Picking An Animation Course - Some Tips For You
Choosing the right animation course is of prime importance if you want to get a job as an animator after finishing the course. Before starting it is important to find out exactly what modules the course covers, and of those how many are required and how many are elective. You also need to determine if the modules will be suitable for the career path you want to follow. If the course leans too far towards computer gaming and doesn’t have enough focus on industrial design, then you may well have difficulty in getting an industrial design job upon graduation.
One of the great problems with any course is being able to provide a good balance between the 2 aspects of animation. Firstly, animation has always been about story telling - from the very first cartoons to the latest blockbuster, storytelling has been the driving force. Since the use of computers became common in animation over the past 15 -20 years there has been another aspect that needs to be covered, and that is the technical aspects of animation. It is not always possible for a person to be a good storyteller and also technically adept. Any good curriculum will be able provide the student with a balance of both of these aspects.
Generally a degree course will require that you have successfully completed around 36 modules. Of those, 18 will be compulsory and 18 will be elective. This allows the animation schools to ensure that everyone has a basic understanding of animation, and then a good range of specialist knowledge. The course should be designed to give a student a balance between practical design applications and the aesthetics of animation. Any course should also pay attention to the rapid technical advances which are occurring in the animation world, and ensure that their syllabus is flexible and able to adapt to any changes.
In a well designed animation course the compulsory aspects of the schooling should cover the principles of animation, writing skills, digital imaging, career planning and portfolio production. Once these basics have been allowed for, the course will usually have a series of electives which are pertinent to a student’s chosen career path. These electives usually cover such areas as the computer games industry, the motion picture industry, and designing for general industry. Due to the very nature of most courses some schools will be better at certain elective paths than others, so it is best to find out if this is the case before you start the course. A school in Detroit that has a connection to Ford or General Motors will more than likely be a good choice for an industrial animation course, whereas one located close to Hollywood will very likely be better at film animation.
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