With the school year coming to an end, it’s time for Durham College’s (DC)  summer camps to kick off again. DC’s summer camps are for individuals aged seven and over offering a diverse range of programming in sports, general interest, technology and the arts.

One of the most popular activities is the Summer Shorts program, which starts on Monday, July 7 and runs for three weekly sessions. Teens aged 13 to 17 can choose from one of five different weeklong workshops: Game Development, Animation Studio, Digital Design, Digital Video or Digital Photo.

“Summer Shorts is offered through the School of Media, Art & Design at Durham College and is geared towards teenagers,” said Megan Pickell, Summer Shorts program co-ordinator. “They are studio-based workshops that are versions of the full-time college programs.”

“Students will work in our state-of-the-art studios with the latest software and classes are small with no tests or assignments. By the end of the week, students will have created, designed or produced great work for their portfolios!”

The Game Development workshop focuses on the concepts of modelling, basic game theory and rendering, while the Animation Studio workshops concentrates on teaching the art of storytelling, character development, rendering and the principles of animation.

The new Digital Design workshop is perfect for students with artistic flair. Throughout the week, they will be introduced to the world of graphic design, using conventional drawing techniques and ideas and incorporating them into a digital space. They will be using the latest version of Adobe Creative suite, with emphasis on Illustrator and Photoshop, to tackle a multitude of tasks including logo creation, branding techniques and packaging design.

For students more interested in capturing images, the Digital Photo and Digital Video workshops provide a great option. Through access to industry-level equipment, attendees will learn the basic composition and post-production editing skills needed for their portfolio pieces.

Recent graduates and/or college faculty assist the attendees’ creation of portfolio-ready projects by the end of each week of the workshops.

Summer Shorts workshops will be operating during the weeks of July 7 to 11, July 14 to 18 and July 21 to 25.  For more information or to register online, visit the Summer Shorts website.