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Animation

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  • Apr 1st, 2011 10:26 am
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Newbie
Mar 9, 2011
12 posts
Ontario

Animation

Hello friends.

Which school has the best Animation program other than Sheridan? Any alumni or present animations out there that can give me an advice if I plan to pursue my career in Animation?

Thanks.
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Mar 3, 2011
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Sheriden has the highest accredation in this area and is very tough to get in to so it might be worth trying to get in to. If you are looking for a fall back school - I guess it just depends on what kind of animation you are trying to specialize in.
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Dec 25, 2003
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Definitely Seneca would be next after Sheridan. After that it would be a toss up between Centennial and Humber. There are some private career colleges like Max the Mutt Animation. Out of province in Quebec theres NAD in Montreal and in BC theres Emily Carr and VFS Vancouver Film School. VFS is by far the best place in the country for anything animation, gaming and visual effects related.
Newbie
Mar 9, 2011
12 posts
Ontario
Sheridan is really known for Animation. Very competitive. It seems that Seneca's Animation is good as well cause the program is always over-subscribed and closed in a few weeks of equal consideration especially Graphic Design. Best part of it is its at York.
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Aug 30, 2007
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Sorry to slightly derail, but how lucrative is a career in animation really? Is there a good job market for animators (if that's what they're called).

It's always been something I've had an interest in but fell into the university-or-nothing trap.
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Dec 25, 2003
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nuberific wrote: Sorry to slightly derail, but how lucrative is a career in animation really? Is there a good job market for animators (if that's what they're called).
Now what I'm about to say is not meant to discourage anyone but its sort've the cold hard truth. Whether its animation or gaming or film/tv graphics, its a unusual/unconventional career route because its a mix of art and technology. A career in the arts is much more difficult to succeed in then lets say business or engineering. The stigma of the starving artist somewhat applies to the digital arts even though its not the traditional arts like painting, sculpting, music, etc. Its a career involving creative artistic skill and the reality of it is that not everyone is artistic. I'd say breaking into the industry is probably one of the hardest things about it and thats something it has in common with traditional arts. Its a pretty small industry and there are lots of school pumping out grads so there always way more supply then demand. Its also quirky in that someone with pure sheer talent who didn't even go to school for it can get a job over someone who went to the best school just because their portfolio/demo reel was better. Another parallel with the arts is money factor, a large part of the industry is contract based so a steady income might be irregular and it might involve going from one gig to another. Like with any job the starting out pay will be low but people with talent can move up quickly depending on other factors.

So now that I've got the doom and gloom out of the way let me break down animation because it is a pretty broad term these days. It basically splits between 2D and 3D.
2D can be the classical hand drawn animation like the old school Disney ways, obviously with the digital age this has become a niche thing and extremely difficult to get into. 2D also has the digital side which is fairly substantial in markets like kids television, films and commercials. This type of 2d involves things like using Flash to do the animations. Something like South Park is also 2d animation but its based on cutouts and is made in Adobe After Effects.
3D is probably the more broader part of the animation world because it can apply to so many other things. The software is obviously more difficult to use because it is derived from engineering programs and has to realistically simulate real life things. We've all seen whats been done here with films/tv/gaming/etc but it has other applications as well like architectural visualization, medical animation, crime recreation, military sims, etc.

Toronto has more television related work, less film and a bit of gaming (more independent developers then big boys). Montreal has a huge gaming sector along with a growing film side. BC is where things are hot across the board, gaming hub, lots of television and the film post production is 2nd in the world next to London.

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