SCAD Atlanta debuts game-changing, state-of-the art extended reality stage

Talk about setting your students up for success!

The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) announced the opening of the university’s second state-of-the-art extended reality (XR) stage for virtual productions at SCAD Atlanta’s recently expanded SCAD Digital Media Center. This is a really cool addition because we are seeing technology moving towards the virtual reality space. Extended reality (XR) technology represents an innovative advantage for SCAD students looking to get into professions in entertainment and digital media. The technology on this new stage combines live-action performance and real-time environments live on set, merging the real and virtual worlds. SCAD also has some bragging rights, as it is the only university in the world with two LED volumes with the opening of the SCAD Atlanta stage - which followed the opening of SCAD’s first XR stage at Savannah Film Studios in 2021. That’s not all - SCAD’s LED volumes are also the largest at any academic institution in the U.S., with this cutting-edge XR production technology available fully for student use.

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“Collaboration and innovation are two of the cornerstones that make SCAD the only film school in the country offering students the opportunity to create content on not one but now two LED volumes,” said SCAD School of Film and Acting dean Andra Reeve-Rabb in a press release. “Students from film and television, performing arts, production design, interactive design and game development, sound design, and visual effects have already begun collaborating in these industry-standard, cutting-edge spaces. Our students are working on professional sets all over Georgia because we train them to be working professionals in environments like these, singular only to SCAD.”

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Students recognize how big of an opportunity it is to be able to have access to SCAD Atlanta’s newest addition. “The greatest impact that the LED volume has on me as a student is the experience,” SCAD film and television senior Sean Hussey said in a press release. “No other students in the world have the opportunity to work as handson with this technology as we do here at SCAD, and that offers us such a strong advantage not only in the job market but also as filmmakers. That type of experience cannot be matched currently at this stage of my career, and I am grateful to SCAD and my professors for this incredible opportunity.”