and scholarship of the history and contemporary practice of video and media art through its distribution, education, and preservation programs.
Available Equipment
Within the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Film, Video, New Media, and Animation department, you will have access to our production studios and the following equipment and facilities:
- RED camera package
- Blackmagic URSA Mini 4.6k cameras
- Blackmagic Pocket Cinema cameras
- Sony PXW-Z100 cameras
- Sony Alpha a7S II cameras
- Canon 5D Mark III cameras
- Canon 60D and 7D cameras
- Arriflex SR2 Super 16mm and 16mm Éclair and Bolex 16mm motion picture cameras and accessories
- Sound Devices and Zoom audio recorders
- Neumann, Sennheiser, AT, and EV microphones
- Vocal Booth (sound booth)
- ProTools 5.1 surround sound mix suite
- Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro editing systems
- 3 advanced editing labs with 8 core Mac Pros
- Sandin Image Processor analog video synthesis system
- Analog to ProRes file transfer and transcoding room&
- Advanced HD editing suites
- Advanced animation digital suites with Wacom displays
- 2 puppet animation studios
- Steenbeck flatbed editing machines
- JK and Oxberry optical printers
- Oxberry animation stand
- Mobile Dragon Stop Motion Animation carts
- 2 shooting studios including a Green screen cyclorama studio
- Mole-Richardson and Arri portable lighting kits
- 3 post-production labs
- 16mm and Super 8 HD telecine suite
- 2 Installation Studios and our 52 seat Flaxman Screening theater
Resources Available to all SAIC Students Include:
Libraries and Special Collections
Unique access to important libraries and special collections including a world-class museum.
Media Centers
The media centers provide audiovisual equipment and services to accommodate documentation, creation, instructional, and exhibition needs.
Gallery Spaces
The SAIC campus showcases a diversity of student artwork across multiple exhibition venues. Students can propose to exhibit their work in a variety of formats and locations.
Visiting Artists Program
Public lectures are presented by world-renowned visiting artists, designers, and scholars. Speakers meet with students through studio visits, roundtable discussions, seminars, and workshops.
Instructional Shops
From bedazzlers to sewing machines, from traditional wood/metalworking to CNC milling, the SAIC Instructional Shops are facilities that have the resources to help you realize your projects. The shops are equipped with a wide range of hand, power, and stationary tools.
What the City of Chicago has to Offer:
World class museums and galleries
Since the late 19th century, when the museum collection of the Art Institute was established as a study center for the School of the Art Institute, students have used the museum's vast holdings to inspire and inform their creative and scholarly practices. No other school of art and design can claim such a major museum as part of their campus.
Unparalleled architecture
A living laboratory of the study of late 19th- and 20th-century architecture, landscapes, and interiors—the development of the Chicago school of commercial architecture, the flowering of the Prairie style house, the progression of the City Beautiful movement in urban planning.
