The report reviewed and approved at the Third Congress of the Communist Party of China at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, serving as the action guide for the STA's work in the coming period, clearly sets forth the goal of "being a pioneer among art schools in the journey of Chinese-style modernization”.
The report points out that a new wave of technological and industrial revolutions, marked by big data, artificial intelligence, and the metaverse, is reshaping the art ecosystem. As a distinctive and prestigious higher art institution, the Shanghai Theatre Academy must undertake future-oriented disciplinary and major explorations with greater speed, positivity and strength, reform talent cultivation models, and keep pace with the times.
In the context of the era of artificial intelligence, how can the Shanghai Theatre Academy actively promote the transformation and development of art education? While contemplating this question of the times, the STAers have also embarked on valuable practical explorations.
The "Three-Year Action Plan for Curriculum and Textbook Construction of the Shanghai Theatre Academy (2024-2026)" is a document that will soon be officially introduced to all faculty and staff.
Although the document has not yet been released, relevant departments of the university indicate that it clearly signals STA's active planning and layout, leveraging the historical advantages of STA's education and teaching to establish the "One Leading and Three Integrations" construction system.
"One Leading and Three Integrations" means leading with ideological and political education, promoting the integration of disciplines, the integration of science and art, and the integration of industry and education, comprehensively advancing a new round of educational and teaching reforms, and forming a new model of innovative talent cultivation.
In the "Science -Art Integration" section, the focus will be on the construction of the "Future Theatre Studies" discipline, integrating "Artificial Intelligence + Art" at the undergraduate, master's and doctoral levels. This will explore a new triadic intelligent teaching model of teacher-machine-student interaction, where "teachers guide, students take initiative and AI enters the classroom," creating AI application scenarios and constructing new forms of human-machine collaborative art education.
"Artificial Intelligence and Teaching" Exchange and Research Meeting
With the deep integration of drama and film creation methods with artificial intelligence technology and the continuous expansion of the cultural digital industry, higher art institutions urgently need to build corresponding professional training systems. To meet this demand, two new majors, "Intelligent Image Creation" and "Digital Performing Arts Design," have officially entered the application process.
The "Intelligent Image Creation" major aims to cultivate high-quality, versatile intelligent image production talents for society, constructing a systematic intelligent image creation curriculum that covers all aspects of film and television production. The curriculum includes theoretical and practical courses such as artificial intelligence imaging, 3D modeling, animation production, special effects compositing, virtual photography, and film and television directing. It also emphasizes the integration of interdisciplinary knowledge, such as computer graphics and film and television arts, with course offerings closely aligned with industry needs and industry experts participating in teaching and practical training guidance.
The "Digital Performing Arts Design" major is based on the national strategy of cultural digitization and intelligence, adhering to the educational philosophy of "art as the soul, technology as the wing, and innovation as the path". It focuses on digital performing arts as the core, addressing the industry trend of intelligent media integration, and concentrating on the application of cutting-edge technologies such as information technology and intelligent technology in the digital era. The program aims to cultivate high-end interdisciplinary talents who understand the entire process of digital performing arts design and production and master advanced digital intelligent technologies.
At the same time, the Shanghai Theatre Academy will encourage its secondary colleges and departments to actively explore the construction of micro-specialties in the field of artificial intelligence, continuously deepening and solidifying the "one leading and three integrations" approach.
Recently, among the Class of 2024 undergraduate graduates of the Shanghai Theatre Academy, a phenomenon has emerged: several students have chosen to pursue master's degrees in science and engineering fields. This phenomenon is closely related to the teaching explorations carried out by STA in recent years.
On one hand, STA has comprehensively optimized and upgraded the interdisciplinary expansion module of general elective courses, integrating internal and external faculty resources to organically combine science and art. This allows students to experience the charm of scientific principles and artistic creation through practical activities. Courses such as "Art and Artificial Intelligence Applications", "Game Planning" and "New Opportunities in Digital Survival" are regularly offered to all students.
On the other hand, based on the characteristics and artistic nature of its specialty courses, STA has vigorously developed over 30 AI+ courses, such as AI+ stage design, AI+ film, AI+ digital art, AI+ screenwriting, and AI+ broadcasting. These courses use generative artificial intelligence to empower art education, enhance students' digital intelligence literacy, and improve their comprehensive abilities in artistic creation and technology application.
Now, let's take a look at some of these courses.
The "Drama and Projection" course uses artificial intelligence to assist in creating a large number of contemporary visual patterns. It combines the unique stage design and composition of the play to form new visual languages and projection displays, integrating projection teaching into actual creative cases.
The "Multimedia Design and Production" course encourages students to use AIGC tools to develop their personalized learning plans and choose the software tools they need to learn based on their habits.
The "New Opportunities in Digital Survival" course is based on the concept of the metaverse and AI art, and uses case analysis and practical teaching methods. It encourages students to use AI technology to assist in designing their own works or to attempt full-process creation of art using AI technology. This approach aims to unleash individual innovation potential and provide students with an important platform to understand and master digital intelligence.
The "New Media Writing" course introduces AIGC text and image tools to assist students in creating more vivid and interactive narrative images through five aspects: plot conception, character development, plot branching design, story chapter planning, and emotional resonance building.
The "Host Voice Fundamentals" course integrates AI with traditional rapid speech writing. By feeding data from traditional rapid speech pieces like "Reporting Dish Names" and "Reporting Flower Names" into AI training, AIGC-generated rapid speech is produced. The course uses iFlytek's AI-generated voices for comparison and analysis with real human broadcasts to enhance semantic and emotional expression.
